She is a 2016 graduate from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY
with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Food Business Management. She is also a
2015 graduate of the Associate of Occupational Studies in Culinary Arts program.
In addition to her culinary education, she is a 2011 graduate from Rochester Institute
of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising Photography.

Thiana's interest in the culinary arts started when she was young, but it turned into
a passion while attending RIT where she focused on food photography. She cooked and
styled her own photographs. This experience and passion led her to the attend the CIA.

While at the CIA she held positions as group leader for her class, Layout Editor of
the La Papillote newspaper, a tutor, and a Resident Assistant. She was also a
server, maître d, and head runner at several of the restaurants on campus.

Her experiences as a group leader and as a resident assistant have taught her some
valuable supervisory and leadership skills and the value of working as a team. As group
leader, she served as the liaison between her class and the instructors, by meeting
with the instructors, ordered provisions for the kitchen, organized study sessions,
relayed messages, and represented her class on the commencement committee. Her role
as a resident assistant was a great opportunity for her to be a leader and mentor for
students living on campus.

In addition to her culinary art skills she has over 15  years' experience in digital
photography and various image formats.

She has worked as a freelance assistant photo editor in the Photo Department at People
in New York City. At People she worked on many different projects. She downloaded images
and corresponding content from the server for the People CelebFood App, as well as
the print and iPad versions of People, StyleWatch, and other special issues.

Prior to People she was an intern in the Photo Department at Prevention. While at
Prevention she researched stock images, managed the prop closet, photographer promo
cards, outtakes from shoots, and the credit master list. She assisted the photo
director and photo editor with production, distributed issues and pdfs to photographers,
stylists, studios and agen¬cies, and contacted PR companies for product shots
and event images.

She has also worked as an intern in a commercial photo studio with Judd Pilossof,
a food photographer based in New York City. While in this position her responsibilities
included assisting during commercial shoots, assisting the food stylist, studio upkeep
and maintenance, office administrative duties, and billing for photo shoots.