Dr. Lezli Levene Harvell, a board-certified pediatric dentist from New Jersey, has a unique ability to identify talented chefs before they gain industry recognition. She is the founder of The Iconoclast Dinner Experience, a platform that brings together chefs, cultural leaders, and visionaries.

The Iconoclast Dinner Experience

The Iconoclast Dinner Experience was built from a single dinner at the James Beard House 11 years ago into a platform that now hosts five signature events each year. The event aims to provide a bigger platform for chefs and beverage professionals of color who deserve more recognition.

This year’s event, The King Is Dead., will be held on Martha’s Vineyard and will focus on putting women at the center of the industry. The event will feature Chef Ting, founder of Black Joy Kitchen, as the Host Chef, and Preston Clark, culinary director of Lure Fishbar and Bar Mercer, as the Culinary Chair.

The dinner’s rules require every chef to source ingredients from the island, tying the meal directly to Martha’s Vineyard’s farming community and regenerative agriculture. The event has a track record of featuring chefs who go on to become stars in the industry, including Paul Carmichael, Nina Compton, Kwame Onwuachi, and JJ Johnson.

The Iconoclast Dinner Experience has also won four Telly Awards for its film “No Farms, No Food Vol. 3: Grey Barn’s Final Season”. The event’s net proceeds go towards international students at Spelman College from Jamaica and sub-Saharan Africa, and have raised over $150,000 to date.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.