• Fredy Hernandez: Chef Fredy began his career at age 15 in his native El Salvador, working as a butcher in San Salvador's most elite market, catering to international business clientele. He came to the US five years later and began working in the kitchen of the four-diamond Morrison House in Alexandria, VA. It was in that kitchen when Chef Jim Papovich discovered Fredy's skills with a knife. Fredy was immediately moved to the prep station and then behind the line as a cook in the nation's top-rated inn.

When Papovich opened the prestigious Lucie in the Embassy Row Hotel on Washington's historic Massachusetts Avenue, he asked Fredy to move with him, working for two years as poissonier (fish chef) and studying under the twice named Washington, D.C. Chef of the Year, turning out the restaurant's signature nouvelle cuisine to ambassadors, Hollywood celebrities, and international and local businessmen and politicians, including first ladies Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Fredy returned to the Embassy Row Hotel and the newly-created Bistro Twenty-Fifteen, which featured New American cuisine with an international flair. In 1994, he was named the restaurant's Executive Sous Chef and less than a year later, named Chef de Cuisine. During his tenure, he received the hotel's highly coveted Pride Team Award, given for leadership and excellence in management.

Late in 1996, Fredy relocated to Chicago and joined Emilio Gervilla's distinctive family of restaurants, beginning as Executive Sous Chef at La Perla del Mediterraneo, where eight months later he was named Executive Chef.

In addition to his operational responsibilities at La Perla, he began teaching cooking classes both in and out of house at popular culinary stores and markets, such as Williams Sonoma. His cooking classes, featuring a variety of cuisines and topics, became so popular they were often sold out months in advance. Over the past year, Fredy became an instructor in the degree program at Kendall College, helping to educate the next generation of chefs.

After a brief stint with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises to help open the new Latin American restaurant Nacional 27 in Chicago's River North, Fredy started his own culinary venture, Chef Fredy Cuisine. It is through Chef Fredy Cuisine that he creates private dining experiences, cooking classes in clients' homes, as well as full-service corporate and celebratory catering. His clients are some of Chicago’s top citizens, and have included members of the Chicago Bears, Blackhawks, and White Sox.

• Tierney Sharif and Cory Conti: Chefs Sharif and Conti are Wilmette women with a history of gourmet entertaining, and have started the hottest new catering enterprise on the North Shore - Chow! Bella LLC. Both partners have experience in cooking, entertaining and organizing the perfect party with sparkling atmosphere. As their one-year anniversary approaches, these two have kept the North Shore well fed in a variety of venues. From in-home chef to weekly delivered meals, book signings to cocktail parties and receptions, large graduation parties to intimate birthday soirees and themed holiday events, their tasteful touch makes every event special.

Chow! Bella scours the North Shore and Chicago area for the freshest and most authentic ingredients in their cooking. With healthy, creative food in mind, Tierney and Cory are rapidly growing their business and their repertoire. They offer a variety of cuisines, including South American, Mediterranean, Continental and Asian. Chow! Bella's weekly delivered meals are hearty, healthy and affordable - the perfect solution for the busy North Shore family.

• Mary Jo McMillin: Mary Jo McMillin was chef and owner of Mary Jo’s Cuisine in Oxford, Ohio for 18 years. Based on her restaurant/catering experience, Mary Jo’s Cuisine: A Cookbook came out in 2007. She moved to Wilmette, Illinois in the summer of 2008.

Mary Jo began her professional career as a baker. Her wedding cakes soon led to receptions, dinners and her own business. She has traveled extensively, studied in many commercial kitchens and learned from ethnic cooks in their homes. She has been a 25-year associate of the Ballymaloe House in Ireland and has taught at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. She has also offered classes in various cooking schools in Kentucky, Ohio and for Miami University. For decades she has observed seasonal, whole food cooking, long before the concept became trendy. Her culinary knowledge is encyclopedic.