This exquisite culinary event will showcase Chef Mawa McQueen, a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Mountain Region, who will craft a remarkable dining experience. The evening will also feature inspiring talks from students and alumni, along with both live and silent auctions.

Saturday, February 15, 2025
Four Seasons Hotel Saint Louis
999 N 2nd St
St. Louis, MO 63102

For sponsorship questions, please contact Kamille Pope at kpope5@stlcc.edu or 314-539-5218.

Register Today 

 

Meet the Chef

Chef Mawa McQueen is the proud owner and executive chef of multiple restaurants in Aspen and Snowmass Village, CO, Mawa’s Kitchen, Mawita, and The Crepe Shack (two locations). Her life experiences growing up on the Ivory Coast and in Europe were the foundation that ignited her passion for bringing food and comfort to people from all walks of life. She has been recognized for both her skills as a chef and entrepreneur and awarded the Colorado Governor’s Minority Business Award in 2020 and 2022. In 2022, Mawa’s talent and hard work was recognized nationally and internationally by the James Beard Foundation when she was nominated as a semifinalist for the James Beard Award Best Chef West. Then again in 2023 when Mawa’s Kitchen received the honor of becoming a MICHELIN Guide recommended restaurant in Colorado’s inaugural edition.

Dedicated to inspiring everyone with her food and her story, Mawa launched her first cookbook, Mawa’s Way, which is not only a collection of fan favorite recipes from Mawa’s Kitchen but also a story of grit and perseverance to achieve one’s dreams. In 2024, she wrote and published her first motivational book, Unstoppable Ambition, in both French and English to share more of her fascinating story and the transformative power of perseverance, ambition, and a relentless pursuit of excellence. Along with her restaurants and highly successful catering business, Mawa is also the prominent owner of a granola company where she produces her own variation of granola. Mawa’s GrainFreeNola is a delicious gluten-free, protein-rich, and vegan granola. It is made with the highest quality organic nuts and seeds and sweetened with Medjool dates. 

More than just an executive chef, entrepreneur and savvy businesswoman, Chef Mawa’s impact goes beyond the kitchen as she makes time to give back to her communities. She is an alumna of the James Beard Foundation Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program and currently serves on the Isaacson School Executive Advisory Board, the Colorado Restaurant Foundation board, the Ment’or Culinary Council and the Sylvia Center Culinary Council. She continues to advocate for Africa and its people and serves on the board for Brake The Cycle, which she helped raise over $20,000 to build a well to provide an entire village in Zambia with access to clean water, and is an Ambassador for Action in Africa, a nonprofit that promotes community development and increasing the accessibility, affordability and quality of education in Uganda for both kids and adults.

 

Thank you to Our 2025 Sponsors!

 

Champagne Toast

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STLCC Foundation Mission

The St. Louis Community College Foundation solicits private financial support to further the mission of St. Louis Community College.

About the College

STLCC is the largest higher education institution in the region and the second largest in Missouri. The college offers nearly 100 degree and certificate programs. In addition to STLCC’s traditional academic curriculum, the College continues to expand its programs for today’s knowledge – and technology-based economy.

STLCC annually serves more than 50,000 students through credit, continuing education, and workforce training programs. The College’s service area spans 718 square miles with four campuses, two satellite locations and two centers focused on workforce needs. Each location has many unique features that enable the College to meet the diverse needs of the community.

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