At Reimagining Us, we delve into the enchanting world where food meets memory, tradition, and identity.
Our project is a celebration of the unique ways in which traditional family recipes, enriched with intimate memories, connect us to our familial roots and diverse origins. It's a journey through the flavors, aromas, and textures that shape our personal and collective histories.
Behind this vibrant exploration is our dedicated team – a group of passionate individuals from varied backgrounds, each bringing their own experiences and expertise. United by a shared love for culinary heritage and storytelling, we work together to bring you compelling narratives, recipes, and insights that highlight the universal language of food.
Join us as we uncover the stories simmering in kitchens around the world, stories that reveal much more than ingredients and techniques – they reveal who we are.
Who are we?
Chris Yong-Garcia
Project Leader | Creative Director
Based in New York City, Chris Yong-Garcia is a creative director, designer, and cultural producer. With a career ignited at JWT as an art director, Chris quickly became known for his innovative vision and dynamic approach to creative storytelling. At Indika Advertising, he crafted campaigns for clients like HBO, Miramax Films, Spike TV, IFC Films, and TWC.
In 2008, Chris founded Eyestorm Design, a graphic design studio with a focus on imaginative visual solutions. He also launched LatinLover Food & Travel Magazine in January 2012, a publication connecting Latinos and non-Latinos through a love for Latin culture, cuisine, and travel.
Chris's journey now continues with the Reimagining Us project, where he combines his extensive experience in design and cultural storytelling to create a platform that celebrates culinary heritage and the diverse tapestry of personal narratives.
Camila Valdeavellano
Project Advisor
Camila is a visual artist that explores human adventure in diverse territories. She considers herself to be a nomad. By crossing different languages and borders, she reveals the immensity of Nature and her endurance and fragility through installation, painting, drawing, and photography; Extraer_Contener (2019) was at the Centro Cultural Inca Garcilaso, in Lima, Peru, where she currently lives, after moving from Arequipa where she exposed Telúrica y Magnética (2018) at the Vargas Llosa Library.
She lived also in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she participated in NosOtros- Otra Vision de las Americas, at Instituto Cervantes; a group of artists curated from neighboring countries came-up with creations about territory and culture.
Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo
Project Advisor
Cynthia is a Brooklyn-based Colombian digital artist, technologist and educator. She is Associate Professor of Integrated Design at Parsons School of Design, and has held a variety of leadership roles including, starting in January, Dean of the School of Design Strategies. She is the co-creator of the “Business Design for Social Impact” non-credit certificate and her current research focuses on the Parsons DEED Research Lab, which she co-founded in 2007 and currently directs. DEED Lab brings together students, faculty, and external partners from business, design, development and policy to model more equitable ways for designers to work with artisans, and for artisans to sustain their livelihoods.
Brian Waniewski
Project Advisor
Brian has a record of establishing innovative organizations at the intersection of tech and social impact. Before Harmony Labs, he served as managing director at Institute of Play. He also served on the core founding teams for Quest to Learn, a New York City public school that leverages game design to make school engaging and culturally relevant for young people; and GlassLab Games, a Silicon Valley development shop transforming digital games, like SimCity, into classroom learning environments with real-time formative assessments built-in.
Alexandre Surralles
Project Advisor
Alexandre is Chair Professor of Anthropology at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS, Paris), senior researcher at the Centre National de la Recherché Scientifique (CNRS) and member of the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale, Collége de France, Paris. His books include La raison lexicographique; découverte des langues et origine de l'anthropologie and Au coeur du sens; perception affectivité, action chez les Candoshi as well as the anthology, The Land Within: Indigenous Territories and Perception of Environment.