JENNIFER CROSSLAND, DIRECTOR
From Beleville, IL., Jennifer brings to the foundation a wealth of restaurant and food industry knowledge. Jennifer grew up in Arizona surrounded by orange groves and orchards that no longer exist. Her family has always placed emphasis on having a backyard garden and from a young age she was surrounded by home grown fruits and vegetables. She claims it was her Grandfat
her that taught her how to eat vegetables when he paid her to try them at the dinner table every summer. Jennifer has worked in restaurants from Santa Monica, California to New York City. The majority of her experience is with from scratch cooking that utilizes the freshest ingredients possible. Having worked in both northern and southern California, Jennifer was able to visit farmers markets on a weekly basis and see first hand how communities and restaurants benefit from fresh, local produce. Several of the restaurants she helped managed even had their own herb and lettuce gardens that provided food for the daily menu. While studying pastry at El Centro College, Jennifer was very active with the Le Dammes de Escoffier project called Days of Taste. The program was designed to teach fourth and fifth graders from lower income schools about how we taste food and involved the local Dallas Farmers Market. Jennifer's strengths are operations management, vision, leadership, public speaking and motivation. She holds a degree from Pepperdine University in Public Relations and is passionate about making an impact on communities in need. HANNAH MARSHALL, RESIDENT NUTRITIONIST & DIRECTOR OF FOOD SCIENCE
Hannah grew up in Houston, “helping” her mother review fancy restaurants and eating all the Bluebell ice cream she could. She spent vacations on the family farm in Kansas: driving the combine, grinding wheat for fresh bread, and fishing for dinner in the Cottonwood River. During high school, Hannah spent her summers as an instructor at an ‘indoor-recess’ kind of day camp: food allergies for most, hand-eye coordination for some, and science experiments for all. She helped kindergarteners plant beans and seventh grade boys build bottle rockets. She also volunteered at the Houston Zoo, teaching children about Komodo Dragons and the importance of recycling. A progression of similarly themed obsessions - dinosaurs to rain forests to insects to fireworks and food - eventually led Hannah to Texas State University to study Clinical Dietetics and chemistry. Upon moving to Austin, Hannah started working in the restaurant industry as a hostess; a job she quickly became very passionate about. In 2010 she joined the opening team at Congress, where she earned national recognition as Esquire magazine's Hostess of the Year. Hannah is grateful for her parents, who taught her the secrets to happiness: good food and good company. And for all of her family and friends, for so amply supplying both.
