Meet the team

Amateur cook and full-time Internet junkie, Aunt Clara was not really anyone’s aunt at the time, but she needed a catchy name for a website about cooking. She is Dominican and lives in the Independent Republic of PuntaCana, where after quite the zigzagging run through the corporate mill (which started in Industrial Design and ended in International Commerce) she now spends her days as a freelance food photographer, expert procrastinator, semi-devoted wife to Bo, and Nadia’s Doting Mom®. You can read here how our site started.

Aunt Ilana receives Award

Originally from Gibraltar, Aunt Ilana studied and lived in England for the best part of two decades, mostly managing to avoid the local cuisine. After graduating in Politics and Social Anthropology from the University of Kent at Canterbury, she tried her hand at journalism and travel, finally finding a niche of sorts in international development. Her work at Oxfam’s HQ in Oxford took her to more countries than she could have dared to dream of, including the Dominican Republic which she first visited in 1996. She settled here in 1999, married Dominican photographer Pedro Guzmán, and they now live in Punta Cana with their son Lucas. 12 years later she is still struggling to master the art of cooking rice Dominican-style. Besides our cookbooks, Aunt Ilana has also authored Expat FAQs: Moving to and Living in the Dominican Republicand Dominican Republic – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture.

It is a certainty that these sites would not exist without a tremendous support from Uncle Rob, somebody that, although not officially a member of our team, has put many hours and effort into our project. He is a partner and webmaster at DR1. We forgive him his unsatisfactory culinary skills because he makes up for them with incredible patience and geek wizardry.