About Susan

For nearly 25 years, Susan Lukens has been working as a food stylist, using her culinary skills and her artistic abilities to enhance the visual appeal of food for photography. You’ve seen Susan’s expertly styled food photographs in countless national print ads, billboards, menus, product packages, cookbooks and on television commercials. Her vibrant styling of foods has promoted food products for clients including ConAgra, General Mills, Hormel, KFC, Lawry’s Seasoning, The Schwan Food Company, Subway, SuperValu Foods, Target and Tyson Foods.

Philosophy

Beyond Susan’s blending the science of food preparation with the details of styling food, she makes shooting easy and stress free. Her calm, helpful attitude and her creative, problem solving skills have ensured her success from patiently styling 100 steaks for a "picnic" (in the rain on a cold day) for a television commercial to preparing 32 varieties of oatmeal in a bowl for the same package photography. Without question, it’s Susan’s delightful sense of humor, professionalism, energy and perseverance that allows her photo shoots to be less of a production. Her talent and experience is apparent as she adapts easily with clients, photographers, art directors and television chefs, quickly grasping their needs. Her clients feel like they are her only client.

Versatility

In addition to Susan’s multiple years of experience styling food for print and film, she also assists clients with prop and floral styling, recipe development, menu planning, media tours and educational videos. Her clients include food manufacturers, restaurants and most recently, a cookbook publisher who asked her to write (and style) her own book, "Let's Fondue!"

Education

Susan was graduated cum laude as a home economist from the University of Minnesota with a custom Bachelor of Science degree in Food Design. She is also a graduate and certified teacher of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana (flower arranging) of Japan.