Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV has started an internet phenomenon, and I’m all too happy to participate. He’s declared April 3rd “Good People Day”.

I think this is a great idea. There are tons of good people in my life. You’ve seen many of them featured here on my audio and video shows. One of those people is my wonderful business partner Jennifer Iannolo, star of Food Philosophy on our Culinary Media Network.

I was introduced to Jennifer by our mutual friend Don Hauptman nearly 4 years ago. He knew that we both were in the food industry and that we shared alot of philosophical principles, so he invited her to come along with him to a charity event I organized, which was a taste-around of several chefs and caterers.

We immediately hit it off, as she had that fire of entrepreneurial spirit, and I learned that she had created a unique website called Gastronomic Meditations: A Celebration of the Sensual Pleasures of Food. I was a fan from the start.

As our friendship progressed, we found ourselves spending hours chatting about the most obscure food topics, always with a bent towards celebrating the sensual, indeed spiritual aspects of food and wine. I started to contribute recipes and short articles to Gastronomic Meditations. It was during the early days of the ReMARKable Palate podcast, too, so I was just finding my style as well. As time went on, and things were changing with Jennifer’s business, we decided to go into business together, and that’s when the Gilded Fork was born. We merged the website, with recipes, interviews, articles, and meditations on food, with the podcasts, and created a media company, which has since expanded to include videos, as well as works produced by others. We now call it the Culinary Media Network.

Through it all, Jennifer has been such a force for creation. She loves to create things, and this little company of ours, she often jokes, is the closest thing to a child she’ll ever have. Through the jokes, though, it’s evident that the love she feels for her work is like the love of a mother for her child.

Jennifer is, simply put, a good person.