Breakfast Sessions

Join us for an exclusive showcase from NFRA’s First Penguin Next Generation Leadership Program. Our rising industry leaders will present innovative solutions to critical challenges in the frozen and refrigerated foods industry. Through months of collaboration, these emerging professionals have developed strategic recommendations on topics such as increasing household penetration, retailer innovation, supply chain resilience, and engaging younger consumers. Witness their fresh perspectives, data-driven insights, and actionable ideas that can shape the future of our industry.

Christine Ha is the blind cook who won “MasterChef” season 3 with Gordon Ramsay. Her first cookbook, Recipes from My Home Kitchen, was a New York Times best-seller. She has spoken about disability advocacy at the United Nations, served as a culinary arts envoy overseas for the American Embassy, and was a co- host on the Canadian cooking show “Four Senses” and a judge on “MasterChef” Vietnam. Ha holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Creative Writing Program at University of Houston, where she served as Fiction Editor for Gulf Coast literary journal, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin. Ha received the 2014 Helen Keller Personal Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind, a recognition formerly bestowed upon Ray Charles, Patty Duke, and Stevie Wonder among others. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for the global non-profit Helen Keller Int’l. Ha’s first restaurant in Houston, The Blind Goat, was named a semi-finalist for 2020 Best New Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation. She was also named a James Beard finalist for Best Chef, Texas, in 2022 and a semi-finalist for Outstanding Chef in 2023 for her former restaurant, Xin Chào. Ha’s third concept, Stuffed Belly, opened in June 2023.