Staff Bios

Jessamyn W. Rodriguez, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Jessamyn Waldman is the founder and Executive Director of the award-winning Hot Bread Kitchen.   Since its inception in 2007, she has lead the growth of the organization from a visionary idea to a thriving bakery and workforce development program.  Hot Bread Kitchen won the 2009 “Best Small Business” for Queens from the NYC Department of Small Businesses and has become nationally recognized brand that has been covered in print (New York Times, Daily News, and Food & Wine Magazine), TV (Today Show & NPK), and Radio.

Jessamyn combines her passions for baking and social justice for foreign-born women in Hot Bread Kitchen.  Her efforts have also been recognized by Echoing Green, which selected her from over 1500 social entrepreneurs and by the Eileen Fisher Company that awarded her a Grant for Women Entrepreneurs in 2007.  Jessamyn has an MPA from Columbia University and a BA from the University of British Columbia. Before starting Hot Bread Kitchen, she gained 10 years of experience in NGO’s, government, and the United Nations, focusing on human rights, education, and immigration issues. She worked in many places, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Bosnia, Guatemala, and Chile.  Jessamyn also has a Master Baker certificate from the New School University and was the first woman to be hired as a baker at Chef Daniel Boulud’s renowned Restaurant Daniel.

Rachael Nemeth, Operations Manager

Rachael manages operations at Hot Bread Kitchen. She works to keep the facility running safely and efficiently with an ear on communication and an eye on protocol. She started out volunteering as an ESL tutor in an effort to pave a new career path lined with social work and teaching. That quickly turned into a very serious love for Hot Bread Kitchen, its mission, and its people. Though it was meant to be a temporary volunteer opportunity, Hot Bread Kitchen has become a well-angled trajectory for Rachael, allowing her to view bakeries in a different light while she works next to the talented people who are as equally committed to the mission as she.

When she’s not in packaging or solving problems, she’s usually reading but Rachael’s first love is travel. The exposure to new people, languages, and ideas is what continually allows her to grow. She views her career with Hot Bread Kitchen as being on par with the enrichment gained from travelling abroad. She has a bachelor’s in Art History and never plans to use it.

Robin Burger, Business Development Manager

Robin oversees Hot Bread Kitchen’s day-to-day business operations and works to expand the organization’s training capacity by growing the bakery’s bread sales. When she’s not crunching numbers or making sales calls she can be found selling bread at a Greenmarket, on the tortilla line helping to identify the ideal masa texture, or in the kitchen covered in flour.  Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Robin grew up surrounded by a plethora of artisan bakeries and Mexican restaurants, thus cultivating a deep love for great bread and tortillas at an early age. Prior to working with Hot Bread Kitchen, she spent two years as a program educator for a community-food-focused youth development program in Poughkeepsie, NY, where she discovered her passion for combining food, education, and social justice. Robin holds a degree in economics from Vassar College. She has spent time studying, traveling, and eating throughout Central America and Mexico and speaks Spanish.

Molly Crossin, Office Manager

Molly oversees the day-to-day functioning of the Hot Bread Kitchen offices including managing Hot Bread Kitchen’s website and social media profiles. In addition to office management, Molly is also an integral part of Hot Bread Kitchen’s development team, researching and writing grant proposals. A graduate of Barnard College, where she received a Bachelors degree in Political Science, Molly began working for Hot Bread Kitchen as an intern.

Molly first became interested in food while working on an agro-tourism cheese farm in Abruzzo, Italy.  Once back in New York, Molly heard about Hot Bread Kitchen from the Saxelby Cheese newsletter and knew that she had to get involved with an innovative organization that combined her passion for food and social justice. Prior to working with Hot Bread Kitchen, Molly worked at the MacArthur Foundation and The New Yorker Magazine.

Beatriz Mieses-Hernandez, Community Liaison

Beatriz Mieses-Hernandez is a natural connector. She brings her passion for serving immigrant women and natural ability to create networks of support to Hot Bread Kitchen as its newest team member. A native of Dominican Republic, Beatriz migrated to the United States in 1995. She knows firsthand about the many challenges women face when they migrate to the United States.  For two years Beatriz worked at the factory during the day and studied English at night. Since then she has obtained a bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the City University of New York and a her Master’s in Public Policy and Administration at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She has over 10 years of experience serving the needs of immigrant women in New York City.

John Walker, Consulting Financial Director

John is the Financial Director of the social venture funder Echoing Green. Educated in physics and egineering, John graduated from the EMBA-Global program at Columbia University and London Business Schools. Recently he has held senior management positions at BAE Systems where he was responsible for airborne Radar products. He has also worked for Pentland Systems where he helped to co-author a business strategy that helped secure $5m of venture capital.

John learned of Hot Bread Kitchen when Founder Jessamyn Waldman was selected as an Echoing Green Fellow in 2007. John initially became involved as a member of the Board of Directors but recently stepped down to take a more active role as a consultant for the organization.

Anika Pyle, Sales Coordinator

Anika spends her time as a liaison between hungry customers and an eager production team. She is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of Hot Bread Kitchen’s retail, restaurant and catering sales, in addition to scheduling and coordinating ongoing in-store demos and events.

Anika is dedicated to finding ways to meld her love for all things edible with her fervent passion for social justice. Anika graduated from NYU with a degree in Metropolitan Studies and Food Studies. She began at Hot Bread Kitchen as an intern, splitting her time between HBK’s growing sales department and independent research in the intersections of food and gentrification. Prior to Hot Bread Kitchen, she spent four months in Accra, Ghana where she interned for a HIV/AIDS prevention non-profit, volunteer farmed at an agroturismo in San Potito Italy, and managed a tea shop in the East Village. She believes that food, as one of our most intimate cultural facets, has the power to give marginalized populations a just and deserved seat at the table.