Bethany Joy Lenz is an award-winning director and actress, an author, singer, composer, producer, fine artist and publisher. Her nine-year run on The CW drama One Tree Hill made her a pop-culture icon and established a worldwide, loyal fanbase.
Currently, Lenz owns and curates Modern Vintage News, a broadsheet, lifestyle newspaper in circulation worldwide. In recent acting work, Lenz starred with Paul Bettany and Candice Bergen in Mark Waters’ Miramax feature, Harvest Moon.
For Hallmark, Bethany starred in last year’s highest rated holiday film, A Biltmore Christmas as well as An Unexpected Christmas , Bottled with Love, and more.
She is a co-host on the record-breaking iHeart podcast Drama Queens, and was nominated for a prestigious Ambie Award for her work in the scripted podcast Dark Sanctum. Her book, a memoir called Dinner for Vampires will be released with Simon & Schuster in October 2024 and is currently available for presale on major book sites.
She lives in Nashville with her daughter and three dogs.
Canaan Marshall
Canaan Marshall is the next-door floral designer of your dreams. An old soul from Atlanta, GA, he has had a natural knack for all things growing and green since childhood. He is best known as the vibrant, young fellow to turn your everyday into elegant.
Grumpy Gardener AKA Steve Bender
Steve Bender is an award-winning author, editor, columnist, and speaker with nearly 40 years experience as Garden Editor, Senior Writer, and Editor-at-Large for Southern Living magazine. Known as The Grumpy Gardener, he is a highly respected expert on Southern gardening. Steve endeavors to make gardening fun and accessible to everyone no matter their skill level as he shares his horticultural wisdom with Southerners and garden enthusiasts across the country. He's also the co-host (with Nellah McGough) of Ask Grumpy, one of the top-rated gardening podcasts, which airs twice a week.
Ivy Odom
Ivy Odom, Editorial Producer for Southern Living, hosts an array of lifestyle videos across multiple platforms, including TikTok, Snapchat, television, and other social channels. Ivy grew up in Moultrie, GA and now lives in Birmingham, AL, where it's a really fun place to be a Georgia Bulldawg.
Jocelyn Delk Adams
Jocelyn Delk Adams is the founder, author, national television personality and brand ambassador behind the award winning cookbook Grandbaby Cakes and the food website Grandbaby-Cakes.com, which gives her family’s, particularly her grandmother’s, cherished generational recipes her modern spin while preserving their original charm and spirit. Jocelyn is the co-host of the Cooking Channel and Discovery Plus game show, Stab That Cake. She’s also a judge on Disney Channel and Disney Plus’ Magic Bake Off, Food Network’s popular series “Santa’s Baking Blizzard” and “Beat Bobby Flay”.
Toni Tipton-Martin
Toni Tipton-Martin, Editor in Chief of Cook’s Country magazine, guided this project and team with her vast knowledge of Southern women’s food history and her journalistic approach to sharing the stories behind America’s favorite dishes. She is an award-winning food and nutrition journalist who uses cultural heritage and cooking for social change. Toni is the author of several important books that celebrate African American cookbook history: Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks; Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking, and The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. For her work, she has received the Julia Child Foundation Award, which is given to an individual (or team) who has made a profound and significant difference in the way America cooks, eats, and drinks. She is also a three-time James Beard Book Award winner, and she has earned the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Trailblazer Award, its Book of the Year Award, and Member of the Year Award. She is also the proud keeper of an incredible collection of rare cookbooks. Her new book is When Southern Women Cook.
