BlogHer's video: Top Chef s Gail Simmons Milk Bar Founder Christina Tosi and Sheinelle Jones at BlogHer19 Food

Sheinelle Jones led an animated, inspirational panel on how to use your platform for good at Food. Speakers included Christina Tosi, founder of Milk Bar, and Gail Simmons, culinary expert and television personality (you may know her best as a judge on Top Chef). Topics discussed included: how each speaker discovered her passion, the mentors and advice that shaped their career trajectories, how to promote the careers of women in the food world, how to become an authority on a subject by delving into your craft, finding your point of view and how you can add to the conversation, compartmentalization and how to balance creativity and business on a day-to-day scale, the benefit of small goals over long-term ""five year plans,"" building a business based on care and respect for your employees, the philanthrophic organizations Christina & Gail are involved with, and overall, how to define and prioritize your values in your professional and personal life. All three panelists often came back to the same refrain: ""No one does it alone! Everyone has the power to impact." Christina Tosi is the two-time James Beard Award-winning chef and founder/CEO of Milk Bar. Known for baking outside of the lines and turning dessert on its head, Christina founded Milk Bar in 2008 and transformed it into an omnichannel dessert empire with a nationwide retail footprint and explosive DTC eCommerce business. Named one of Fast Company's Most Creative People, Christina authored 3 hit cookbooks, is a judge on Fox's MasterChef series, and was featured on the hit Netflix docuseries Chef's Table. Milk Bar's mission is to inspire celebration by empowering people to spread joy through dessert. Gail Simmons is a trained culinary expert and television personality. Since the show’s inception in 2006, she has lent her expertise as a judge on BRAVO’s Emmy and James Beard Award-winning series Top Chef. She is also the host of Iron Chef Canada. Since 2004, Gail has served as special projects director at FOOD & WINE. In 2012, she published her first book, Talking With My Mouth Full: My Life as a Professional Eater. Her first cookbook, Bringing It Home: Favorite Recipes from a Life of Adventurous Eating, was released in 2017 and nominated for an IACP award for best general cookbook. Gail is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Babson College, co-founder of Bumble Pie Productions, and sits on the board of several philanthropic organizations. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband two children. Sheinelle Jones is a co-anchor of NBC News’ “Weekend TODAY” and a co-host of 3rd Hour, TODAY. She is also the host of Through Mom’s Eyes, a new digital series for TODAY and co-hosts Off the Rails, a Sirius XM radio show with NBC’s Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer. Jones is also a contributor to the TODAY Parenting Team, a multi-platform community where she shares about her life as a “multi-tasking mom” and interacts with viewers around the country. Since joining TODAY in October 2014, Jones has covered breaking news events, and a variety of human interest stories and countless interviews with notable figures and celebrities. You’ll also see her trademark enthusiasm on the red carpet including the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Grammy Awards. Prior to joining TODAY, Jones served as co-host of FOX’s Emmy Award-winning morning show ""Good Day Philadelphia"" where she reported local, national and international headlines. She also interviewed a number of notable politicians and celebrities, from Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton to Halle Berry, Kevin Hart, and Martin Sheen. She began at “Good Day” in July 2005 as a general assignment reporter for the broadcast. Jones graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and Spanish. She and her husband live in Manhattan with their son and twin son and daughter. ABOUT US SHE Media is the women’s lifestyle digital media company with 72 million unique visitors per month (comScore, Media Metrix, Multiplatform Key Measures Report, July 2016, U.S.) and 299 million social media fans and followers. The company operates a family of leading media properties that include SheKnows.com, BlogHer.com, HelloFlo.com and STYLECASTER.com. OUR MISSION With a mission of women inspiring women, SheKnows Media is revolutionizing the publishing industry by forging a new kind of model that seamlessly integrates users, editors and content creators onto a single platform designed to empower all women to discover, share and create. Whether it’s parenting or pop culture, fashion or food, DIY or décor, our award-winning editorial team, Experts, bloggers and social media influencers produce authentic and on-trend content every day.