Our Team of Experts

Graduating from the high cuisine school of Cuba Sergio Perez, he worked for 5 years at the elegant La Guarida before becoming the head chef at La Fontana. He is thrilled to share his Cuban cooking expertise with private cooking classes for Access Culinary Trips guests!

Cuba guide Azaris is part of our wonderful support team working on the ground with Access Culinary Trips guests. Azaris graduated from Havana University with a degree in English Language arts and has worked both as an English teacher in Cuba and a guide, for several years.

Previously a physics teacher, he shifted his focus in 2001 to become a private guide and has never looked back. He speaks Spanish and English and is a treasure trove of information on all things Cuba. He is also a warm, generous, and witty human being which makes him a perfect guide for our tours!

Fernando is leading an organic farming revolution in Cuba. Seeing a need for fresh ingredients to inspire the stagnant culinary history of Cuban cuisine, Fernando is looking beyond rice, beans and plantains, to the vast world of agricultural opportunity around him, and Cuba’s year round growing conditions. He is a wonderful part of our Access Culinary Trips team.

Roly is a retired bartender from none other than the famous El Floridita Bar in Havana. Your Cuban cocktail needs will be joyfully met by this delightful man as mixes and stirs his way into your heart.

Tamar has led Access Culinary Trips for the past 10 years. Prior to that she managed marketing and e-commerce for travel industry leaders such as Lonely Planet, Travelocity and American Airlines. She grew up jetting between the Middle East, USA, and West Africa. That laid the groundwork for a lifelong desire to explore that has taken her to over 60 countries. Among her favorite places are Tibet, which is possibly the most stunning place on earth, and Vietnam, where she fell in love. Tamar holds a BS from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Berkeley Haas. She lives in the Seattle area with her husband and two children. Her favorite "culture through cuisine" experience is eating at Vietnamese food stalls with the locals.

Thomas brings 20 years of building businesses to lead our internal operations. His passion is to drive the business growth with focus on an outstanding customer experience like that of Access Culinary Trips. He has traveled to more than 50 countries. Thomas earned a BS in Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Berkeley Haas.

A sports enthusiast with a love of snowboarding, rock climbing, surfing and mountain biking, Victoria has a passion for traveling. She has traveled extensively in South America, Europe, North America and Australasia. A native of New Zealand, she moved to the United States when she was 17 to attend the United World College, an international school in New Mexico. She then went on to complete her university studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, USA. Upon graduation, Victoria was accepted for a financial analyst position in the media group of New York investment bank, Morgan Stanley, where she worked until deciding to co-found Access Trips. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and also has a BA degree in psychology. Victoria speaks Spanish and Portuguese, and has worked and volunteered extensively with teenagers during her summers.

Growing up in the Swiss Alps, it`s no wonder Alain developed a passion for snowboarding. All the hours he put into becoming a world-ranked, widely-published and sponsored snowboarder didn’t stop him from pursuing other interests, however. Nor did it cause him to shirk on his studies. After finishing high school in Switzerland, Alain was accepted to Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, USA, where he earned his Bachelors degree in economics. He then went on to win a financial analyst position with New York investment bank, Salomon Smith Barney, where he spent two years as a financial analyst. During his time in New York, he managed to qualify for the US National Halfpipe Snowboarding Championships and made plans to co-found Access Trips. Alain has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, is an avid traveler and has extensive experience with instructional trips.