Erin is a serial entrepreneur with an extensive background in the food and wine industry. She’s a cookbook author, founder of Sticky Fingers Cooking, and, together with her talented husband, co-owns the internationally acclaimed Barolo Grill in Denver. Pretty much every day of the last 30 years, Erin has been thinking deeply, curiously, and creatively about how people experience food.
As a Mom, Erin made sure her three kids grew up appreciating everything from kale to cupcakes. Lucky for us, that’s her goal for everyone else’s kids, too! Erin also writes amazingly terrible and hilarious jokes about food that make everyone groan.
Kimberly graduated from UCLA with a degree in International Development in 2010. In college, she came to realize how multi-faceted the culinary world really is and became fascinated with all things food. After working in the food industry for over a decade and traveling across Europe, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America, she moved to Denver and was able to combine her passion for healthy cooking and working with kids via Sticky Fingers Cooking!
Kim and her husband are world travelers, spending the better part of two years traveling together through four continents and completing a year-long trip in an adventure van. During non-nomadic times, Kim loves mountain biking, skiing, reading, spending time with family and cooking and baking of course!
Lania filters the world through numbers, equations, and algorithms! After graduating from University of Notre Dame with a double major in business and psychology, she worked for several years at large CPA firms. She found her niche in the franchise industry, building and maintaining financial forecast models, and worked for three years as Manager of Executive Finance for Quiznos Corporation.
In addition to being the friend who correctly (and enthusiastically!) splits a 10-top restaurant bill, Lania is known for feeding people food that is both healthy and tasty. She feels strongly that young people deserve access to healthy food and regularly volunteers with a food bank that provides teens with nutritious meals.
You’ll likely find Lania running around a lake, hiking on a Colorado trail, or exploring a new city with her husband, three children and their golden retriever.
Pere Marshall is a serious techie with a decidedly un-serious side. An irrepressible entrepreneur, he brings over 20 years’ experience in software engineering and digital product development to Sticky Fingers Cooking. He adeptly spearheads the creation of online destinations, from conception to large-scale deployment and has created web and mobile apps for national brands such as Wired, GQ, and Samsung.
The one thing you need to know about Pere? He’s up for absolutely anything and his enthusiasm is infectious!
Joe brings his savvy startup know-how and extensive experience in marketing and business development to Sticky Fingers Cooking. He creates and implements innovative marketing strategies and tools to transform startups into sustainable, growing, and profitable ventures. An insatiably curious person who loves to learn about new things and then tell you all about them, Joe is the life of any party. He has played pivotal roles in widely varied startups in sectors that include: solar, computer-aided design, golf, health & wellness, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Joe is excited about helping Franchisees utilize our extraordinarily effective in-house marketing tools and support systems to bring the Sticky Fingers Cooking magic to even more communities. A bit of a foodie, Joe makes a mean San Francisco Seafood Cioppino and an extremely tasty Vietnamese Carmel Simmered Chicken.
As our Chief of Staff, Katie has a hand in every SFC pot! A graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, Katie has infused our operations with efficiency, organization, and smarts since 2014, designing systems to make us the best kid-focused hospitality company we can be. You just won’t find a more committed, tenacious, make-it-happen teammate. In the kitchen, Katie enjoys watching her husband cook and claims that their two kids are his biggest critics. She loves spending time with friends and family, especially in Sun Valley.
You've got this! Encourage Mint
A former preschool teacher and speech pathologist, Amanda has been with Sticky Fingers Cooking since 2012. She began as a chef instructor and now helps keep our database and virtual office in order.
Amanda lives way up high up in the Rocky Mountains (10,000 ft!) in an off-grid home that’s powered exclusively by solar and wind. She feeds her insatiable curiosity AND her family through her hobbies: a greenhouse and an aquaponics tank! And did we mention that she volunteers to milk goats?
When she’s not tending to her three busy kids—and every other living thing around her—you’ll probably find Amanda on a frozen-over pond playing ice hockey with Denver’s own Fly Girls!
Quinoa get a what what? Oh kale yeah!
Dylan’s passion for all things food runs deep! From the time he was five years old, Dylan could be found in the kitchen cooking with his mom. After working for many years as a gymnastics coach, he moved to Colorado for culinary school. It was there, at Johnson and Wales University, that he discovered Sticky Fingers Cooking. Six years later he still can’t get enough of teaching students everywhere how to love to cook!
In addition to being a chef and dog-dad, Dylan is an avid gamer and video game collector. Dylan will happily spend an entire weekend geeking-out with his family over their newest video game, and he and his husband have even won international video game competitions!
Amy designs and optimizes websites that build brand awareness, drive traffic, and increase revenue and user engagement. She has leveraged her digital marketing talents to significantly impact profitability and visibility for a host of start-ups and small to medium-sized businesses.
An art history alumni from UC Santa Cruz and a graduate of the CBCA's Leadership Arts program, Amy is a culture-loving Coloradan who spends her spare time hiking, skiing, attending the symphony, and strolling galleries. Amy’s guilty pleasure is cheese (Manchego, Tomme de Savoie, Roquefort, shall we go on??) Her go-to meal when she lacks time, interest, or inspiration to cook, is apple and—of course!—sharp cheddar.
Kayla has had a passion for cooking since she was young as both of her parents are chefs. Being a huge foodie, Kayla wants to inspire others to learn how to cook and enjoy many different recipes. Kayla attended MSU Denver and was the first to graduate in her family with a college degree. She attained her International Business degree with a concentration in Marketing. Her love for social media and how it can connect us all in so many different ways creatively is what inspired her to make that her professional work. She loves to travel and her favorite place is Costa Rica. Whenever she travels, she loves to try as many new foods as possible and bring that knowledge home into her own kitchen! Kayla also loves to attend live music, being outdoors, attending comedy shows and riding horses.
You’re one in a MELON!
Alli started cooking as a teen, volunteering during the summer at church camp. Then, after traveling the world as a United States Marine, she decided she wanted to teach children to cook, because that's where the real action is! She took her culinary degree and experience as the Mom of two wild boys to Sticky Fingers Cooking! After starting as a chef instructor, she now works in the “virtual” office to plan FLAN-tastic birthday parties & private cooking events! Things might get a little loud and crazy, but it will always be tasty!
Besides being obsessed with food, Alli has a love of doing anything outside! She onced lived in her RV, with her husband and kids for an entire year, driving around the country. Now she enjoys renovating her 122 year old duplex and hiking in Montana.
After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in the art and mechanics of teaching, Kate got straight to work positively impacting the lives of young people! She has taught youth aged four to fourteen, and for nearly five fantastic years taught Language Arts to middle schoolers. Fostering kids’ passions and creativity truly matters to Kate, so it’s no surprise that she found her way to Sticky Fingers Cooking. In addition to applying her writing and editing expertise to our cookbook series and online content, Kate is not afraid to be silly, which is why everyone loves her TikToks!
Kate is especially fond of the Great British Baking Show and is always looking for people to share her recent bakes with. When she’s not in the kitchen, you’ll probably find her rock climbing at the local gym or hitting the trails with her husband and fur-babies.
Thanks a Latte!
Emily is a versatile writer/editor who believes that while people and ideas change the world, well-crafted words really help! Emily has a soft spot for food that not only tastes good but that does good – for our bodies, communities, and planet. After spending a thoroughly delicious year in Florence, Italy, she earned a degree in Italian and Spanish from Middlebury College (VT) and a Masters in Curriculum & Instruction from UC Denver. Originally from New England, Emily has called Colorado home for more than 25 years and – surprise! – she does not ski!
Don’t panic; romaine calm
Natasha is a multimedia artist who loves problem solving and art history. When she is not digitally illustrating the Sticky Fingers Cooking cookbook series, she creates embroidery art, tattoos, watercolor, and calligraphy, and has recently begun sculpting at home. Natasha is the first in her family to graduate from college, earning a degree in Communications with an emphasis on Rhetoric and Ethics and a minor in writing. Natasha has worked as a journalist, an academic tutor of English, and for many years a barista. Natasha enjoys cooking plant-based meals for her friends and family and watching her friends and boyfriend compete in World Chase Tag.
Make PEAS, not war!
Melissa brings her experience in computer hardware and software support, working with various databases, writing and editing organizational newsletters, and cooking at a retreat center and for family to her lead data entry position at Sticky Fingers Cooking.
Melissa likes a challenge in work, cooking, and baking, which she has been attempting recently. She credits baking with learning more patience! Melissa enjoys living in the Pacific Northwest.
A graduate of Information & Computer Science at St. Paul University in the Philippines, Evelyn worked as a SalesForce Administrator for more than eight years before joining Sticky Fingers Cooking in 2021. She is enormously conscientious and believes that whatever your goal is, you can get there if you’re willing to work. A self-described introvert, Evelyn is a mother of five who opts for a good book or a Korean drama over a party situation any day. She is, however, willing to venture out of the house for three things: family, shrimp, and nuts!
Maggie Whittum began with Sticky Fingers Cooking as a Chef Instructor in 2010, teaching for several years between extensive jaunts abroad. After surviving a massive brain stem stroke in 2014 at age 33, Maggie rejoined the Sticky Fingers Cooking team in 2016 as Social Media Specialist; she went from feeding the kids to feeding the feeds! Her talents don’t stop there, she's a graduate of Colorado College, Maggie is a seasoned actor who has performed all over the world including more recently with the Phamaly Theatre Company in Denver, a troupe that exclusively casts actors with disabilities. She is also a guide with and Theater of the Mind and creating a documentary about her life titled The Great Now What. In the little time she spends at home, Maggie loves to cook up delicious soups and stews!
Chloe is a transplant from the East Coast who happily calls the beautiful state of Colorado home. She has a background in child development and nutrition and years of experience promoting kids’ health through the implementation of healthy eating and physical activity programming. Chloe has also worked directly with kids of all ages and in a variety of settings, and especially loves working with young children. A self-proclaimed foodie, Chloe excitedly shares her love of cooking (and eating!) with her own three kids.
Lettuce turnip the beet!
After working in the corporate world (Pepsico, Kraft General Foods, Unilever) for over 20 years, Eileen hung up her corporate hat and donned her chef toque, following her dream of starting her own personal chef business! Eileen joined the SFC Team in 2014; her love of cooking and ability to manage are the ideal mix! Eileen learned the basics of cooking from watching her mom and grandmother in the kitchen. Living overseas in South Korea is what really kicked up her passion for culinary exploration on a global scale!
Eileen currently lives at the beach on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where she loves to take long walks with her husband. When she’s not whipping something up in the kitchen, Eileen is happiest recreating outdoors—golfing, kayaking, paddle boarding, hiking, skiing, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, and snowman building (lots of snow in the Upper Peninsula!).
After spending twelve years managing a busy restaurant in Denver, Caroline took a break to pursue a lifelong dream of attending culinary school. Upon graduating the professional chef program at Cook Street Culinary School, Caroline thought that a job at Sticky Fingers Cooking would allow her to combine her many passions in hospitality, managing amazing people and passing on culinary education. When she isn't in her kitchen working out new plant based recipes, she can be found in her garden chasing around her young dachshund Auggie. Her hobbies include enjoying the beautiful Colorado weather, by hiking, down hill skiing or riding her bike around Denver discovering new restaurants.
Heather joined SFC in 2017 and combined her passions of being creative in the kitchen and serving kids! Most of her career was spent as a recruiter for technology companies and volunteering. One of her favorite volunteer experiences was doing grief work with kiddos; helping kids (and their families) process the loss of their special person. In 2012 she and her husband started Software Freedom School where Heather is the Chief Foodie, feeding the geeks!
In 2014 she found joy in commercial baking, being an Executive Director of a non-profit and volunteering with adults; teaching them to cook healthy meals. In 2022 she became Director of Chef Operations which combines ALL of her skills into her favorite career ‘roll’ ever! When she’s not playing in the kitchen, she can be found on a road trip with her husband and dog, playing board games with her friends and family, serving in her church and simply living her best life!
Lorie is very passionate about cooking and nutrition. She is a North Dakota native and worked in the medical profession. Lorie’s love of food and cooking prompted her to attend Culinary School here in Denver. She loves kids and taught her sons and all of their friends how to cook.
After graduating from Creighton University with degrees in Social Justice and Music, Lucy spent a decade teaching 3-6 year-olds in a Montessori classroom. In 2011, she joined Sticky Fingers Cooking as a chef instructor, relishing teaching children about food and recipes from around the world, and leveraging her teaching background to incorporate math, science, language, history, and geography into her classes.
When Lucy and her family relocated from Denver to Chicago in 2013, she assumed her current role as Sticky Fingers Cooking’s Regional Manager, and she’s been increasing access to SFC culinary programs ever since. Lucy attributes her love of food and big family dinners to growing up in a large Irish-Italian family. She happily spends time with her husband, two kids, and English lab, and loves to cook (of course!), ride horses, and plan the next family vacation!
Nicole loves sharing food and cooking with students. She has worked with school aged children for the last 10 years. Most recently, she worked for a nature museum directing camp programming, leading field trip workshops and after school programs, and visiting classrooms for science lessons! Nicole loves to cook at home and enjoys experimenting with new healthy, plant based meals. Nicole also enjoys spending time outdoors! She loves hiking, canoeing, and gardening with her husband and dog.
Emily is a mother of 2 teenage boys, a graduate of Information and Computer Science at St. Paul University, Manila, and also working part time as Operations Onboarding Associate for a lifestyle mobile app where you discover the best restaurants and local services in the Philippines.
She believes that everything happens for a reason and life should be lived one day at a time. A lover of k-dramas, Bangtan Sonyeondan, nature trips, plants, long rides, and should always have something sweet after meals.
Give the kids in your community the opportunity to learn how to make and enjoy tasty, healthy, fun food! Contact us today to bring Sticky Fingers Cooking to your library, camp, church, or troop.
Please provide contact information for your organization’s enrichment coordinator. We look forward to cooking with you!
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