The Eat Life Team

Meet Brandon

Brandon graduated from The French Culinary Institute (FCI) and is the founder of Eat Life FCI. She also writes for Food Network’s Food2, cooks for Danny Meyer’s Hudson Yards Catering, and has a column on Saveur.com called Art of the Table.

Finding pleasure in farmers markets and eclectic dinnerware, Brandon fuses dining with decor. A Washington DC native with a background in interior design and marketing, Brandon’s love for artsy dinner parties, and simple approach to cooking motivated her to pursue the culinary arts in New York. You can find her combining interior décor with unfussy recipes to create an imaginative and tasteful setting.

Meet Jeremy

Jeremy was born and raised in Texas and moved to New York 2 years ago to pursue his dream of becoming a chef. Before this, he traveled the country doing large scale interior design projects. Jeremy runs marathons and looks for the spiciest foods he can eat, in his spare time. He attends the French Culinary institute and works for Epicurious.com.

Meet Andrea
Andrea Scalici is a French Culinary graduate who joined the Eat Life Team as a writer and editor. When she isn't cooking up her meatballs or cheesecake, she is experimenting with pastas at home. Andrea works for Hudson Yards Catering and for MLB.com in the multimedia department.

Meet Megan

Megan Moore graduated from the French Culinary Institute in 2001. After working for Slow Food, she accepted the opportunity to work in some of New York’s best restaurants, including Brasserie 8 ½ and 5 Ninth. For the past two years she has been a Private Chef. Her sweet tooth has made her an incredible Pastry Chef, and free-trade chocolate aficionado.

Meet Tom

Tom DeRosa is a renowned stylist and French Culinary student. He joined Eat Life as a photo editor and stylist. As one of the most active members of his class, he is constantly challenging himself. When he’s not in the kitchen or at a photo shoot, he’s indulging in Valencia Paella.

Meet Chad

Chad Fraley is new to the culinary arts. A career changer, he worked in INTL. Shipping/Receiving for 5 years at Texas Instruments. Chad was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and loves chicken fried steak. He joined Eat Life as a writer. And has been in the Northeast since starting culinary school in June with his wife and English bulldog.

Meet Adam

Adam, born and raised in Queens New York, is currently a FCI Culinary Arts student. He graduated SUNY Binghamton with a degree in Political Science, but like so many people at FCI, decided food was what he really wanted to do. While he has a reputation among his classmates for creating outrageous flavor combinations his true passion is local, sustainable, seasonal food prepared simply. He food writes for Eat Life!

Meet Rebekah

Rebekah Peppler is a nighttime pastry student at the FCI. A recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh with a B.A. in Journalism, she combines her love of script and food as a writer and photographer for Eat Life. When she’s not whipping up decadent treats in class, working on her photography or planning her next trip overseas, you can find her elbow deep in a cookie jar.

Meet Diana

Diana left a 10-year corporate career to pursue her true interest: food. About a year ago she realized she prefers the heat of the kitchen over the glare of the computer screen and decided to drop her comfortable life in Florida for the fast-paced FCI culinary program. While not at school, she spends her time between washing and turning cheese at the Artisanal cheese caves, and rubbing elbows with great chefs at the De Gustibus Cooking school as an assistant cook.