BY MARCUS SAMUELSSON, AS TOLD TO EMMA WARTZMAN, November 17, 2020

This holiday season, our global brand ambassador, Marcus Samuelsson, is sourcing most of his gifts closer to the home he’s lived in for 15 years: Harlem. Many of the folks who make these goods might live down the street or work in his nearby restaurant, Red Rooster. Another thing these craftspeople have in common: “They’re dream makers,” Samuelsson says. “They have worked so hard to create what they love in the community that they love, and I’m so proud to be able to broadcast it here.” From a conversation-starting sweatshirt sold at one of his favorite West Coast restaurants to the labor-of-love cookbooks, these are the gifts that really mean something to Samuelsson this year.