2024-2025 BOARD
DEE LAVIGNE — President
Chef Dwynesha "Dee" Lavigne was born and raised in New Orleans. She was professionally trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Chef Lavigne is the owner of Deelightful Roux School of Cooking, the only African American-owned cooking school taught by a New Orleans native. Chef Dee is teaching hands-on classes, guiding students through a tour of Southern cuisine. Chef Dee is also a passionate advocate for special needs inclusion and a community volunteer.
IG @Deelightfulroux
FB @ChefDeeLavigne
https://www.chefdeelavigne.com
CHRISTA COTTON — Immediate Past President
There are spirits and then there’s spirit, and Christa Cotton embodies both. A native of Leesburg, Georgia, Christa moved to New Orleans after helping her parents open Thirteenth Colony Distilleries, Georgia's first legal distillery since Prohibition, while in college at Auburn. After a stint in advertising, Christa founded New Orleans Beverage Group and purchased the El Guapo trademark in 2017. Specializing in zero-proof bitters, El Guapo has expanded into syrups and mixers and is Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certified. Christa is a 7x Good Food Award winner, LEE Initiative mentor, Les Dames d'Escoffier Legacy Award: Fine Spirits recipient, and a Fellow in both the Tory Burch Foundation and the James Beard Foundation. She currently serves as the President of Les Dames d’Escoffier New Orleans and Monarch of Krewe de Nieux, a social aid and pleasure club for New Orleans Entrepreneurs. She’s successfully raised seven figures in investment capital and relocated from 1,800 square feet to a 32,500 square foot production facility & warehouse in Mid-City. She’s been featured in Southern Living, Forbes, Garden & Gun, Martha Stewart and Fedex Small Business national ad campaigns. She lives Uptown in a pink 1902 double shotgun with her 4-year old, Flora, life partner, Brian and Bernese Mountain Dog, Archie Manning. It’s a vibe & she is busy.
REBECCA SCHATTMAN — VP of Philanthropy
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas – Rebecca truly grew up in New Orleans. While in college at Loyola New Orleans, she began building a foundation in guest-centric service as a host at Emeril’s Delmonico. After receiving a call from a friend needing help with a project for their internship, Rebecca fell into the world of cocktails when she volunteered at Tales of the Cocktail – being apart of the growth and rise of the festival from running seminar rooms and overseeing registration and media – being exposed to an international group of industry professionals was the ultimate calling. Rebecca joined the team at Dickie Brennan & Company later becoming the assistant general manager of Bourbon House. With a passion for history and a flair for a great narrative – Rebecca joined the team at Broussard’s as the general manager in 2017 and now serves as the Area Manager for Broussard’s and Bombay Club. Continuing to be play a part of the narrative of Broussard’s and showcasing rich history of the dining and drinking culture of New Orleans is truly an honor.
SUZANNE FELBER — VP of Programming
Suzanne Felber trademarked the term Lifestylist® in 2000 when she realized that her brand didn’t fit in the usual categories. As a Lifestylist, Suzanne has focused her career on her three passions, wine, dining, and great design. She has been on the national design and healthy kitchen councils for LG Appliances, Thermador, and Beko, and was the lifestylist for the LG / SKS Experience and Design Center in Napa, CA. She has been a member of LDEI for almost 10 years, and has attended numerous LDEI conferences. Felber fell in love with New Orleans after helping to design and decorate over 3,000 Katrina Cottages after Hurricane Katrina, and is excited to be on the board and to be able to give back again with this amazing group of women.
www.lifestylist.com
Social: @Lifestylist
LinkedIn
NICOLE EIDEN — Treasurer
Nicole M.K. Eiden is a writer and food culture advocate. She co-ran the beloved New Orleans pie company, Windowsill Pies for eleven years. Her time as a piemaker included a win on Food Network’s Sugar Showdown and a feature in Food & Wine magazine. Nicole’s debut collection of poems, I Am One of You (Mississippi Sound Publishing, 2016), was selected by Kirkus Reviews as a featured book in their Indie category. Her poems have won awards, including the 2023 LNML Broadside Poetry Contest winner, 2021 Words and Music Writing Contest co-runner-up, and third place in the 2016 Women’s National Book Association Writing Contest.
COLLEEN RUSH — VP of Communications
Colleen has been elbow-deep in the print and digital publishing industry — books, magazines, newspapers, websites, you name it — for more than 25 years. She’s a top-of-the-masthead editor, an eye-for-the-minutiae project manager, published author and freelance writer with bylines in everything from Saveur and Gourmet (RIP) to Maxim and Cosmo (seriously). She is the author of “The Mere Mortal’s Guide to Fine Dining,” “Low & Slow: Master the Art of Barbecue in 5 Easy Lessons”, “Low & Slow 2: The Art of Barbecue, Smoke-Roasting & Basic Curing”, and other titles too long to put here. (Google it. Don’t judge.)
In 2016, she helped start a scrappy, phenom marketing agency that illuminated the path to launching Crush Editorial, a bespoke creative collective. Crush curates and leads teams of high-level writers, editors, designers and photographers to tackle all sorts of creative projects.
SUE STRACHAN — Secretary
Sue Strachan has written about New Orleans culture, food, history and current events for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles, New Orleans Magazine, St. Charles Avenue, Preservation in Print, the Camellia Bean blog as well as other topics for Time (Asia) and HG magazine. She also served as public relations director for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
Sue’s first book — “The Café Brûlot” — is part of LSU Press’ Iconic New Orleans Cocktail series. She just finished her second book for LSU Press, "The Obituary Cocktail," while working as an editor at financial media company, Benzinga. You can also watch her on WWL-TV’s Great Day Louisiana talking about movies for “Hollywood Highlights.”
Sue is a graduate of Tulane University.
suestrachan.com
Social: @SueStrachan504
linkedin.com/in/sue-strachan-new-orleans/
JENNIFER KELLEY KILLIAN — VP of Membership
Jennifer Killian is a passionate professional with over two decades of non-profit leadership, fundraising, and project management experience. She is responsible for identifying critical funding that supports Chef Aarón Sánchez's philanthropic initiatives, as well as managing his impact programs for Latino youth.