The biannual food magazine Cherry Bombe has announced its second Jubilee conference, which will take place in New York City on March 29, 2015. As like last year's conference, Jubilee will celebrate women and food through networking opportunities and a series of panels and presentations featuring female participants.
The event is headed up by Cherry Bombe co-founders Claudia Wu and Kerry Diamond. Diamond, who is also the editor-in-chief of Yahoo Food, tells Eater that this year's day-long conference will be similar in many ways to last year's. "The principals and the goals are the same," she says. Along with an as-yet unconfirmed lineup ("about 95 percent of the speakers and panelists will be different [from last year]"), this year's Jubilee will be recorded by Heritage Radio to be rebroadcast following the event in conjunction with Radio Cherry Bombe. These recordings will live online so "if you can't make it to the event, you can still listen."
Diamond had previously told Eater that while she and Wu always wanted to have a conference tied to their magazine, the Time magazine "Gods of Food" debacle helped spur them on to produce their first event in 2014. After the success of the first edition, Diamond says this year she wants Jubilee to focus on helping women in the food and restaurant industry network and meet.
"When we started Cherry Bombe, I assumed that all these women we were writing about and working with as contributors knew each other, or at least that most of them did," she says. "When we had our first launch party, I was so surprised by how many knew each other only by reputation." Getting these women together in one room serves a bigger goal, Diamond explains. "At a certain point in the industry, it's not just how talented you are. It's who you know, and the connections you have, and the people you meet ... It's so hard to bring everybody together."
Like last year, the event will be at the High Line Hotel in Manhattan. Tickets will be available for purchase beginning February 13 via Brown Paper Tickets and will cost $225 per person (including all meals and access to all talks). This year, Cherry Bombe is also offering five complimentary tickets to culinary or college students. Interested students should contact the Jubilee team directly.