Olivia Harper

Olivia Harper spent her childhood in the rolling suburbs of Dayton, Ohio, where the scent of simmering tomato sauce was as constant as the cicadas in late summer. Her mother, a former schoolteacher turned home‑cooking enthusiast, turned the family kitchen into a laboratory, teaching Olivia to measure love in pinches of salt and generous splashes of butter. It was there, perched on a stool at the counter, that she learned the rhythm of a well‑timed stir and the patience required for a perfect roux.

The turning point came one rainy Thursday in 2012, when Olivia’s grandmother, affectionately known as “Nana Mae,” handed her a battered, handwritten recipe card for her famous chicken‑and‑dumpling soup. The card, stained with years of splatters, bore a single line in looping script: “Feed the heart, not just the stomach.” Olivia spent the afternoon coaxing the broth to a golden hue, listening to Nana Mae’s stories of wartime rations and Sunday gatherings, and realized that food could be a conduit for memory and comfort.

Today, Olivia channels that legacy into MyMomDishes, a digital archive of more than 200 comforting, family‑first recipes. She is driven by the belief that every plate should feel like a warm hug, and she strives to make that feeling accessible to anyone, anywhere. Her mission is simple: to preserve the intimacy of home‑cooked meals while inviting a new generation to write their own culinary stories.