Meet the Team
Our 2013 TuttoToscana program has started off with the first day of classes at the Florence campus. Like all program editions, the dedicated blog page on CiboChat seeks to feature the many faces, voices, and talents of TuttoToscana team members who come together from diverse backgrounds and walks of life to experience the challenge of event production in NYC. We’re excited to have our readers join us this Fall for new stories, flavors, and adventures, presented by the following Communications Team Members, coordinated by FUA faculty member Grace Joh:
Mayte Almada: May is originally from Mexico and has always been a self-proclaimed foodie. She has recently graduated in International Hotel Management of Le Cordon Bleu from Anahuac in Mexico City and is constantly seeking new opportunities to enrich her knowledge of culture and food. This need for information and experiences move towards a single goal – to be able to demonstrate this passion for food and its many aspects to the upcoming event audiences and to be able to create unforgettable experiences that they will take away with them. Planning events and being able to make other people’s dreams come true has been her lifelong goal. TuttoToscana has many learning points to offer and she hopes to expand her knowledge in all program areas.
Cody Durbin: Hailing from the Midwest, Cody has been studying hospitality for 4 years and in particular the culinary arts at Johnson County Community College, where he has just finished his chef apprenticeship degree. He brings to this year’s team great attitude, teamwork, creativity, and work ethic to the already well-rounded and diversified professional student brigade. He has recently participated in a summer graduate experiential learning program with FUA where he collaborated with the well-run and executed student kitchen at Ganzo, the Apicius school restaurant, here in Florence. He hopes that this event will shape him for future special event engagements in his culinary career, also from a front of the house and management perspective.
Isabela Elizondo: Isabela is a hospitality management graduate (Anhuac, see above) was born and raised in the immense metropolis of Mexico City, where she also studied. Her passion for traveling and discovering different cultures has driven her to work and live far away from home including beautiful small ski towns in Colorado, USA, to big European cities like Barcelona, Spain. She definitely can’t stay put in one city for too long! Isabela loves documenting every single part of her journeys and experiences throughout the world and will keep all of our readers visually updated with TuttoToscana as well.
Kimberlee Preish: Kim, the final member of our communication team, is a junior studying Hospitality Management at The Ohio State University. Although she is just starting out with event planning, she has thrown herself into this program to follow her ambition and to learn the elements involved in special event management. Kim is bringing the knowledge that she learned in her studies and previous restaurants jobs to Italy, and hopes to combine those aspects with the information she will learn during this program along with her instructors and peers.