Kirsten Newman-Teissier grew up surrounded by good food. Her father owned a wholesale food distribution company that specialized in fresh seafood and supplied many of the best restaurants in the Philadelphia area. Her mother was, and is a great cook and the food media's number-one fan. When Kirsten was a kid, her mother made meals from both her Gourmet cookbooks and the local Italian cuisine. This made Kirsten a lover of all kinds of foods and especially well-versed in cooking and eating fish. Elizabeth and Kirsten bonded early on over their love of fresh seafood and cooking with their mothers. Kirsten relocated from Philadelphia to Chicago to pursue a career in public relations in the music industry. But her love of food brought her to Weber Shandwick Public Relations, where she met Elizabeth, and worked with her on the Weber grill account. Very soon, Kirsten fell in love with grilling and barbecue and helped Elizabeth on all aspects of the account.

When Elizabeth decided to launch GirlsattheGrill.com in 2002 and start her own grilling and barbecue domain, Kirsten joined her to spread the good word of barbecue! Since that time, Kirsten has become an expert griller, using the grill to cook everything from Elizabeth's North Carolina's Pulled Pork, which has become her family's favorite! to grilling vegetables for a quick weeknight pasta. Kirsten is the Public Relations and Website Manager and extremely excited to launch the new ElizabethKarmel.com.