CHEF MARCUS SAMUELSSON

Marcus Samuelsson is the renowned chef behind many restaurants worldwide including Red Rooster in Harlem (NYC) and Overtown (Miami); Hav & Mar in Chelsea (NYC); Metropolis at PAC-NYC; Marcus Bar & Grille in Atlanta and its Live! flagship at American Dream (NJ); and several MARCUS locations including the Bahamas, Montreal and most recently Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Samuelsson was the youngest person to ever receive a three-star review from The New York Times and recently won a 2023 Emmy Award for the Short Form Program “My Mark.”  He was tasked with planning and executing the Obama Administration’s first State dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He has won eight James Beard Foundation awards as chef, author and TV personality. Additionally, Samuelsson has won numerous competition shows including Top Chef Masters and Chopped All-Stars and appears regularly on those franchises as a Judge. He also appeared as an Iron Chef on Netflix’s Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend. 

A committed philanthropist, Samuelsson is co-chair of Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) which focuses on underserved youth. Samuelsson also co-produces the annual week-long festival Harlem EatUp! started in 2016 and later expanded into an award-winning TV series EatUp!: NYC aired annually since 2021. He is the recipient of the 2019 Vilcek Foundation Prize in Culinary Arts, awarded to immigrants who have made lasting contributions to American Society. In addition to The Rise, he is the author of multiple books including The New York Times bestselling memoir Yes, Chef and The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Samuelsson converted his restaurants Red Rooster Harlem, Marcus B&P in Newark, and Red Rooster Overtown in Miami into community kitchens in partnership with World Central Kitchen, serving well over 280,000 meals to those in need. Marcus is also the founder of the hospitality and media-focused Marcus Samuelsson Group (MS/G), which works to maintain Samuelsson's culinary and cultural pillars, creating outstanding experiences that celebrate food, music, culture, and art in all its endeavors from high-end restaurants and fast-casual cafes to media and experiential events such as EatUp!: Overtown, The Bahamas Culinary & Arts Fest and Honeyland. He has two audio projects with Audible, Our Harlem and Seat at the Table, as well as a podcast titled This Moment with Swedish rapper Timbuktu on Acast.