Grants & Scholarships
Since our scholarship and grant program began eight years ago, we have awarded more than $200,000 to women across the state pursuing a wide variety of food and culinary-related careers.
2024 Entrepreneur Grant Winners
Etricia Simone Williams Robinson
Gumbo to Geaux
Etricia Simone Williams Robinson was born and raised in Natchez, Mississippi. She attended college at the University of Montevallo where she discovered who she wanted to be. "I had always loved to cook, but I didn’t know I could make a whole life from it.
"My grandmother, Sadie Lee Hunter, had taught me everything I needed to know to be a magnificent chef. I just didn’t know it until attending Culinard. Making the recipes she had taught me and seasoning food the way she did, people noticed, and I started to think I may have something far more valuable than I realized.
I wanted to share my gift with as many people as possible, so she started Gumbo to Geaux with the slogan, “If it looks like soup, and it tastes like soup, That AIN’T Gumbo!”
She and her team are now making gumbo all over the Birmingham area in their food truck and delivering to the small masses with hopes of developing a global brand through an e-commerce platform.
She says this award will go toward lab testing her sauces to make sure they are safely shelf-stable so she can sell them in retail outlets.
Yanisa Odom
Tay Thai Street Food
Yanisa Odom moved to Birmingham, Alabama, to pursue an MBA at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but she missed the delicious food and drinks from Bangkok, Thailand, where she grew up.
To fill this gap, she began cooking Thai dishes and making Thai drinks for herself and her friends at UAB.
Soon, she became passionate about sharing more of her culture and heritage through the best medium: food! Her mission was to “Bring Bangkok to Birmingham!”
Yanisa says she is using our grant to pay the attorney fees necessary to take the company to the next level.
Monique "Mo" Kitchen
The Stable, LLC
Mo Kitchen was a veterinary assistant for 14 years in Greensboro, Alabama, and during that time she dreamed of having a coffee shop in one of the historic buildings on Main Street.
She says her father was military, "So I never stayed in one place long. I suppose Birmingham is my home, but I moved to Greensboro in 2002 and have been here ever since."
The Stable, a Southern coffee pub, requires me to assume various roles, including cooking, cleaning, buying supplies, procuring supplies, delivery, financial management, and event organizer.
The Stable has become a community gathering place, which is so important for a small town. Mo is using our grant to make repairs to her century-old building so she can keep serving the customers she loves.
Margaret Hale
Chef Margaret Hale, LLC
Chef Margaret Vincent is a personal chef and caterer, originally from Birmingham, specializing in fresh, gourmet meal prep and home delivery.
What was born as a Covid survival idea blossomed into a full-time career. Now she delivers meals from Springville to Hoover and everywhere in between.
After a decade in Huntsville running her bustling cafe and wedding catering business, Margaret was excited for a slower, less-grueling way of life, and enjoys doing just that (and having weekends free!) with her husband, Jonathan.
Danielle Moore
Dani's Cheesecake, LLC
Danielle Moore, a proud resident of Auburn, Alabama, is the owner of Dani’s Cheesecake, specializing in delicious no-bake cheesecake jars. She is the mother of three amazing boys, who, she says, inspire her every day.
She started Dani’s Cheesecake as a way to support her family and put her sons through college.
Through hard work and dedication, she has turned her passion for baking into a successful business, and she says she is grateful for the opportunity to share her love for cheesecake with the world.
Joana Maldonado
Pasteles la MoreliAna
Joana Maldonado, co-owner and marketing manager of Pasteles La MoreliAna Truck located in Alabama, is a first generation Mexican-American.
She was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to two hard-working parents who immigrated from Mexico for a better life. She moved to Birmingham in her mid-teen years and has been here ever since.
Her food truck idea came from her mother’s many years of baking and her massive following on her social media platforms. "Her followers were wanting to try her desserts in person, which led us to open up Pasteles La MoreliAna!
"Our company name is a combination of my mother’s name, Ana, and the city she grew up in in Mexico called Morelia, hence 'MoreliAna.'"
