Lauren Gillon
Lauren Gillon is a chef, community organizer, and food entrepreneur from Detroit. With roots in the medical field and a stack of degrees to match, Lauren chose to reroute her path, turning her love for food and people into a purpose-driven career.
Through her hospitality brand Homegirl Kitchen, Lauren curates pop-ups, teaches cooking classes, and curates unforgettable dining experiences. Lauren is the president of her neighborhood association, where she organizes a community garden project. Most recently, she began organizing Mise en Place Community Kitchen, a solar powered kitchen combating energy and housing instabilities.
About the Project
Mise en Place Community Kitchen is a solar-powered kitchen hub designed to bring cooking, community, and climate-conscious learning to public spaces. While also combating social determinants in communities such as energy and housing instability. Built with sustainability at its core, this kitchen hub serves as a platform for food education, pop-ups, and hands-on workshops. The space will be the future of garden-to-table community dinners, free family garden plots and youth programming. By harnessing solar energy and centering local ingredients, it reimagines what’s possible when food, equity, and environmental justice come together, one meal at a time.