About us🍣
Meet the crew🍣
Kelly Jo👩🏼🍳
Founder and lead sushi instructor.
Kelly has spent 15+ years working as a sushi chef, with another decade of professional cooking experience before that. What started as teaching a few curious sushi bar customers how to roll sushi at home eventually turned into Birmingham Sushi Classes.
She’s taught over 15,000 students across 18 states — and still believes sushi should be fun, approachable, and never intimidating.
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Bonnie👩🏼🦰
Co-founder, reservation wrangler, travel coordinator, website builder, professional problem solver, and the person most likely to answer your email before you’ve even finished typing it.
If Birmingham Sushi Classes were a ship, Bonnie would be the one keeping it from crashing into the dock.
Ashley👩🏼🍳
Ashley is our Birmingham-area sushi chef specializing in private parties and catering.
She brings creativity, great energy, and the kind of personality that makes people feel like they’re hanging out with a friend who just happens to make excellent sushi.
Justin🧑🍳
Justin is our South Carolina sushi chef and instructor, teaching classes and private parties throughout the Charleston and Beaufort areas.
We originally discovered him absolutely crushing sushi content on TikTok and immediately knew he belonged on the team.
From brewery classes to beach house parties, Justin has South Carolina covered.
Brooke👩🏼🍳
Brooke is the first member of our Gulf Coast beach team and specializes in private vacation sushi experiences.
Instead of waiting two hours for overpriced tourist food, Brooke comes directly to your beach house or condo with a full sushi spread — allowing your group to relax, eat well, and avoid the designated driver debate altogether.
You can book beach sushi parties through @bamasushi on Instagram.
Alexx👨🏼🍳
Alexx is the newest addition to our Gulf Coast crew and has quickly become a client favorite — especially for beach parties and bachelorette groups.
He brings incredible energy, great food, and knows exactly how to make a party feel effortless.
Beach party bookings are available through @bamasushi on Instagram.
How Birmingham Sushi Classes Started 🍺🍣
Back in 2011, customers at the sushi bar kept asking Kelly the same question:
“Can you come teach us how to make sushi at home?”
So… eventually she did.
What started as a small side project quickly grew into brewery classes, private sushi parties, university events, sorority classes, catering, beach dinners, and sushi nights all across the Southeast.
By 2016, the business had grown enough for Kelly to leave the sushi bar and focus on teaching full-time.
Today, Birmingham Sushi Classes teaches hands-on sushi experiences throughout the southeastern United States — including brewery classes, private parties, university events, corporate team-building experiences, beach vacations, and more.
Over the years, we’ve had more than 15,000 students roll sushi with us across 18 states.
And yes… someone once brought a possum to class.