 Lynn Fredericks, Founder
Lynn Fredericks is the founder and guiding force behind FamilyCook Productions. Author of the acclaimed, Cooking Time Is Family Time, she is an award-winning pioneer in the field of obesity prevention and family nutrition. After a successful career as a food and wine journalist and top restaurant publicist in the early 90s, Ms. Fredericks found her calling in 2005 when she brought her own lessons about cooking with children as a single parent, into culinary and public elementary schools of NYC. Since 2005, these edcational efforts under FamilyCook have reached over 11,000 families. Ma. Fredericks' work in New York City public schools won her a 2002 Leadership Award from the New York City Council of Administrators. In 2001, she was presented with a PRIDE award for her contribution in family nutrition to the NYC public school community. In 2006, Gourmet Magazine saluted FamilyCook’s efforts to bring cooking skills to inner city families. A leading advocate for hands-on food/nutrition education for all, she is a popular lecturer, television personality, and cooking demonstrator. Ms. Fredericks participates in the Steering Committee for the Kellogg-funded NYC Food & Fitness Partnership, serves as governing board member of Food Systems Network NYC, and was founding Chair of the Green Tables Initiative, for Les Dames d’Escoffier International.
Such messages as family togetherness and moderation are the fulcrum of the FamilyCook educational approach, where families practice multicultural meal concepts that make dinnertime an adventure! Ms. Fredericks’ understanding of family dynamics and its relationship to food and health is a binding element of such FamilyCook curricula as Did I Eat My Colors Today? (preschool); Look Who’s Cooking (K- 5); Whisk Around the World (middle school); Teen Iron Chef (high school). Collectively, these programs empower children -- and parents, to transform their relationship to food and enjoy more home cooked meals using fresh ingredients. In spring 2008, FamilyCook co-founded Puppet Stew, a creative mixture of puppetry and nutrition education techniques. In January 2009, the FamilyCook K-3 curriculum was launched in select Connecticut public schools as part of a CT State Department of Public Health funded pilot intervention.
Together with her FamilyCook Productions’ team of dieticians and chefs, Ms. Fredericks has developed family-focused food & nutrition programs (curricula, learning tools & activities ) for such state and local health departments, non-profits, and companies such as: Share Our Strength, CT State Department of Public Health, Public Health Solutions, YMCA’s the USA; Preferred Care (HMO); The After School Corporation; FDNY, Wegmans Food Markets, Disney's Family.com, C-CAP (Careers Through Culinary Arts Program), StarChefs.com, AIWF Days of Taste. In addition, Ms Fredericks has served as spokesperson for brands such as Barilla Pasta, Tupperware, Reynolds® Oven Bags, 3-M Post-It Flags, O-Cello Sponge Scrubbers, and The National Pasta Association among others. Ms. Fredericks has appeared on such national television shows as NBC Today and Cooking Live and numerous local radio and television programs around the U.S.
Ms. Fredericks is also an avid outdoors enthusiast with a special love for cross-country skiing and fly-fishing. She resides in Manhattan with her two sons, Alex and Stephan.
Mercedes Sanchez, MS, RD, Director of Nutrition Education
Mercedes Sanchez has been FamilyCook's resident dietician for over ten years. Her appreciation for celebratory meals prepared and enjoyed with family and friends hails back to her childhood as the youngest of 9 siblings in a robust family of Madrid, Spain. Todacian specializing in pediatrics and family nutrition, Mercedes grounds the FamilyCook nutritional messages, educational materials, curriculum and approachin the values around the social and educational aspects of family meals. A mother of two young children herself, Sofia and David, Ms. Sanchez understands the challenges that working parents face to navigate the a social environment that tempts adults and children alike to take the easy way out and buy fast or prepared foods. Ms. Sanchez wrote her masters thesis while at NYU on the value of a multicultural approach to teaching children about nutrition. Her thesis was excerpted for inclusion in an Italian journal on taste, Questione di Gusti, in 2006. In addition to holding a Masters in Nutrition from NYU, she is a registered dietician and has served in that capacity in the pediatric department of Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn.
Jessica Leinwand, Program Coordinator
Jessie Leinwand joins FamilyCook Productions in 2009 as Program Assistant. She is a graduate of Bard College, perusing a Master’s of Public Health in Community health Education. A native of rural Maryland, Ms. Leinwand has fallen in love with New York City, where she has lived for three years. Jessie has honed her skills as program coordinators for non-profits, summer camp nurse, tutor, organic gardener, special educator, Introduction Leader at Landmark Education, and most recently as a HealthCorps Coordinator. This year she was selected as a one of 100 Young Leader Representatives to the Service Nation Movement, acknowledging her commitment to empowering young people to transform their communities. While at HealthCorps, Ms. Leinwand spearheaded the launch of the very successful Teen Iron Chef Invitational in collaboration with FamilyCook Productions. When Jessie is not teaching, she enjoys singing, being outdoors, and hosting dinner parties for her friends and family.
Jimmy and his UPC crew bring considerable artistry and professionalism to FamilyCook interviews, shorts and documentaries. With a keen eye for subliminal detail, Jimmy creates still and moving vision fields that captivate his audience. Jimmy’s passion for communicating complex themes with the utmost simplicity runs throughout his work, enabling a highly stylistic shooting, directing and editing style.
As Chief Photographer / Video Director at SONY BMG Music Entertainment Inc. for nearly two decades, Jimmy worked with hundreds of the biggest talents in the business. He is one of the most published photographers in the entertainment industry.
Jimmy's entertainment portfolio runs full spectrum, including artwork seen on and inside CD and DVD covers, publicity photos, tour merchandise, promotional material, magazine covers and inserts, and assignments on several major feature films and music videos. Jimmy’s video work has appeared on television and networks throughout the world.
Jimmy Ienner Jr. has been elected to the Visual Arts Committee of the Recording Academy NARAS (GRAMMYs) for Video Direction and Photography. This honor is in addition to his existing status as voting member of the Academy.
Shoshi Roberts, Founder + Creative Director, Zeta Labs
Shoshi is a champion of user-centered design that creates engagement and conversation. Finding new ways to make the internet a fun, friendly place to be keeps her brain percolating non-stop. She lives and works in New York City, which provides her with constant inspiration. When not at her computer, she enjoys consuming cupcakes, making robot friends, and spending time with her lovely human friends.
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