Author, Founder and CEO, Basbaas Foods; Brooklyn, NY

Hawa Hassan is a James Beard Award winner and a culinary triple threat: dynamic chef, TV personality, and entrepreneur. She's the founder of Basbaas Foods, a line of condiments inspired by her home country of Somalia, a fast-growing brand that has been featured in Forbes, the New York Times, Eater and more. Her first cookbook-meets-travelogue, In Bibi's Kitchen, written with Julia Turshen and published by Penguin Radnom House, shares recipes and stories from grandmothers—or bibis—in eight African countries, bordering the Indian Ocean. The book received wide acclaim, including being named as one of “The Best Cookbooks of Fall 2020” by the New York Times and it recently received the 2022 James Beard Book Award in the international category. Chef Hawa is also the host of Hawa at Home on the Food Network. (Brooklyn, NY) @hawahassan