New Orleans Hospitality Grants

Leading From The Heart Awards

The Leading from the Heart Awards recognize women in the 10-parish New Orleans community who have made a positive impact in hospitality, sustainability, food justice, or public health. Awardees receive a $2,500 grant to support their work. We raise money for these grants through donations, ticket sales for Hot Dish, our annual fundraiser, and other events throughout the year.

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Since 2023, LDEI NOLA has awarded $25,000 in grants to 10 women as part of our mission to support women in hospitality in our community.

Leading From The Heart Awards

2024

2023

2025

2026

Honorees

A close-up of a woman with beautifully styled makeup featuring orange and gold eyeshadows, thick eyelashes, and glossy lips, wearing large hoop earrings.

Chassidy Walker

Chassidy, lead bartender at Fritai NOLA, is a hospitality professional and mentor dedicated to uplifting New Orleans’ service industry community. Through the Leading from the Heart Award, she will further her education and support local organizations to expand access and opportunity for the next generation of bartenders and hospitality leaders.

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Ashley Webb

Ashley, co-founder of Barcelo Gardens, transformed access to fresh food in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward by turning an abandoned lot into a thriving community garden, educational hub, and farmers market in one of the city’s largest food deserts. Through pop-ups, partnerships with farmers, and free gardening classes, she brings fresh, affordable produce directly to families in need. Support from the Leading from the Heart Award will strengthen farm infrastructure, expand community distribution, and ensure her work continues to nourish and empower the neighborhood.

A woman wearing black chef's coat with red embroidery, black glasses, and a colorful headband, standing against a brick wall.

Martha Wiggins

Martha is the Executive Chef and Chief Culinary Officer at Café Reconcile, where she transforms lives through hospitality by mentoring young people facing barriers to employment. The Leading from the Heart Award will help expand her impact by strengthening program infrastructure and creating greater opportunities for New Orleans youth to build sustainable culinary careers.

2025

Honorees

A woman wearing glasses, large earrings, a colorful headwrap, and a white chef's coat, smiling in front of a white wooden wall.

Carla Briggs

Chef, educator and entrepreneur committed to uplifting others through food, community and education. Her $2,500 grant will fund an immersive, educational experience for junior high school girls, including a hands-on baking workshop and walking tour highlighting The People’s Bakery, a black-owned cooperative in post-Civil War New Orleans, and other Reconstruction-era stories of entrepreneurship, resilience and community.

A young woman smiling outdoors with a background of a white fence, trees, and a modern building. She has long braided hair, large earrings, and is wearing a colorful, patterned jacket.

Mina Seck

Mina is the Community Food Director of SproutNOLA, a non-profit that supports established and developing small-scale and sustainable farmers, community gardeners and farm workers in Louisiana with technical and social support. Her $2,500 grant will fund new community classes focused on the arts, herbalism and cooking, including teacher stipends, materials and supplies.

2024

Honorees

Close-up of a woman wearing a black chef uniform with a small emblem of a fork and spoon on the pocket, smiling, with her hands clasped in front of her.

Sinnidra Taylor

Founder of Codey's Nola, a non-profit commissary kitchen/incubator for up-and-coming New Orleans food entrepreneurs focused on access to affordable commercial kitchen space, technical assistance, and revenue-generating opportunities.

A woman with dark wavy hair, wearing pearl earrings and a patterned beige jacket, smiling slightly, against a plain white background.

Thuy Pham

Owner of Nola Nite Market, a monthly market/food festival at the Westwego Farmers Market spotlighting Asian food businesses in New Orleans. The market recognizes how cultural influences on New Orleans food have grown beyond the city's French and Italian food histories, and creates a space for Asian-American dishes to be considered part of New Orleans contemporary food experience.

2023

Honorees

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Amanda Toups

Co-owner of Toups Meatery, and her husband Isaac provided free meals to hundreds of displaced hospitality workers, families in need, and local hospitals throughout the pandemic. She is a supporter of The Leona Tate Foundation for Change, which educates audiences on the history of school desegregation and its role in the broader Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans. She also works closely with Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen and raises funds during Breast Cancer Awareness month (October), earmarking proceeds for women battling the disease through the Louisiana Hospitality Foundation.

A woman with dark, curly hair, wearing a black shirt, red lipstick, and a black apron, smiling and holding a tray with food in a commercial kitchen.

Cristina Quackenbush

Chef/owner of Milkfish, is the co-founder and president of the Good Trouble Network, a non-profit that leads monthly fundraisers featuring local chefs to support causes related to racial justice, prison reform, reproductive rights, and accessible housing. During the pandemic, she started assembling dinner boxes featuring renowned local chefs to raise funds for causes including the Innocence Project of New Orleans and the ACLU of Louisiana.

A woman with shoulder-length wavy hair, wearing a black top and a silver necklace, standing outdoors next to a tree with her hand on her hip.

Olivia McCoy

Founder and director of WeHelp NOLA, a local, woman-owned and operated organization that provides free mental healthcare and wellness services to service industry workers in New Orleans. WeHelp partners with local restaurants that pay about $10 per employee, per month, for a membership that gives their staff access to therapy and wellness services — all free of charge to the employee