Fluellen was an influential figure in Los Angeles’ Black communities, where he promoted healthy lifestyles.
Bryce Anthony Fluellen, 53, who was a master chef, food justice advocate, entrepreneur, and author, died on January 1, 2024.
Fluellen dedicated his career to promoting healthy lifestyles and addressing the systemic barriers that can make healthy eating and exercise a challenge for people in underserved communities. He touched the lives of thousands of individuals along the way.
Fluellen was an influential figure in Los Angeles’ Black communities, as he gave healthy cooking demos and spoke about living a healthy lifestyle at many local health fairs and community events.
Fluellen developed and implemented strategic programs at Starbucks and Magic Johnson Enterprises, where he held managerial positions.
Community Impact Director at the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Heart Association (AHA), Fluellen was involved in a regional campaign with the National Football League Foundation to transform and improve youth physical activity. He started at the organization in 2014 as a chef instructor for the Kids/Teens Cook With Heart Program. He also crafted a curriculum around sustainable basic cooking skills and nutrition for more than 9,000 children within the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Santa Ana school districts. Additionally, he facilitated hundreds of workshops about the power of healthy eating to prevent disease, for parents, school administrators, business and community leaders.
Between 2020 and 2023, Fluellen was the executive director of social equity franchise and philanthropy at Everytable, where he led the company's program that invested directly into marginalized entrepreneurs of color by providing them the opportunity to open Everytable stores with zero upfront capital or net worth. In the interim, he was named to Nation's Restaurant News' 2022 Power List of 50 influential people who are shaping the future of food service.
Most recently, Fluellen was the president and CEO of Arthur Lee Consulting & Advisory, a Los-Angeles-based social impact firm named after his late father that was focused on food, health, and community development.
Fluellen was born on August 25, 1970 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. A passion for food and community was the throughline of Fluellen's life journey, from the time that he worked at a family-run, Washington, D.C. jazz restaurant while studying at Howard University during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Between 2006 and 2014 in Los Angeles, he operated a full-service caterer, YAMS Catering. It partnered with health-oriented organizations to educate people in Black and Hispanic communities about healthy eating. He earned his master chef certificate in 2012, studying at Chef Eric's Culinary Classroom (established by Chef Eric Jacques Crowley), where Fluellen also completed an Intensive French Cuisine training program.
Fluellen shared parts of that journey in Food: a Vehicle for Healing: (The Fruitful Journey) Pt. 1. (2016) a self-published, autobiographical cookbook that pairs healthy recipes with family stories and inspirational anecdotes.
Fluellen is survived by his wife Kim Porter Fluellen, son Bryce S. Fluellen, daughter Laila A. Fluellen, son Nicholas K. Porter, sister Jessica Davis, and many loving relatives and friends.
