Aliya LeeKong has spent her career doing one thing: making the complicated feel delicious. As a chef, she's traveled to 35+ countries to bring home flavors and techniques most people never encounter in a cookbook. As a mom, she turned that same instinct toward her kids — building Issa's Edible Adventures and The Science Sweeties to teach culture and science through food. Now, she's bringing that same lens to wellness.

A first generation American whose parents are Tanzanian and Indo-Pakistani immigrants, Aliya's insight into cooking was always through a lens that layered culture upon culture. "My parents spoke different languages so I was never quite sure to which side of my family a particular dish or word belonged, but everything about food was celebratory and joyful in my home. The idea that cultures can blend with one another to create amazing food is one that is instinctive to me," she says.

Aliya earned degrees from both Brown University and Columbia University before deciding to become a chef. She studied at the International Culinary Center in New York and honed her skills at New York City's Jean Georges, Per Se, and Junoon, where she served as Chef and Culinary Creative Director. Her first cookbook, Exotic Table: Flavors, Inspiration, and Recipes from Around the World – to Your Kitchen, was named "Best of the Best" by Food & Wine in 2014.

Aliya has been a guest chef on NBC's Today Show, a judge on Food Network's Bobby's Triple Threat, Beat Bobby Flay, and Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition, and a culinary expert on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Her work has been featured in Food & Wine, Vogue India, Shape, Oprah, Eater, and Food Republic.

As a mother, Aliya has channeled her love of teaching into two children's media brands: Issa's Edible Adventures and The Science Sweeties, an animated series that turns the kitchen into a science lab.

Aliya resides in New York City with her husband and her two daughters.