About Monika, The Author

Owner & founder of Hipcooks (since 2004), Monika is famous for never stressing in the kitchen, making food out of nothing, measuring with her hands, & dancing while cooking. Next to teaching cooking classes & being a mother to little Lucia, she loves to have dinner parties & socialize. Hipcooks is an extension of herself.

First-generation American (with a mother from Germany and father from Argentina), Monika loves to experience culture through food and travel. She caught the travel-bug early, studying economics in both Argentina and in the UK. She cooked her way through a series of London restaurants during the gastro-boom of the 1990s. Alongside chefs from the England, Portugal, Mozambique, Spain, and Brazil—she soaked it up like a sponge and spent some of the most overworked and happiest days of her life learning, eating, cooking. After working as an econometrician at the RAND Corporation, she followed her heart and took a leap of faith to open Hipcooks in Los Angeles in 2004.

Hipcooks cooking schools are known for measurement-free cooking, delighting in the process, and inventing along the way. Every class ends a dinner party with new friends. There are now 7 Hipcooks locations:  Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Orange Country and 3 in the city Los Angeles.

When not globetrotting, Monika resides with her beloved daughter Lucia in beautiful Portland, Oregon. Monika’s everyday foods are, ironically, the simple stuff. She owes her copious energy to raw fruits &veggies, yet she honors & loves the celebration of cooking!