Welcoming New Board Members: Melba Wilson, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Nathaniel Brown and Pedro L. Rodriguez

Melba Wilson, celebrated restaurateur, author, caterer, and chef & owner of the legendary Melba’s in Harlem

Melba Wilson is the owner of a growing culinary empire based in New York’s famed Harlem neighborhood. Her renowned restaurant, Melba’s, is a hot spot for celebrities, locals and tourists from around the world who crave unbeatable American comfort food. Coming in the fall, Melba will open the seafood-focused Melba’s Mussels, celebrating the comfort-food traditions that her family brought from the South during the Great Migration. Her eponymous restaurant in Harlem has become an international destination, launching Wilson to fame as a nationally acclaimed television personality and author. She began her career at Sylvia’s Restaurant, where she launched the popular Sunday Gospel Brunch, and has received numerous accolades and awards for her entrepreneurship and her original and family recipes. She won on an episode of the Food Network’s Throwdown with Bobby Flay, was featured on The View, and appears regularly on television, most recently on CNBC’s reality show, Consumed. Her cookbook, Melba’s American Comfort: 100 Recipes from My Heart to Your Kitchen, was published in 2016. Melba is President of the NYC Hospitality Alliance which represents more than 4,000 restaurants and nightlife establishments. Melba now extends her compassion across the city. “Restaurants are so much more than places to eat,” she said. “We’re the first places people run to when they need gift certificates or their kids need a job. When a restaurant shutters its doors, it has an effect on a whole ecosystem, such as produce farmers, dairy farmers, truck drivers, paper goods companies, fishmongers, even insurance.” Wilson expressed her community-first spirit during the pandemic, with Melba’s Restaurant providing more than 200,000 free meals to neighbors in need. Melba is a member of the Culinary Council at God’s Love. She lives in New York with her son.

Nicky Hilton Rothschild is an American businesswoman, philanthropist, and designer.

In 2004, Nicky launched her own clothing line and in 2010, she launched a line of jewelry. Since then, she has launched a number of collections. In 2014, Nicky published her first book, 365 Style, published by Harlequin, a subsidiary of HarperCollins. In 2015, she collaborated with Smashbox, the cosmetic brand owned by Estee Lauder Companies, to create a cosmetic line consisting of three limited-edition kits (one for each of her favorite cities: New York City, Los Angeles and London). Nicky has supported a range of charitable organizations, including the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Lifeway Network, Animal Haven, Starlight Children’s Foundation, Make-a-wish Foundation, Race to Erase MS and Union Rescue Mission. Nicky lives in NYC with her husband and 2 daughters.

Nathaniel Brown, is the esteemed EVP/Global Head of Corporate Communications at Discovery Inc. who has played a key role in building high-profile media brands over the last decade.

Nathaniel Brown is an accomplished communications executive who has led corporate communications for some of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies and brands, including Discovery, Inc., 21st Century Fox, News Corp, MTV, Sirius XM Radio and SONY Music. He currently serves as Executive Vice President of Global Communications at Discovery, Inc., overseeing a global team for the world’s leading real-life entertainment company whose pay-TV, free-to-air and direct-to-consumer brands and businesses serve more than a billion people a day across 200 markets. Following the completion of Discovery’s agreement with AT&T to acquire WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment assets, the company that emerges, Warner Bros. Discovery, will be the world’s premier global entertainment company. Brown has played a key role in building high-profile media brands and shepherding some of the largest media M&A transactions of the last decade. In addition to the WarnerMedia acquisition, he was a member of the deal team for the sale of Fox to Disney, Fox’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner and Sky PLC, and mergers that created Sirius XM Radio and SONY BMG Music, transactions that have reshaped the media landscape. Prior to joining Discovery in 2019, he served for eight years as Senior Vice President for corporate communications at 21st Century Fox and its predecessor News Corp. In 2008 he served as a Campaign Field Officer in Philadelphia, PA for the campaign of President Barack Obama. A native New Yorker, he resides in Brooklyn Heights and Amagansett, New York, and holds a B.A. from Hamilton College.

Pedro L. Rodriguez, distinguished business and digital marketing executive at media agency Horizon Media.

Pedro L. Rodriguez is the Vice President, Business Growth, Digital Marketing & Transformation at Horizon Media Inc. and is responsible for the strategic development of plans and programs for growing digital business at Horizon Media including new products and services. In his role, he also oversees Partnerships & Special Projects, most recently leading marketing activities for Night Market (eCommerce Consultancy).He was recently named a 2021 Cynopsis Digital “It List” Awards Honoree by Cynopsis Media. In 2020, Pedro created and launched “The Middlests” podcast, which was honored as 2020 Podcast Award Finalist for Best Business Podcast. Throughout his career he has received various awards for his work including Adweek Media All-Star (2019), Adweek Young Influentials (2018), and FOLIO Magazine: Marketer of the Year (2015). Pedro is a contributor to Thrive Global, and a former blogger at the Huffington Post, where he focused on emerging social and digital trends. He is a member of the Real Time Academy and the Podcast Academy, and is a juror for the Shorty Awards. He served as Board Member of the People’s Theatre Project (2018-2021), an ensemble-based theater with and for Upper Manhattan’s immigrant community and seeks to develop the next generation of diverse, socially engaged artists and leaders. Prior to working at Horizon Media, Pedro was the Director of Integrated Marketing for People en Español where he developed branded content and integrated media programs that generated millions annually in revenue and created digital strategies that increased growth. He also worked in the Digital Media Group at Cohn & Wolfe, across consumer, healthcare, corporate and technology clients creating social and digital media communication strategies.

We look forward to working with our new Board members in 2022. We appreciate all the wonderful energy, deep knowledge, and rich perspective that they bring to God’s Love. Welcome, Melba, Nicky, Nathaniel, and Pedro!