ICE Alum Mashama Bailey Named To 2026 Time100 List
Time Magazine announced its 2026 Time100 in April.
Chef Mashama Bailey, ICE alum and culinary visionary, is among those included on the prestigious list of leaders, innovators and icons.
Additional influential honorees — whose achievements span fashion, film, tech, literature, finance, politics, design and more — include Dolores Huerta, Mark Carney and Zoe Saldaña.
More About Chef Mashama
Chef Mashama, the chef and co-owner of Savannah, Georgia’s The Grey and, more recently, L’Arrêt in Paris, is a James Beard Award-winning Culinary Arts graduate.
She is also the Chairwoman of the board for the Edna Lewis Foundation, and is a leading voice in preserving and advancing African American culinary traditions. Her success has inspired next generation chefs throughout the world — here at home, she spoke at the 2024 commencement ceremony for our NYC campus graduates — and her vision has helped yield a broader understanding of American cuisine.
A National Spotlight on Culinary Leadership
Chef Mashama’s recognition by TIME places her among the most pivotal figures in global culture. The annual TIME100 list highlights leaders whose impact extends beyond their immediate field, underscoring her renown not only as a chef, but as an architect shaping the future of hospitality.
Rooted in Tradition, Renowned for Vision and Impact
At The Grey, an acclaimed restaurant set in a restored Greyhound bus terminal, Chef Mashama built a menu that mixes Southern history and flavor with global ingredients and techniques. Her work reflects both preservation and innovation, and it yields new perspectives on familiar foods.
Her career path includes work in several of New York City’s most demanding kitchens. In 2019, she became the first Black woman to win the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef, marking both personal achievement and broader industry progress.
Her work has also helped expand representation in fine dining, bringing greater visibility to Black chefs and the stories that shape American culinary history.
Shaped by Training, Defined by Experience
Chef Mashama’s professional trajectory demonstrates the ways in which formal culinary training and real-world work experience can combine to fast-track a food career.
Here, students are taught foundational skills and are encouraged to find their unique culinary voice. They’re also afforded exclusive networking and volunteer opportunities that can connect them to what might, to an outsider, feel like an insular world.
This exposure — to prospective employers and diverse career paths across professional kitchens, food media and culinary enterprise — can be critical to pursuing one’s goals.
Defining What Comes Next: Influence Beyond the Plate
Chef Mashama’s inclusion in the TIME100 list is a profound acknowledgment of a career that continues to influence how food is understood and experienced in America. Her work not only reflects where the industry is today; it lights the path toward a future tomorrow.
* Experience varies by student, with outcomes contingent on factors including graduate aptitude, job market, place of residence and work history, among others.
