Award-winning chef, restaurateur, author, and activist Marcus Samuelsson is the esteemed chef behind many restaurants worldwide, including Red Rooster Harlem and Red Rooster Overtown in Miami; Hav & Mar in the Chelsea Arts District; Metropolis at the Perelman Performing Arts Center in Downtown Manhattan; Marcus restaurants in Atlanta, New Jersey, and DC, plus several international locations including the Bahamas, Canada, and Ethiopia as well as numerous Streetbird and Vibe BBQ outlets in the U.S. and Bahamas.

Samuelsson was the youngest person ever to receive a three-star review from The New York Times. He has won eight James Beard Foundation Awards and was the guest chef for the Obama Administration’s first state dinner. Samuelsson is a longstanding judge and TV personality on the hit Food Network show Chopped, head judge of Top Chef: Family Style, and an Iron Chef on Netflix’s rebooted Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, and makes frequent appearances on Scandinavian TV. He is also the author of multiple books including The New York Times bestseller Yes, Chef: A Memoir as well as the critically acclaimed The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food.

To complement his professional commitments, Samuelsson is co-chair of Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), which focuses on helping underserved youth. He participates in lectures globally, most recently with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The New York Times during Climate Week NYC 2024.