A 20-year veteran of the NYC service industry, Maya Jankelowitz owns and operates the wildly successful NYC-based Jack's Wife Freda restaurants (there are now three — in Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Soho) alongside her husband, and is the author of the cookbook by the same name. Her goal for Jack's Wife Freda is about so much more than serving food. The restaurants break down cultural boundaries, combining Maya and her husband's backgrounds (Israel & South Africa, respectively) and family histories to create a new flavor and a hospitable urban hangout.

Did You Know?

In recent years, 33% of restaurant businesses were majority-owned by women, and women-owned restaurant businesses grew at a rate more than three times faster than the overall restaurant industry.

Source: National Restaurant Association