CHEF ALISA
Chef Alisa Reynolds was the Executive Chef/Owner of Los Angeles’s very popular My Two Cents restaurant, and the host of the hit Hulu show “Searching for Soul Food” and the podcast “My Last Meal with Chef Alisa.” She was nominated in 2024 by the James Beard Foundation as Best Chef: California.
A Los Angeles native, Chef Alisa began her professional career as a visual merchandiser designer for Saks Fifth Avenue Beverly Hills before moving into TV and film production, working from wardrobe to postproduction on several television shows and films. Not creatively satisfied, Alisa decided to change directions. As an innately gifted cook, Alisa began her journey toward becoming a chef in when she worked with Celebrity Chef David Burke at his legendary Park Avenue Café in New York City. She went on to work with some of L.A.’s top chefs including Chef Hans Rockenwagner of Rockenwagner, Joachim Splichal of Patina and Fred Erich of Vida and Tiara.
Chef Alisa opened her own restaurant, the critically celebrated Paio in Los Angeles’s hip Silver Lake neighborhood, in 1998. That was followed by east coast collaborations with New York’s Chef Dennis Foy. For years she served the French food found in most high-end restaurants. That would change when she opened My 2 Cents in Mid-City, Los Angeles in 2013. She wanted to show what soul food could be in a healthy and organic environment. Whether it's her gluten free fried chicken, quinoa mac and cheese or grit fries accompanied by fresh market vegetables, Chef Alisa has introduced how soul food can evolve without losing the comfort and flavor it is coveted for. “My parents are from the south, so I grew up on a lot of these traditional recipes and after years of cooking in the fine dining arena and traveling the world, I really wanted to bring to the table soul food in a modern and eclectic way.”
For the last 10 years she has grown a huge following, having catered distinguished events including the Golden Globes, CAA Party, the IFF Awards, and Sundance Festival. Her vast client list includes Joaquin Phoenix, Flaunt Magazine, Levi’s, Nike, Barack Obama, Gwen Stefani, Oprah Winfrey, Macy Gray and Undefeated, to name just a few. In 2021, Beats by Dre celebrated her with their FlowersForBlackWoman program.
KARON DAVIS
Karon Davis’ (b.1977, Reno, Nevada) work strides the line between visual art and performance. In communion with one another, her figurative sculptures form enigmatic tableaux that suggest both personal and collective stories tied to contemporary and ancient themes, historical events, and the artist’s lived experiences. Davis begins each sculpture by making a plaster cast of a real person—often a friend, family member, stranger befriended on the street, or the artist herself. The final work is both rooted in the personal and, as she builds upon and transforms the figures into their roles like actors in a play, reflective of a broader collective experience.
Karon founded the Underground Museum in 2012 alongside her late husband, Noah Davis. The UM was a cultural hub that ensured no one had to travel outside the neighborhood to see world-class art, or learn from leading thinkers, educators, chefs, and artists. With the help of countless collaborators, the UM brought art, culture, and wellness directly to the Arlington Heights neighborhood while also amplifying the importance of local Black leadership on a global scale. The UM exhibited and/or worked with cultural luminaries such as Angela Davis, Arthur Jafa, Barry Jenkins, Catherine Opie, Deana Lawson, EJ Hill, Fred Moten, Hans Haacke, Jason Moran, Kara Walker, Lorna Simpson, Patrisse Cullors, and others. In addition to the artistic program, the UM offered free yoga and meditation classes to its neighbors, as well as fresh food distribution and events for adults, kids, and families in the space and garden.
Davis grew up in New York and attended Spelman College before studying film at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Museum exhibitions include: Karon Davis: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood, ICA Boston, Boston MA; Black American Portraits, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA; Starless Midnight, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle, UK; NEW SUNS, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, NL; and Reclamation! Pan- African Works from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection at the Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA. Gallery solo and group exhibitions include: Beauty Must Suffer, Salon 94, NY, NY, MUDDY WATER and Pain Management, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Noah Davis, David Zwirner, NY, NY; No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, Jeffrey Deitch, NY, NY/Los Angeles, CA; FEEDBACK, curated by Helen Molesworth, Jack Shainman Gallery | The School, Kinderhook, NY; POWER, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles, CA; Rock my Soul curated by Isaac Julien, Victoria Miro, London, UK; CONDO London, Herald St., London, UK, and Dreamweavers, UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, CA. Davis is a recipient of The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation 2017 Biennial Grant. Davis' work is in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami FL; The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX; The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, The Bunker, West Palm Beach, FL; and the Rubell Museum, Miami, FL and Washington D.C.