Marilena Leavitt

Marilena Leavitt was born and raised in Greece in an environment where fresh, healthy, and seasonal food played a central role.  Upon receiving her degree in Economics at the University of Athens, she worked at the U.S. Embassy in Athens. She later moved to Italy with her family and it was there that she started her professional culinary training. While living in Rome, she attended a culinary school whose curriculum focused on Italian regional cuisine.  After returning to the United States, Marilena completed a six- month culinary course at L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland, on classic culinary techniques and traditional French cuisine. The course helped Marilena build on her training, expand her repertoire, and provide a solid foundation for her career as a chef and teaching instructor.
In February 2011, Marilena joined the team at Culinaria Cooking School where she teaches a variety of classes, but concentrates on Mediterranean cooking–especially Greek and Italian regional cuisines, couples cooking classes, bread baking classes, fresh pasta workshops, and summer cooking camps for youth and teens. In addition to her teaching at Culinaria, Marilena has continued to offer at-home, private cooking lessons for individuals and small groups. She works as a personal chef in the DC Metro area, and offers boutique catering and instruction for small dinner parties and kid’s birthday celebrations. She is ServSafe certified in the Washington metropolitan area.  Marilena also works with corporate clients to create recipes, content, and food photography for some favorite Mediterranean food brands. One of her favorite creative pursuits is authoring her personal food blog, www.marilenaskitchen.com where she fuses her love of sharing her well-tested Mediterranean recipes with her passion for photography. Her blog is listed as one of the “Top 4 Washington DC Food Blogs and Websites in 2022”.

Marilena Leavitt was born and raised in Greece in an environment where fresh, healthy, and seasonal food played a central role.  Upon receiving her degree in Economics at the University of Athens, she worked at the U.S. Embassy in Athens.

She later moved to Italy with her family and it was there that she started her professional culinary training. While living in Rome, she attended a culinary school whose curriculum focused on Italian regional cuisine. 

After returning to the United States, Marilena completed a six- month culinary course at L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland, on classic culinary techniques and traditional French cuisine. The course helped Marilena build on her training, expand her repertoire, and provide a solid foundation for her career as a chef and teaching instructor.
In February 2011, Marilena joined the team at Culinaria Cooking School where she teaches a variety of classes, but concentrates on Mediterranean cooking–especially Greek and Italian regional cuisines, couples cooking classes, bread baking classes, fresh pasta workshops, and summer cooking camps for youth and teens.

In addition to her teaching at Culinaria, Marilena has continued to offer at-home, private cooking lessons for individuals and small groups. She works as a personal chef in the DC Metro area, and offers boutique catering and instruction for small dinner parties and kid’s birthday celebrations. She is ServSafe certified in the Washington metropolitan area. 

Marilena also works with corporate clients to create recipes, content, and food photography for some favorite Mediterranean food brands. One of her favorite creative pursuits is authoring her personal food blog, www.marilenaskitchen.com where she fuses her love of sharing her well-tested Mediterranean recipes with her passion for photography. Her blog is listed as one of the “Top 4 Washington DC Food Blogs and Websites in 2022”.