Meet the Instructors

At Laurel Run Cooking School, we’re a dedicated mother-daughter duo passionate about sharing the joy of cooking in a fun and inviting kitchen environment.

Nestled in a charming carriage house in the countryside, our unique school has been a hub for culinary exploration since Marcia founded it in 1996. In 2024, Laura took the reins, bringing her extensive experience from the cooking scenes of New York City and Chicago.

Driven by our love of connection and community through food, we offer recreational cooking classes designed for both new and seasoned cooks, aiming to educate, entertain, and excite you about the art of cooking.

  • Marcia’s love of cooking has been lifelong. She is an avid learner, accomplished cook, bread baker, gardener, and keeper of a flock of chickens. 

    She began raising herbs and teaching herself to cook more than 50 years ago. She loved sharing her knowledge with others and dreamed of one day opening her own business to continue passing this knowledge along.

    It was in 1996 that she followed her dream and opened a quaint school in the historic community of Brownhelm (where she lived with her husband and 3 kids) to teach others how to grow and cook with herbs. Soon, people were hooked by the charm of both Marcia and the tiny carriage house kitchen from which she cooked and taught.

    Laurel Run Cooking School was officially born.

    Over the course of more than 20 years, the school evolved and expanded to include a wide range of cooking classes — from hands-on bread baking and multi-day technique workshops to themed classes like holiday entertaining, weeknight family favorites, cooking with kids, classic Laurel Run tea, and everything in between.

    In 2017, after years in business and now excited to take on a new role as grandma, Marcia decided to retire. This “retirement” only lasted a handful of years, however, when her youngest, Laura, approached her about bringing life back to Laurel Run and re-opening the cooking school together. Marcia agreed, officially passing the culinary torch to Laura for Laurel Run 2.0 (the “next generation”) and, for the first time ever, Marcia served as sous chef.

    Throughout her cooking tenure, Marcia has taken classes from the renowned Zona Spray at the Western Reserve School of Cooking in Hudson, Ohio; at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in NYC; and various other cooking classes during travels. Marcia and her husband, Dan, have traveled extensively, and she draws much of her cooking knowledge and inspiration for classes from these travels. She has been a Cooking Instructor for nearly 30 years.

  • It’s no doubt cooking runs in the family. Following in her mother’s footsteps, Laura has turned her passion for cooking into a full-blown culinary career, now spanning 20 years.

    During her nearly 10 years in New York City, Laura earned a Masters degree in Food Studies from NYU; a diploma in Classic Culinary Arts from the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE); and worked as an editor for well-known publications including Bon Appétit, Food & Wine and Every Day with Rachael Ray magazines.

    She also simultaneously worked as a private chef for a family on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for more than 5 years and did countless side gigs for private events, supper clubs, and as a chef-instructor. (Her most memorable “pinch-me-moment” gig was an event in Southampton working elbow-to-elbow with Top Chef judge Tom Collichio while Lionel Ritchie serenaded the crowd.)

    Following a move to Chicago, Laura began working for Lettuce Entertain You, one of the country’s largest privately owned restaurant groups, as a PR & Marketing manager where she oversaw marketing for nearly 2 dozen different restaurants and bars.

    Six years later (in the midst of raising a toddler during a global pandemic), Laura hung up her corporate hat and enrolled at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN), where she became a certified health coach in early 2023.

    With her extensive culinary background, health coaching, and passion for reiki – an energy healing practice – (which she began learning around the same time as her culinary journey began 20 years ago), Laura founded Chakra Kitchen + Wellness, focusing on wellness retreats, healthy prepared meals, and cooking classes to support the body’s chakras through food.

    And with no slowing down, Laura reopened the “next generation” of Laurel Run Cooking School in January 2024, where she serves as the new (co)owner and lead chef-instructor.