Dr. Lezli Levene Harvell is not a chef. However, the board-certified pediatric dentist has spent more than a decade building one of the most distinctive platforms in American food culture.
The Iconoclast Dinner Experience is an experiential culinary movement dedicated to celebrating leadership, diversity and innovation across food, wine and spirits. Harvell saw an opportunity to recognize overlooked talent, connect cultural leaders and turn a shared meal into a platform for change.
What began as a single dinner at the James Beard House 11 years ago has grown into a platform that brings chefs, beverage professionals and cultural visionaries together to celebrate those who deserve to be seen.
While food is the vehicle, IDE’s impact extends well beyond the table. Under Harvell’s leadership, IDE has raised more than $150,000 for international students at her alma mater, Spelman College; earned several Anthem Awards; and produced Telly Award-winning content that carries its mission to audiences far beyond those in the room.
This year, the brand’s signature event, The King Is Dead, partnered with the FARM Institute in Edgartown, a 162-acre working farm and educational center dedicated to connecting people to food and farming. Now in its seventh year, the dinner honors women in the culinary and beverage industries while spotlighting Martha’s Vineyard’s sustainable agricultural community.
Believing that every culinary experience begins in the soil, not just the kitchen, The King Is Dead challenges chefs to source every ingredient for the dinner’s multiple courses from the island. The result is an experience that celebrates not only what is on the plate, but the land, people and community behind it.
The Black Wall Street Times spoke with Harvell about how the Iconoclast Dinner Experience has evolved beyond a high-profile culinary event and how she is setting the table to recognize women’s leadership, celebrate diversity, honor local food producers and support students whose ambitions extend far beyond the dining room.
The Black Wall Street Times: What inspired you to create the Iconoclast Dinner Experience, and what gap in the food and beverage space were you hoping to address?
Dr. Lezli Levene Harvell: I found there was a lack of representation of chefs and beverage professionals of color in the higher echelons of culinary culture.
What do you want people to understand about the mission of the experience beyond the dinner itself?
LLH: The IDE creates high-touch experiences that use the culinary and beverage arts as a medium to showcase the talent and cultural narrative of the visionaries poised to shape the space.
To you, why does representation in food and beverage matter beyond the plate or the glass?
LLH: These concepts are not mutually exclusive. Food and beverage are the literal landscape of culture, but representation matters most at the level of narrative control. The Iconoclast Dinner Experience gives talented individuals a platform to architect their environment. This matters because whoever controls the table/plate/glass controls the cultural narrative.
How do events like Iconoclast Dinner Experience help shift the narrative around who gets to be seen as an innovator or tastemaker in the culinary world?
LLH: The Iconoclast Dinner Experience platform helps shift the narrative around who is seen as an innovator by curating a space where rising talents are spotted by influential individuals. By changing the company they keep, we intentionally place rising culinary and beverage visionaries in the same room as influential, powerful individuals who can become patrons of their art.
What kinds of stories or traditions do you hope are preserved and celebrated through the work you’re doing?
LLH: I am deeply invested in preserving the tradition of the sanctity of authentic, in-person connection between the artists and those experiencing their artistic expressions. IDE experiences are intentionally intimate to create opportunities for meaningful interactions.
How can food and beverage experiences become more inclusive spaces for creativity, ownership, and leadership?
LLH: Food and beverage spaces become more inclusive when we create spaces that respect creators’ autonomy and give them freedom over their narrative.
What role does community-building play in creating long-term success for culinary professionals?
LLH: Community is the ultimate shield. For a professional to have longevity, they need a sanctuary — a network of high-level trust where they can exchange ideas, find support, and cultivate relationships they can leverage into other opportunities and access, without the noise of the public eye. The IDE is a curated community built on shared frequencies. Long-term success is sustained when you belong to an ecosystem that values you for who you are as a person, not just your output.
What does real access look like for a young chef, mixologist, sommelier or beverage entrepreneur trying to build a career in this industry?
LLH: Real access for any professional isn’t just a seat at the table; it’s an introduction to the people who hold the keys to cultural capital. It’s one thing to get your foot in the door of a prestigious establishment, but real access is being positioned in front of decision-makers, visionaries, and institutional leaders who can alter the trajectory of your career. We provide that access by keeping the mechanics of our curation intimate and sacred, ensuring that the rooms we build are genuinely high-impact.
What barriers still exist for talented culinary and spirit professionals of color, and how is the Iconoclast Dinner Experience helping to break them down?
LLH: I don’t think I’m positioned to speak comprehensively on every barrier that exists industry-wide, as that’s a larger conversation than I can do justice to here. What I can offer is our approach through the IDE.
How do you identify and support rising talent in a way that feels meaningful, sustainable and not performative?
LLH: I don’t use checkboxes or algorithms to find talent. Given our operation is family-led and deeply human, we rely on organic synergy and a shared vision. We support them by providing a pristine, uncompromised environment to showcase their talent and personal narrative, and we protect that space fiercely. True support isn’t a temporary spotlight; it’s bringing someone into a permanent, lifelong ecosystem.
What impact do you hope the Iconoclast Dinner Experience has on the next generation of culinary leaders?
LLH: I want them to know that they can enter and impact an industry entirely on their own terms. They don’t have to follow the traditional playbook, and they don’t have to compromise their authenticity. I want them to look at what we’ve built together, as part of the IDE, as visionaries of their own craft, and see a blueprint for protecting their own brand while leaving a legacy.
