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SIPA Faculty
Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez
Part-time Lecturer
jjw2018@columbia.edu
Biography:
Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez teaches social enterprise and capitalization of hybrid ventures at SIPA. She is the founder and CEO of Hot Bread Kitchen, an award-winning social enterprise that hires and trains immigrant women to bake artisanal breads that reflect their countries of origin. Their multi-ethnic breads are sold from Georgia to Maine, in the nations best restaurants, markets and grocery stores, including Whole Foods markets and Union Square Greenmarkets. In addition to this innovative workforce development program, Hot Bread Kitchen launched and operates a progressive kitchen incubator and micro-enterprise development program catering to early stage food business in Harlem.
In founding Hot Bread Kitchen, Jessamyn combined her passions for baking and social justice for foreign-born women. She has been recognized with an Echoing Green Fellowship, the Eileen Fisher grant for Women Social Entrepreneurs, the Hitachi Foundation Yoshiyama Award, and Coro, which presented her with their inaugural Alumni Community Leadership Award. Jessamyn has an MPA from Columbia University and a BA from the University of British Columbia. Before starting Hot Bread Kitchen, she gained 10 years of experience in NGOs, public sector in the US, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Bosnia, Guatemala, and Chile. Jessamyn has a Master Baker certificate from the New School and was the first woman to be hired as a baker at three Michelin starred, Restaurant Daniel.