Women At the Center

ABOUT CHEF SURBHI With two decades of professional culinary experience, chef Surbhi Sahni brings a fresh twist to modern Indian cuisine and confections. Before launching TAGMO, chef Surbhi served as the creative force behind three lauded New York City restaurants, Devi, Tulsi and, most recently, Saar Bistro in Midtown with chef Hemant Mathur. She is also the creative director and events director at Saar Catering.

Chef Surbhi has made her mark as a talented pastry chef with hand-crafted cakes & confections that preserve the essence of timeless South-Asian mithai (sweets) translated with her own distinct flavors and delicate artistry.

Pooja Bavishi is the Founder and CEO of Malai, an artisanal ice cream company with flavors inspired by nostalgic, aromatic spices and South Asian ingredients, based in Brooklyn, New York. Pooja founded Malai when she discovered that the same spices of her childhood – ginger, rose petals, saffron, and cardamom - could be used to robustly flavor ice creams in a way that she had never tasted before. She notes that she “founded Malai because desserts bring people joy, and I wanted to be in the business of delivering happiness.”

Pooja continues to craft all of Malai's flavors and distributes through various channels, including a storefront in Brooklyn, selling pints nationwide in grocery stores, and online. She has claimed the title of “champion” after winning a battle on Food Network’s Chopped Sweets in March of 2020. Pooja holds a B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill, an M.S. from the London School of Economics, and an M.B.A. from NYU. She is a 2018 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow and was named one of Inc. Magazine Female Founders 100 in October of 2020.

Barkha Cardoz Barkha Cardoz received her culinary training at The Institute of Hotel management in Mumbai, India and worked in the Development department at St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City, NJ. With her husband, the late chef Floyd Cardoz, she managed their Bombay Bread Bar in New York City from 2016 – 2019 and oversaw fundraising events for The Young Scientist Foundation, founded in 2011 with Floyd’s $110,000 Top Chef Masters win. Barkha is currently the Managing Member of Cardoz Legacy LLC, where she actively executes ongoing legacy projects including the FC +B&B Collaboration Masala spice line.

More on Barkha: floydcardoz.com/barkha-cardoz