our people
Great people make the difference between an average and a phenomenal catering experience. Basikneads takes pride in the quality and dedication of our team. From our event planning and service teams to our culinary design team, everyone at Basikneads is committed to delivering you the high-quality expertise and personal attention you deserve, ensuring that your vision for the event is realized.
Cornell Coulon – executive chef/owner
Chef Coulon is the creative force behind Basikneads’ culinary team. He develops the menus, designing each dish with personal attention to your tastes as well as the flavors and colors of the season. He, or one of the other members of the team, will be at your event to ensure that the food has been staged to perfection. Chef Coulon is a native of New Orleans and, like most people from the Big Easy, grew up with food being an integral part of his soul.
He has cooked for as long as he can remember, at first mainly by hanging onto his grandmother’s apron strings. Chef Coulon’s dream of becoming a chef was born during his summer vacations from high school. The Great Chefs series on PBS began to open Chef Coulon’s mind to his own culinary potential as he attempted to refine techniques learned on the show in his mother’s kitchen. He subsequently took a job in a local restaurant working as a busboy initially, but quickly (and happily) made the move to the kitchen. After a brief interlude as a major in Biochemistry at LSU, Chef Coulon returned to his boyhood dream of becoming a chef and decided to attend the Culinary Arts Institute of Louisiana. While in school he worked with local chef Greggory Payne at the Country Club of Louisiana.
After graduating, he continued to develop his skills as a protégé of the renowned Emeril Lagasse at Emeril’s in New Orleans. He then spent the next few years traveling extensively throughout Alaska, Mexico, Texas, and South Florida, honing his unique style. Chef Coulon came to Washington DC in 2002 as the executive chef of Mendocino Grille in Georgetown. He was then invited to open the Dupont Grille restaurant at the Jury’s Doyle Hotel as their executive restaurant chef. Chef Coulon continues to refine his trademark style here in Washington DC. A typical Chef Coulon entree blends culinary influences from around the globe such as Pan Asian, Mediterranean, and Central American, carefully assimilating them with a French flair. And, true to his Louisiana upbringing, Chef Coulon imbues each one of his creative entrees with Southern flavor and soul.
Kristen Coulon – vp marketing/co-owner
Kristen Coulon works behind the scenes at Basikneads to make sure Washingtonians know about our creativity, attentive service, and high quality cuisine. She also strives to improve and expand upon our existing services to ensure Basikneads is effectively accommodating all our clients.
Kristen has lived in the Washington D.C. area since 1996 when she arrived from Seattle, Washington to pursue a B.S. in Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Before graduating in 2000, she worked for international business professor, Dr. Michael Czinkota, as a research assistant, where she learned basic principles of business and marketing. She expanded upon that knowledge in her position as a manager at Plan Document Systems (PDS) of Thompson Hine LLP and then as the co-owner of Chef Coulon’s private chef company, Au Dela.
Lena Muhtadi – event manager
Born and raised in Alexandria, Lena has been planning events for five years now. After discovering a love for meeting and event planning at Morgan Stanley, she pursued a full time career with Basikneads. Although she initially intended to focus on corporate catering, Lena discovered that she had a real skill and passion for wedding planning. In addition to orchestrating exquisite weddings, she also excels at designing galas and other parties. It is a welcome challenge to continually design events that are classy, elegant and reflective of our clients’ personalities.
She makes every effort to work with within our clients’ budgets without ever sacrificing the quality of service or food. Lena is continually praised for her creativity, flexibility, attention to detail and outstanding customer service skills. A client is not just a client, but a friend. She strives to make each event one that her clients will always remember. She considers it both an honor and a privilege to be able to design events that provide our clients such joy.
Annette Bledsoe – sous chef
Annette Bledsoe is the organizational mind that keeps Basikneads on task and on time. She manages the day to day affairs of the kitchen, keeping track of what dishes need to be prepared, when they need to be ready, and where they go once they’re perfect. Annette spent her youth in rural New York state, and attended high school and college in central North Carolina. She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Business from North Carolina State University in 2005 before moving to Paris, France.
In 2007, Annette earned her Certificat de Cuisine de Base from Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris. Beyond school, however, Annette took the opportunity to appreciate the French relationship with food–where a meal is not just a meal, but an event. Upon return to the United States she made it her mission to bring this ethos with her, and hasn’t stopped cooking since. Arriving back in the United States in 2008, she worked for Occasions Caterers in Washington, DC, one of the areas largest caterers. While there, she catered events all over the city, including the inauguration of President Barack Obama. In 2009, Annette was approached by Chef Coulon (who she had met cooking at a gala the year before) to work as the sous chef at Basikneads–and the rest is history.
Charley Benjamin– corporate sales manager
Developing his roots in Atlanta, Georgia. Charley quickly learned from an early age that food was his forte and has self-labeled himself “culinary attaché to the world.” After receiving his degree in Culinary Arts from the Art Institute of Atlanta he honed his knowledge for sales and marketing by furthering his education while consecutively working as chef and owner of Cäx Bakery, an all-organic and locally sustained purveyor of baked goods in the Atlanta area.
After being sought out for his talent by Affairs to Remember Caterers in Atlanta he joined forces to create numerous new concepts while working alongside many high profile clients. It was by developing his diverse client portfolio he received notoriety from the catering industry in Washington, DC where he then moved in 2009. Charley now delegates the corporate catering division at Basikneads and prides himself on his inventive and fresh outlook on catering. He works closely with numerous international embassies and corporate firms and makes it his personal endeavor to constantly exceed the expectations of his clients.
Trained Staff – from PBS Inc.
We will leave nothing to chance when it comes to your event. Which is why we use Professional Bartending Services (PBS Inc.) to staff our serving and bartending teams. The servers and bartenders at your event will be professionally trained, highly qualified, courteous and fun.