Marisa Churchill

Marisa began to cook as soon as she was old enough to reach the stove. She would spend hours in the kitchen with her yιαyιά (Greek grandmother). Under her loving guidance, Marisa learned how to make her own yogurt, cure olives, make homemade breads and pastas, and how to create a wide variety of authentic Greek dishes. To this day, both her yιαyιά and the cuisine of Greece influence her cooking. In 1999, Marisa decided to turn a life-long passion for cooking into a career. She moved to San Francisco, and graduated from the California Culinary Academy, later furthering her education in advanced pastry skills and savory cooking, at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. She is also a certified nutritionist. Marisa honed her skills at notable restaurants Rubicon, The Slanted Door, Ame, LuLu and Yoshi’s, where she was named “one of the cities top pastry chefs” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s head food critic, Michael Bauer. Marisa healthy recipes have been featured in a number of top publications, including Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, People, Details, Shape, Oprah.com, and the San Francisco Chronicle.  Internationally, she has been featured in Elle, BBC’s Good Food Channel, Shape, and Women's Health. Her televised cooking career started with a few local television stints in San Francisco, and then came Top Chef Season 2. On this popular show, Marisa was able to show that she was more than just a pastry chef, but also a viable creative force in the kitchen. She is the author of two cookbooks, Sweet & Skinny and My Sweet & Skinny Life. Marisa is also the host of the television show My Sweet & Skinny Life. To learn more, follow Marisa on social media.