STEPHANIE SWANE

Stephanie Swane is the publisher and editorial director of Modernist Cuisine’s in-house publishing department The Cooking Lab since 2014. She develops and leads new publishing projects and partnership opportunities. She brings over 25 years of experience working on book publishing, global sales & distribution, brand management, foreign rights, production, and licensing to the team.

In 2017, the award-winning Modernist Bread was published. In 2019, the translations of Modernist Bread in French, German, and Spanish, were published. In 2021, pizzaiolis around the world embraced, Modernist Pizza with translations of Modernist Pizza in Italian, French, German and Spanish published in June 2022. In 2023, Food & Drink The Photography of Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold was published featuring photos shot over the last decade.

For the last decade, she has traversed the globe to help the team research bread, pastries and pizza from every imaginable angle. Stephanie has met with experts in baking, milling, agriculture, production, history, fermentation, equipment and ingredient manufacturers, and beyond. She regularly attends industry workshops and conferences that cover all aspects of baking, from commercial production to cereal science.

Prior to joining Modernist Cuisine, Stephanie worked with publishers that include becker&mayer!, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Putnam, Reader’s Digest Children’s Publishing, and Golden Books. She has worked with diverse groups of global brands, retailers, wholesalers, and licensors ranging from CBS/Paramount, Disney/Lucasfilm, Fox Entertainment, Hasbro, NBC/Universal, and Warner Bros. to Amazon Publishing, Barnes & Noble, Costco, Indigo, Target, and Williams-Sonoma. She holds an M.A. in media studies from The New School in NYC and a B.A. in art and a B.A in art history from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Stephanie was honored to recently contribute an essay to The Washington Women’s Cookbook: Good Eats and Votes for Women in 2020 featuring a collection of recipes, essays, profiles, interviews, and art from Pacific Northwest women https://www.wawomenscookbook.com/.

Stephanie is a committee member for the 2022 & 2023 KCLS Foundation Literary Gala and a board member for the KCLS Foundation – https://www.kclsfoundation.org/.

From 2021 to 2023, Stephanie was part of the IACP Cookbook Awards Executive Committee in a variety of roles from Super Judge, Judge and lastly IACP Cookbook Awards Chair.

Stephanie is the host of over 50 hour long episodes of Women in Pizza IG Lives highlighting the amazing and inspiring pizzaiolas from around the globe and the moderator for Women in Pizza panels in US, Canada and UK.

When not working on the next Modernist Cuisine project, Stephanie can be found in her Seattle garden and greenhouse. True to her Dakota farming roots, she enjoys growing exotic and native vegetables and fruits, including varieties of grains and tomatoes. She loves all things fermentation—from beer brewing to pickling.

Stephanie is also an active member of AACI, ACF, AIB, BBGA, Bakers Against Racism, Cherry Bombe Squad, IACP, Maine Grain Alliance, Northwest Editors Guild, Northwest Science Writers Association, Parabere Forum, Women in Hospitality, PNBA, and Women in Pizza.