Dawn Burrell
Chef Dawn Burrell has traveled the world, representing USA in the sport of Track and Field. She is a 2000 Olympian and 2001 Indoor World Champion in the long jump. Her travels exposed her to global cuisine and ignited a deep love for the language of food. She returned home with a strong desire to become a chef and a passionate vision to unite the exotic flavors from her travels with the familiar comforts of the best-loved dishes of her childhood, using fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients of her environ as a foundation.
Burrell attended culinary school, followed by an influential stage experience with Chef Tom Aikens in London. Back stateside, she worked alongside Monica Pope at T’afia and Sparrow Cookshop and served as sous-chef at award-winning Uchi in Austin before being recruited to take the helm at modern Southern restaurant, Kulture, in downtown Houston. At Kulture, Chef Dawn’s vision of global comfort food garnered local and national acclaim and she was honored with a James Beard Award semi-finalist nomination in 2020. She participated in Top Chef Season 18 in 2021 and was a chef-partner with the Lucille’s Hospitality Group from 2021 to 2023.
Allison Beckford
Allison Beckford is a Jamaican Olympian, three-time NCAA Champion, World Junior Champion, CAC Champion, Pan American Games Champion, NACAC U-25 Champion, World Championships medalist, and Carifta Games Champion.
Allison was born on May 8, 1979, in Savanna-la Mar, Westmoreland, Jamaica. She grew up as a well-rounded individual, excelling in music, academics, and athletics. In high school, she competed in the 400m and 400m hurdles at the Jamaica High School Championships. Due to her outstanding performance, Allison began to attract the attention of track and field college recruiters, eventually earning a track and field scholarship to the prestigious Rice University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology and Linguistics while excelling in athletics as an Owl. She later earned a Master of Arts in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Houston. Allison is also a Rice University Hall of Fame inductee.
Today, Allison continues to dominate, but in a different arena. Allison is the CEO and founder of Advance Plus Therapy Services LLC, a speech and language pathology practice in Pasadena Texas, that serves the pediatric population. Determined, fearless, and diligent are a few words that describe her. Allison firmly believes that the world is one’s oyster and that anything can be achieved with determination and hard work.
Tasha Schwikert Moser
Tasha Schwikert Moser is a senior associate attorney in Munck Wilson Mandala’s corporate and sports law practices. For her corporate work, Tasha supports clients in various M&A and corporate matters, including her work on a complex company merger transactions. In sports law, Tasha represents athletes, companies, and brands in various matters related to contracts, disputes, and name, image, likeness.
As a former Olympic gymnast, Tasha became an advocate for institutional change within USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic Paralympic Committee. In May 2019, Tasha was instrumental in the effort to extend the Texas statute of limitations for child sexual abuse victims as a result of her testimony before the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee. In June 2022, Tasha joined the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors as its Survivor Representative.
Tasha has earned many honors over her Olympic and collegiate gymnastics career. Among her honors, Tasha was the youngest member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic gymnastics team and helped her team win a bronze medal. She was the two-time U.S. National all-around champion in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, she was captain of the U.S. gymnastics team, winning a gold team medal in the World Gymnastics Championships. In 2012, she was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
Funmi K. Jimoh
Funmi Jimoh represented the United States in the long jump at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, qualifying for the finals and finishing 12th. She was a three-time member of the US World Track Championship squad as well (2009, 2011 and 2014). Collegiately, she earned All-American honors in 2007 by finishing fifth at the NCAA Outdoor Championship and won the Eva Jean Lee award for the most outstanding Rice Women’s Track and Field athlete and the Fred J. and Florence Stancliff Award for academic achievement and outstanding track and field performance at Rice University after her senior season in 2007.
She was inducted into the Rice Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015. Following her retirement from elite competition, she returned to Rice as an assistant coach from 2016-2018 before embarking on a career in administration in legal services. Most recently she joined the executive staff in Rice University’s athletics department as Director of Administration.
Sophie Schmidt
Sophie Schmidt enters her sixth campaign with the Houston Dash and is one of five players on the current roster to win the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup with the team. The midfielder recently reached 10,000 minutes in league play and is the fourth Canadian to reach that milestone. Schmidt is one of the most decorated players at the international level and represented Canada at five FIFA Women’s World Cups and four Olympic Games. She won the gold medal with Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo and back-to-back bronze medals at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil and 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. Her international career spanned nearly two decades and culminated in December 2023 with her 225th cap at B.C. Place in her native Vancouver, British Columbia. She holds the second most senior camps for the program. The sport has taken her around the globe with stints in Sweden, Germany, her native Canada and most recently with the Houston Dash.
Sarah Pepper - Moderator
For the past 16 years, Sarah Pepper has been a Houston favorite as the host of Sarah Pepper & Jessie Watt Mornings, which aired daily from 5:30 to 10 a.m.
She first came to Houston in July 2008 when she was 28 years old. Before that, she was the morning show co-host in Evansville, Indiana, where she is originally from.
Her next step is moving home to Indiana to be closer to her mother, while also starting a new job working with children in the community.
Pepper started her popular “Whatcha Doin' at the Courthouse?” segment on Hot 95.7 FM. She would walk up to unsuspecting people outside the downtown courthouse and ask, “Whatcha doin' at the courthouse?”