Halo Kaya Perez-Gallardo is the chef-owner and creative director of Lil Deb’s Oasis in Hudson, New York. Raised in Queens by three Ecuadorian women who kept a busy kitchen and instilled in them a curiosity and passion for food, Halo began their career by founding the pie company Saborines, named after their grandmother, in middle school. After receiving a degree in Studio Art with a focus on installation and performance, plus a brief toe-dip into the Art World, Halo found their way back to cooking in kitchens in the Hudson Valley. In 2016 they co-founded Lil Deb’s Oasis, and have steered the James Beard nominated restaurant into being a bastion for queer community and beauty. They co-wrote the cookbook Please Wait To Be Tasted, published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2022, which was nominated for a James Beard award. Halo is driven by the joy of collaboration, and aims for their food and restaurant to match the vibrancy of the life they seek to live.