Joining the NANRO USA Fellowship, Chef Genie Kwon built her pastry career at New York's three-Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park and Chicago's two-Michelin-starred Oriole, before opening Kasama in Chicago together with her husband, Chef Timothy Flores. Kasama entered the Michelin Guide in 2022, earned its first star in 2023, and in 2025 became the world's first Filipino restaurant to hold two Michelin stars — with Genie standing as chef and co-owner.
Through the precise grammar of fine dining, she has been rewriting what Filipino cuisine can be. Kasama's rare triple identity — bakery and brunch spot by day, tasting-menu fine dining by night — is a shape few restaurants manage to hold, and she carries that same practice into Korea as a NANRO USA Fellow.
