Through comestible and social design, Krystal seeks to publicly unpack and heal personal traumas relevant to her experience as a disabled Black woman. With her practice, she conceptualizes and constructs spaces and objects that invite the community to engage with food and the natural world in multi-dimensional ways that elicit a sensory call and response, acting as a transformative tool for all.

As an Autistic Black woman born and raised in Baltimore, MD, Krystal’s lived experiences speak through her practice. One of the traits of her Autism is impaired interoception, which poses a challenge when identifying physical pain, hunger, and thirst. This neurological delay has been an obstacle throughout her life; it has also mediated her relationship with food and nature in a way that allows her to embrace the layers of her identity and use them as a conduit for conversational design. Krystal began her practice as a chef and now approaches this work as a food designer, social practice artist, and herbalist, maintaining regard for African diasporic foodways and following the intuitive ancestral wisdom of the Earth.

A critical element of her work involves exploring food and nature beyond the limits of traditional consumption. Krystal uses food design to construct spaces for dialogue and inquiry into the cultivation, or lack thereof, of sustainable and accessible practices supporting or hindering reparative futures for marginalized communities.

As a Black creative applying a social design lens to food, Krystal often felt the absence of a space for conversations around interdisciplinary culinary work that centers food as a vehicle for sociopolitical education and reparation. In 2018, she responded by creating the nomadic social design studio, In Absence Of Design (IAO Design for short). The work produced through IAO Design takes many forms; immersive dinners, community arts publications, and culinary interventions, all created to reveal our hidden bonds with one another and our environment.

Krystal’s work has been highlighted by the New York Times, NPR, Food & Wine Magazine, and MOLD Magazine. She has been named a “Woman to Watch” by the Baltimore Sun and featured on the Cherry Bombe 100 Women in Food list by Cherry Bombe Magazine as a food industry “Change Agent.” In 2023, she was awarded the United States Artist Fellowship in Architecture & Design, becoming the first artist in the history of the USA Fellowship to be honored for working with food.

Krystal proudly resides in her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.