My Story
Who am I?
Hi, I am Zuliya and my friends call me Zuzu. I am a self-taught vegan chef, photographer, food stylist and recipe developer. I was raised in Uzbekistan, in Central Asia, then immigrated as a political refugee to the United States in 1997 when I was in my twenties.
Why am I doing this?
Exactly 7 years ago I learned that money and climbing the corporate ladder weren't making me happy anymore. So I quit my six-figure salary job to pursue what was actually making me happy: cooking and dancing. People who were close to me including my family thought I was going through a phase, and that I just needed a break from my hectic corporate life. Well, that break kept getting extended as I was discovering more and more joy in cooking and doing what was making me smile every day. I knew that my "break" was permanent when I woke up one day feeling so excited about being in the kitchen all day and creating new recipes. After that day, I never looked back.
How is it going?
In 2019, I gained my plant-based nutrition degree from eCornell Nutrition Studies, and since then my work has been published in several media outlets such as Mantra Yoga Magazine, VegOut Magazine, FeedFeed and was featured in the Women's Health Magazine, PopSugar, Best of Vegan and many other popular social media platforms.
In 2020 in the midst of a pandemic, I auditioned and was cast for the first Top Chef Amateurs show on Bravo TV and won the title of Top Chef on National TV.
