Who We Are
Our team has worked for some of the leading hospitality businesses in the world, including Union Square Hospitality Group, Momofuku, The Dinex Group, Dig, Blue Hill Stone Barns, Prune, Via Carota, Instacart, Banza, Whole Foods, Bunkhouse Hotels, Wagstaff Worldwide, Bon Appetit, and more.
We’re located cost-to-coast, drawing inspiration from New Orleans, New York, Denver, Mexico City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sonoma, Montreal, Washington, DC, and beyond.
Elizabeth Tilton
Founder + CEO | New Orleans
Elizabeth’s hospitality career started with several years of back of house experience in New Orleans and eventually moved to NYC to join Momofuku. On the branding team, Elizabeth managed the public relations and marketing for Momofuku’s New York restaurants, market research for Momofuku’s expansion in the US, and major partnerships with companies such as The World Bank, Sweetgreen, Patagonia, Lucky Peach + MAD in Copenhagen.
Prior to launching Oyster Sunday in 2019, Elizabeth was part of the original leadership team and the Head of Brand at W&P, a vertically-integrated design and manufacturing company developing culinary products. She managed a department to strategize and execute the launch of 300 + products including products in partnerships with Williams-Sonoma, West Elm, Lucas Films + Food52. She lives in New Orleans with her husband.
Jessica Abell
Chief Operating Officer | Brooklyn
Jessica approaches everything she does at OS with a passion for hospitality and taking care of others, a deep understanding of restaurant operations, and a growth mindset. Prior to joining Oyster Sunday in 2020, she spent six years working for Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG). Most recently she sat on the Business Development team and led USHG in managing new business openings. Her early tenure at USHG also included time in BOH and FOH operations.
Before joining USHG, she worked at global branding agency Siegel + Gale and the publishing company Simon & Schuster. In 2013 she decided to pursue her lifelong passion for cooking and attend the Institute of Culinary Education, which ultimately led her to Danny Meyer. She loves traveling, cooking, reading fiction, and playing tennis. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, daughter, and dog.
Sophie Amodeo
Head of People + Operations | Los Angeles
Sophie is a people-focused operations leader with over 10 years of experience working with restaurants and food companies. She began her career at her family's diner in Michigan, which is where her passion for restaurants and their people began. Prior to joining Oyster Sunday, she worked with award-winning businesses such as Blue Hill at Stone Barns, where she oversaw hospitality consulting projects, and Prune Restaurant on the management team. She firmly believes that a people strategy is a good business strategy and is passionate about partnering with operators to help build businesses that reflect their cultural values, vision, and growth objectives. Sophie studied Human Development and Social Relations and lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
Jalees Khalid
Head of Finance + Analytics | New Orleans
Jalees helps businesses translate their data into strategy by turning financial models into decision-making tools for clients in hospitality, retail, and CPG. Prior to joining Oyster Sunday, Jalees was the Director of Marketing + Sales at InnoGenomics Technologies, a start-up molecular biology R&D company based in New Orleans. He also co-founded Ansanm, a boutique consulting company that was sold in 2022. Jalees began his career in consulting as an associate at Caerus Management, where he managed client engagements, provided market research, developed revenue forecasts, and conducted data analysis to support businesses in hospitality, healthcare, biotech, and education.
Byron Lo
Senior Manager, Digital Marketing | Brooklyn
Byron is a digital marketer with a focus on growing food and beverage brands. Prior to Oyster Sunday, he worked at Instacart, where he strategized digital advertising campaigns for a broad client portfolio ranging from exciting emerging food startups to the world’s largest CPG brands. Byron began his career in the food industry at Banza, building out their sales and promotional strategy for natural and conventional grocers. When he's not at his desk, you can find Byron in Brooklyn strolling around his neighborhood wine shop.
Carlie Johnson
Senior Project Manager | Brooklyn
Carlie attributes her love of the hospitality industry to her Midwestern roots, and summers spent working at a bustling restaurant in her hometown of St. Louis. Her career has since included time at Le Cordon Bleu, Union Square Hospitality Group, Sakara Life and most recently, the New York based fast-casual restaurant group, DIG. As Project Manager of Operations & Innovation, she led restaurant openings, new concept developments, and marketing initiatives from concept ideation through launch. A lifelong learner, Carlie loves meeting new people and a good adventure.
Maude Paquette Boulva
Art Director + Designer | Montreal
Maude is a Canadian designer and art director with a passion for branding and book design. She started her career in the food industry at a Québécois cooking publication, and then moved to New York City where she worked on both agency and brand sides for the next five years. She now lives in Montreal, working as an independent consultant for various clients across the US and Canada.
Mariel Olivo
Designer | New York City
Mariel is a Creative Director and designer with an eye for people-first branding. For 10+ years, she has helped lifestyle hospitality brands get down to the nitty-gritty of why they do what they do, helping them tell their story in a creative & compelling way. Before opening up her own brand strategy & design shop, Mariel led the creative department at DFRG — overseeing 70+ locations for their brands: Barcelona Wine Bar, bartaco, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle, and Del Frisco’s Grille.
Lauren DeFilippo Jackson
Designer | Denver
A designer with a degree in psychology, Lauren has an eye for the subtle ways that typography, color and overall aesthetics can capture a mood or convey a sense of personality. After graduating from Parsons School of Design, she honed her skills in the hospitality design department at AvroKo and the studio of luxury printed materials designer, Ceci New York, while pursuing freelance photography for various food brands and publications. Building on this visual portfolio, she relocated to Denver in 2014, serving as the Brand Manager for Richard Sandoval Restaurants and the in-house designer for boutique architecture firm, JNS, while growing Cognoscenti Creative as an independent business.
Carly DeFilippo
Brand Strategist | Denver
Carly is a brand strategist and copywriter currently based in Colorado. Over the course of 10+ years in the food and hospitality industries, she has worked with clients that range from industry leaders—like Chef Daniel Boulud and La Marzocco—to small business owners and first-time entrepreneurs. She is also an editorial contributor to Life & Thyme and Edible Denver magazines.
Carey Polis
Copywriter | Washington, DC
Carey Polis has worked in food media for 16+ years as a writer, editor, and digital strategist. She was the former digital director at Bon Appétit and interim executive editor at The Kitchn. She's also worked with Food52, Epicurious, The Washington Post, and more. Carey loves clean copy, brainstorming newsletter subject lines, and a really good bowl of French onion soup. When not tracking changes in Google Docs, you can find her cooking, reading fiction, and spending time with her two children.
Katie Bell
Operations + Training Consultant | Sonoma
Katie is an operations and leadership strategist with over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry. She spent 10 years at James Beard and Michelin awarded restaurants in Los Angeles and New York City, including leading Dan Barber’s Blue Hill in Manhattan and Claus Meyer’s Agern. She then focused her skill set specifically on the opening phase and worked with Danny Meyer’s USHG, Dig Inn, and other clients large and small to bring their restaurant and hotel projects to fruition and success. She is based in Sonoma, CA and NYC, is a contributor to Life & Thyme magazine, and is a runner of increasingly long distances.
Lisa Reile
Hospitality Consultant | Austin, New Orleans + the Berkshires
The Reilest started in 2017 as the culmination of three decades of experience in developing and managing iconic brands. A natural social connector and attuned cultural interpreter, Lisa delivers the hustle and know-how to bring your creative vision to life. Good design alone is not enough to thrive — visionaries need an operational universe that grounds their goals, manifests their ideas, and consistently implements their intentions. With a firm belief that success is best when shared, Lisa’s leadership and management style aims to build not just beautiful properties, but communities that last long after our work is done.
Lisa’s passion for experience-building blossomed over a 21-year career guiding the evolution of Whole Foods Market from a Bay Area mom & pop to its current incarnation as a world-class brand. She began a new chapter in hospitality as General Manager at the celebrated Hotel Saint Cecilia in Austin, TX—innovating revenue streams with high-touch service and personalized guest experiences, such as the hotel’s private club, which continues to delight members today.
Alison Van de Berghe
Media Relations | New York City + Mexico City
Alison Van de Berghe began her career working in San Francisco in sustainability marketing at Ogilvy & Mather and later in food and wine at Wagstaff Marketing. She then followed her passion for both and moved to Chile in 2019 to run the marketing and tourism operation of a sustainable vineyard outside of Santiago. Since beginning her career in hospitality, Alison has handled marketing and public relations for chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants on both coasts, luxury hotel brands, European and South American-focused wine importers, award-winning sommeliers and wine educators, and helped open restaurant concepts in San Francisco, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and Hawaii.
In addition to her home base of New York, Alison has lived and worked in Washington, D.C., Paris, San Francisco, Chile, and is now based between NYC and Mexico City, where she recently opened her own restaurant and wine bar. With a deeply rooted belief in the power of hospitality, Alison enjoys working with female and minority-owned businesses and supporting advocacy in the industry.
Gretchen Thomas
Event Strategy + Operations | Brooklyn
Gretchen has thirteen years of hospitality experience helping restaurants, leaders, and teams plan smarter. She came to New York City in 2009 and was immediately inspired by the fast-paced nature of hospitality and the memorable experiences it creates. After six years working at Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group and David Chang's Momofuku, she turned her focus to smaller businesses, where she spent eight years developing unique event programs and strategies. Gretchen has dedicated her career to helping hospitality businesses through private events and is thrilled to be sharing her experiences, best practices, and hospitality ethos through independent work in collaboration with Oyster Sunday.
Aaron Luther
Digital + Web Developer | New Orleans
Aaron is a growth-focused digital marketing strategist and web developer. Throughout his career he has worked at startups, agencies, and as a consultant for a wide variety of businesses. Most recently, Aaron was Head of Product & Growth at AlltimePower, a marketplace startup in the energy sector. When he's out of the office you can find Aaron planning his next trip, trying new restaurants, and searching for the world's best Negroni.
Drew Macklin
General Counsel | Brooklyn
Drew is Oyster Sunday’s General Counsel, leveraging his deep industry knowledge and creative insight to guide restauranteurs, winemakers and culinary professionals through openings, operational matters and transformational financings, acquisitions and joint ventures. As a solo practitioner, Drew also represents companies, agencies and creatives in a variety of industries, with a special focus on restaurant, CPG, fashion, design and emerging consumer clients.
Krystal Hayes
Director of Engineering, OS BENEFiTS | Chandler, AZ
Krystal is a creative technical leader with a decade of experience in developing innovative solutions and guiding diverse tech teams. Before her current position at OSBENEFiTS she gained valuable expertise at marketing agencies, working with clients from a variety of industries. Based in the sunny state of Arizona, Krystal enjoys the outdoors, often found traveling, paddle boarding, engaging in yoga, and spending quality time with family and friends.
Norah Davis
Head of Product, OS BENEFiTS | Seattle
Norah is a creative & operations leader who's always been obsessed with food; what to eat next, what to make for others, and where she can recommend others eat next. Her original background is in theatre & new play development, and she has translated those skills of solving problems in collaboration and creating community through experiences into roles in hospitality, tech start-ups, freelance user experience design, marketing, and HR for small businesses. Most recently, she was a Global Program Manager at Meta on the Creative Shop team helping businesses of all sizes realize their creative potential. She's the creator of Inhospitable, a podcast series about identity, resiliency, and what it means to be in hospitality today. She is based in Seattle where she co-owns NW Fitness Project, a color-coded 90+ collection of cookbooks, and is usually found chasing her two Australian Shepherds plus a toddler up a mountain, cooking for friends and family at home, or planning complicated travel.
Ali LaRaia
Program Manager, OS BENEFiTS | St. Petersburg, FL
Ali has been in the hospitality industry since she was 15 years old, having held almost every role in a restaurant. After a successful cookie venture and numerous road trips throughout Italy, Ali opened her own fresh pasta restaurant in New York City. Beyond pasta, her passion for wine brought her to Sonoma County to work a couple of wine harvests and immerse herself in sustainable agriculture. Her experience in Sonoma led her to the Bay Area to oversee and scale Asana’s global F&B program. Seeking to develop further expertise in strategic program management, Ali joined ChowNow’s Marketplace team.
Since moving to St Petersburg, FL, Ali has consulted with hospitality businesses to optimize operations and guide strategic direction. She believes aperitivo is the perfect way to transition to a good meal and loves to host and persuade others of the same. Ali is currently obsessed with the pizza industry and wines from Pantelleria. She splits her time between St Pete, NYC, and the North Shore of MA, the latter being her dog Gilly’s favorite place.
Our Board of Advisors
Ryan Chetiyawardana
Founder, White Lyan/Cub, Dandelyan/Lyaness, Super Lyan, Silver Lyan & Mr Lyan Studio
Eva Goicochea
Founder + CEO, Maude | Co-Founder, Tinker Watches
Dan Keyserling
Managing Partner, Goldman Sachs | Founder, Second State Coffee
Mike Lee
Co-Founder + Co-CEO, Alpha Food Labs + The Future Market
Camilla Ruth Marcus
Founder, west~bourne | Co-Founder, TechTable Summit | Founding Member, Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) + ROAR
Elizabeth Meltz
Founder, EM PATH | Co-Founder, Women in Hospitality United
Jessica Rodriguez
Managing Partner, Wagstaff Media + Marketing
Vaughn Tan
Assistant Professor of Strategy, University College London | Author of “The Uncertainty Mindset” | Executive Board Member, Rethink Food NYC