Adriana Urbina
Adriana Urbina has been working in restaurants since she was 15. By 18, she had already studied at a culinary school in her home country of Venezuela and headed to Spain to continue her studies, where she landed an apprenticeship under Martín Berasategui, a celebrated Basque chef, after cold-emailing him. By 19, she’d secured a yearlong stint at a Michelin-starred Manhattan restaurant, Rouge Tomate.
During that time, the political situation in Venezuela took a turn. Adriana realized she would have to seek political asylum with no option of returning home for the foreseeable future. She made the sacrifice, and in the past five years, she’s earned the title of executive chef at New York’s De Maria, launched her own pop-up dining company, Tepuy Dining, and competed on the Food Network’s cooking show Chopped 3 times (and won all 3 times). She is the first Latin-American contestant to win Chopped “Grand Championship”.
Adriana is also a passionate activist. Her ongoing mission is to use her unique culinary expertise as a voice to shine a light on meaningful causes that support immigration reform, women’s rights, and aid to those in need in her home country of Venezuela. Her pop up business was featured in Forbes. It provides a platform that gives paid opportunities to women in the food industry to showcase their work to a wider audience.