Santana Caress Benitez

Santana Caress Benitez is a freelance chef who received culinary and culinary management diplomas from the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She is also a Food Network Chopped champion and a member of SAG- AFTRA. After spending time working in restaurant kitchens, Santana branched out on her own as a freelance chef and culinary instructor. Santana currently resides in San Juan, Puerto Rico where she cooks and creates content for her web series,_ I’ll Cook Like Your Mother_. She also runs La Clinica de Comida, a free community food and acupuncture/alternative healing program that was directly inspired by the Black Panthers. Santana can also be seen playing Lourdes ‘LuLu’ Blackmon in both seasons of the Spike Lee directed series, She’s Gotta Have It, which is currently on Netflix.