Dana Beninati ’15, Founder

Company: Dine with Dana
Time: 9/4/26 at 1:25 PM
Where: Statler Auditorium

Dana Beninati is a James Beard award-winning producer, educator and writer. After years teaching celebrity chefs how to cook on camera, she has turned her kitchen into a classroom for Food Network. Now Dine with Dana can be seen in Bon Appetit, Wine Enthusiast and Food & Wine Magazine. Her culinary style is inspired by life as a first-generation American, born to immigrant parents that used food to remain connected to faraway family members.

As a chef and sommelier, Dana’s superpower is food and wine pairing. She has trained in multiple countries and Michelin star restaurants, including both the kitchen and wine cellar of the #1 restaurant in the world. She is most passionate about teaching young people to whom the hospitality industry can provide a lifelong path to stability and success.

Dana is an instructor at Sommelier Society of America, a judge for StarChef’s SommSlam and serves on the board of Food Education Fund, a nonprofit that provides hospitality education to public high schools in NYC. She holds a WSET L3 Diploma of Wines and a Masters in Hospitality from The Hotel School of Cornell University. Dana was valedictorian of her undergraduate class at Johnson & Wales University and served as a culinary instructor on fellowship during graduate school. She has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens, Forbes, HGTV, and the Wall Street Journal.

Dana is based in New York City but is happiest traveling to new places – with chef’s knife, wine opener, and camera in hand. Follow her adventures @DineWithDana.