About Us.

Harlem's 125th Street is the artery of global culture.
One Two Five Media takes inspiration from entertainment’s unsung main street.

One Two Five Media develops and produces the less recorded stories of ambitious and creative populations.  We look where others have not to identify and highlight compelling narratives that have widespread appeal. In doing so, our team partners with talented creators to craft critically-acclaimed and award-winning narratives that inspire and uplift. One Two Five Media spans unscripted and scripted television, audio, film and digital to further Marcus Samuelsson Group’s commitment to the affirmation of diverse cultures. 

Our company, led by co-founders Chef Marcus Samuelsson and industry veteran Derek Evans, features storytelling that is distinct, celebratory and visionary. Projects include the 2022 James Beard Award-nominated Eatup New York, the PBS series No Passport Required, Hustle on Viceland, Home Plate currently on YES Network and podcasts Our Harlem and This Moment. Additionally, we produce branded content with a variety of partners, filling out a portfolio of projects that reflect our expertise in the worlds of food, travel, fashion, music and entrepreneurship. 

One Two Five Media is a Harlem based production company.

Projects.

We develop and produce the stories that thread culture and spark rich conversation. Our projects include scripted and unscripted work, as well as branded content.

  • Home Plate

    Television | YES Network

    With Home Plate, Marcus Samuelsson guides high profile non-native New Yorkers home by way of local restaurants through kitchen to table conversation.

  • EatUp! New York

    Television | ABC

    EatUp! New York is a fresh, hour-long special that takes you into the tri-state area to explore and showcase African American restaurants and chefs who are making history and defining legacies with their culinary contributions to today's food scene.

  • Harlem Serves Up Television Special

    Television | ABC

    Harlem Serves Up! is a telethon to support Harlem small BIPOC businesses and to fight food insecurity in the community.

  • No Passport Required

    Television | PBS

    With No Passport Required, Marcus Samuelsson journeys across the U.S. to explore and celebrates the wide-ranging diversity of immigrant traditions and cuisine woven into American food and culture.

  • Hustle

    Television | Viceland

    Hustle is led by host John Henry as he follows emerging entrepreneurs as they struggle to take their dreams to the next level, offering advice and relationships that inspired his own journey to success, from executive producers Alicia Keys and Marcus Samuelsson

  • This Moment

    Audio | Acast

    This Moment is a podcast co-hosted by fellow Afro-Swedes rap artist Jason “Timbuktu” Diakite and chef Marcus Samuelsson as they consider food, music, policy and culture through a global lens.

  • Our Harlem

    Audio | Audible

    Grab a seat at Ginny's Supper Club for seven nights of melodic conversations and music in Harlem, from El Barrio to Sunday Gospel, with locals ranging from writers Isabel Wilkerson and Nicholas Lemann who ponder the Great Migration, to creative leaders Dapper Dan and Kevin Young who explore Harlem style, from the clothes to the linguistics.

The Team.

 

Chef Marcus Samuelsson
Co-Founder and Creative Director

Marcus Samuelsson is the acclaimed chef behind many restaurants worldwide including Red Rooster Harlem, MARCUS Montreal, Marcus B&P, Red Rooster Overtown and Marcus at Baha Mar Fish + Chop House in the Bahamas. Samuelsson was the youngest person to ever receive a three-star review from The New York Times and has won multiple James Beard Foundation Awards including Best Chef: New York City and Outstanding Personality for No Passport Required on PBS. He is a longstanding judge on the hit Food Network show Chopped and head judge of the new show Top Chef Family Style. He has an audio project with Audible, titled Our Harlem, and co-hosts This Moment podcast with Swedish rapper Timbuktu on ACAST. He is the author of multiple books including The New York Times bestselling memoir Yes, Chef: A Memoir and his latest book The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food.

Derek Evans
Co-Founder and CEO

Derek Evans has produced multiple groundbreaking projects across a wide diversity of platforms that have raised the standard of storytelling and compelled audiences for over 20 years, From Disney’s theatrical release The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) to the nation’s preeminent African American food festival Harlem EatUp!, his career reflects a deep understanding of the entertainment landscape and the skills required to bring dynamic concepts to fruition. In collaboration with Chef Samuelsson, Evans has produced Home Plate (executive producer, 2021-22), EatUp New York! (executive producer, 2021), Harlem Serves Up! (co- executive producer, 2020), Hustle on Viceland (executive producer, 2019). Prior to his 10-year partnership with Chef Samuelsson, Evans was most recently the managing editor and co-creator of MSNBC’s trailblazing Dylan Ratigan Show. Previous to that, he was a founding executive of Spyglass Entertainment, producing eight major motion pictures with over a billion dollars of collective worldwide revenue.

 
 

Jenna Bond
Creative Producer

Jenna Bond is a writer and producer based in Harlem, recently writing for season one of the Gotham and NAACP Image Award nominated Starz series RUN THE WORLD. She led industry relations for the Writers Guild East, where she served as the face of the organization speaking on film festival panels including Gotham (formerly IFP), Nantucket, Tribeca and Urbanworld. She also managed the Made in NY Writers Room on behalf of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and developed the New York Screenwriters Workshop with FilmNation to better facilitate the careers of NYC based writers with local producers, production companies and studios. Adamant about lifting the work of cultural leaders, Jenna’s professional experience includes the Apollo Theater, Havas PR, Donna Karan’s Urban Zen. She also was a curator at Maysles Cinema and host of filmmaker salons throughout the city. She began her career as a post-presidential aide to Bill Clinton, launching the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund at age 23 before going on to write speeches, eulogies and correspondence for Clinton. Jenna won the 2014 global Social Media Week Nokia Award for her panel series on web series as lens for television innovation. She completed the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch writing program and is a graduate of Wellesley College and Columbia Business School. She loves people watching at art gallery openings, Kamasi Washington and the hunt for great fried chicken spots.

Jared Marcelle
Audio Production Executive

Jared Marcelle is a storyteller from Brooklyn who got his start working with WNYC’s Radio Rookies as an assistant producer in 2016. He has been heard on different shows such as All Things Considered, Morning Edition and The Takeaway. Jared reported on two episodes of WNYC Studios production Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice. Jared earned his BS in broadcast journalism from Brooklyn College, where he has regularly returned as an invited guest lecturer.

Angela Bankhead
Director, Partnerships

Angela Bankhead is a creative and award-winning multimedia producer and marketing leader with over 10 years of experience specializing in creative concept development, curating content and media production with a passion for expanding cultural and brand awareness. Her unique understanding of community engagement through strategic planning traverses the media forms of film, design, art, and photography.
Through her desire for digital media in the culinary industry, this drive led her to join in 2014, the Marcus Samuelsson Group working in various facets of content management, design, photography, art, social media strategy, community partnership and cultural events.
Angela has become a force to be recognized as she continues to create partnerships and collaborate on projects that speak to the community, culture and creativity of the human spirit.
Angela holds an MFA in Design + Technology from Parsons The New School for Design and a dual Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Media Production and Psychology with minors in African-American Studies and English from the University of Houston. She currently resides in the New York area and is always seeking her next food adventure. In her spare time, she is living life and creating chef-like quality meals at her Bankhead Kitchen Studio in Harlem.

 

News & Press.

 
Featured
New York Emmy Nominations: News 12 Dominates Field; Telemundo & Univision Outlets Top All Others
New York Emmy Nominations: News 12 Dominates Field; Telemundo & Univision Outlets Top All Others

DEADLINE

“News 12 dominated with 80 nominations for the 65th annual New York Emmy Awards nominations, which were revealed today.”

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Marcus Samuelsson tours NYC eats with past Yankees, celebs in new show
Marcus Samuelsson tours NYC eats with past Yankees, celebs in new show

New York Post

The New York Yankees season might have been a strikeout, but chef Marcus Samuelsson’s show, out every Tuesday on the YES Network app, is a grand slam.

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