Sebastian White

Sebastian White is a trained psychotherapist and self-taught chef whose early work centered on walking with youth navigating gang involvement, systemic neglect, and the quiet struggle to be seen. After the sudden loss of his aunt, Gwen Barjon, and his father, William White, Jr., Sebastian transformed grief into grounded purpose—founding The Evolved Network, NFP and establishing Evolved Kitchen and Garden, LLC. His culinary voice continues to resonate. In 2024, he was nominated “Chef to Watch” by InsideHook, an honor championed by acclaimed Chef Paul Kahan. He was also featured in Mariano’s Chicago Chefs Cookbook, named a Mariano’s Tastemaker in Chicago Magazine, and recognized by Modern Luxury and CS Magazine as one of the “6 Best Private Chefs in Chicago.” Yet for Sebastian, none of this work is about recognition. It’s about presence — slowing down enough to notice what’s real, what’s hurting, and what’s possible. Food and gardening become ways of meeting young people where they are, inviting them into relationship with their own choices, their own voice, and their own worth. Rooted in existential and phenomenological traditions, Sebastian sees cooking and growing as practices of remembering: that healing begins in being witnessed, and that dignity and care take shape in the small, steady acts of nurturing what is already there