KANSAS CITY, MO — In response to continued growth including a new media platform for the artisan baking community, Avant Food Media has added Mari Rydings as editorial director for its Commercial Baking and Craft to Crumb titles.
Rydings joins Avant as a veteran of baking industry B2B media with editorial experience ranging from magazine coverage to managing International Baking Industry Exposition media products for the tradeshow’s official media provider.
Prior to Avant, she served as a senior content writer for American Family Insurance after spending seven years in healthcare marketing for North Kansas City Hospital. She has extensive experience with internal and external communication, feature writing and editing, and advertising and public relations campaigns, as well as project management.
As editorial director, Rydings will work directly with Joanie Spencer, editor-in-chief of Commercial Baking, and will be a guiding force in the editorial activities of all media platforms for both titles.
“What a pleasure to be working with Mari again,” Spencer said. “Her industry experience and editorial flair perfectly suit Avant. She’s going to inject a new energy into this already dynamic team of talented professionals.”
Rydings will be heavily involved in content creation and also be seen covering industry events such as the American Society of Baking’s BakingTECH conference and other tradeshows.
“With the rapid growth of Commercial Baking and expansion of Avant’s media products into all sectors of baking, the sky’s the limit,” said Paul Lattan, Avant Food Media president. “Having another industry veteran on board will further enhance the Commercial Baking and Craft to Crumb editorial offerings. Avant Food Media embarks on 2023 with an unmatched team focused exclusively on the baking industry, from commercial to retail.”
