How It Started
Eat Plants Elevate began as my personal journey to improve my health. After experiencing an incredible transformation and fully healing through a plant-based way of living, I felt a strong urge to share this healing path with others.
What started as a personal transformation soon grew into a passion for helping others nourish their bodies, heal with food, and thrive. Over time, this passion evolved into a personal chef service, dedicated to providing wholesome meals and inspiration for those ready to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Eat Plants Elevate Mission
At Eat Plants Elevate, our mission is simple: to elevate your health with plants.
I believe that food is medicine, and that vibrant, thoughtfully prepared meals can make healthy living not only easier, but more joyful and sustainable.
More about me:
I’ve trained at Matthew Kenney Culinary School and Viva La Raw in Costa Rica, where I learned the art of vibrant, healing, both vegan and raw vegan cuisines. I also worked as a cook at Que Se Raw Se Raw, a raw vegan café in Burlingame, California.
I am a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and also HMI Wellness, with a focus on plant-based nutrition and whole-body wellness.
I’m always learning—experimenting in the kitchen, studying new techniques, and teaching myself ways to make food even more delicious and nourishing. Cooking is my passion, and I love sharing it to help others feel their best from the inside out.
I’m honored to be a published co-author of Healing Foods by Joey Avniel, with my raw vegan pizza being featured on the cover, and I contributed a chapter sharing my healing journey and vegan recipes.
In my free time, I love surfing, practicing and teaching yoga classes (mostly private classes for now), creating art, and capturing moments through photography. I feel incredibly grateful to call Hawaii my home now; of all the places I’ve lived and traveled, Hawaii resonated with me the most deeply. I had a soul calling to come here—it’s where my heart truly feels at peace.
My Healing Journey Through Plant-Based Nutrition
By my mid-20s, my health was in crisis. I struggled with chronic sinus infections, frequent antibiotic use, inflammation, migraines, digestive issues, fatigue, and even early signs of knee arthritis. I felt trapped in a cycle of sickness and medication, with no clear way out. Conventional medicine and doctors were not helping me, and I started searching for natural ways to heal myself.
How Yoga Led Me to a Vegan Lifestyle
In 2007, while living in New York City, I began practicing yoga to relieve chronic back pain. What began as a physical form of therapy, yoga quickly evolved into a profound spiritual path, transforming my life in many ways. I found myself practicing and learning yoga almost every day of the week. My teacher, Dharma Mittra, my guru and the primary catalyst for a deep inner transformation, emphasized in each class the importance of Ahimsa. Ahimsa is the first principle (rule) of the true yoga path. Ahimsa means non-violence and compassion—compassion towards all living beings, which has to go beyond our pets. Dharma says that Ahimsa is the most essential principle in yoga, and that “without Ahimsa, yoga is just like gymnastics”.
Dharma told us in every yoga class about how consuming animal products can disturb the mind and body, hindering inner peace and clarity. His message resonated deeply: compassion isn't just a philosophy—it’s a practice. I transitioned to a vegan lifestyle in 2010 and also became a certified yoga teacher.
Healing with Plants
As my diet shifted, I also introduced regular juice cleanses and detoxes. Within a year, I was off all medications, and my chronic symptoms began to fade. I’ve remained medicine-free and illness-free ever since, sustained and energized by whole, plant-based foods. Since 2010, I have not taken any medications, zero pills, not a single Advil even, with excellent health and energy levels as I continue thriving on plants for over a decade now.
Deepening My Knowledge
My transformation sparked a desire to help others heal. I studied holistic health at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and a specialized plant-based nutrition program at the HMI Wellness. I also trained as a raw vegan chef at the Viva La Raw retreat in Costa Rica, gaining hands-on experience working at a raw vegan café, Que Se Raw Se Raw, in Burlingame, California.
From Cooking Classes to Private Chef Services
It all started with raw vegan cooking classes first in Brooklyn, which led to custom dessert orders and small catering requests. When I moved to the Bay Area, my offerings grew to include private cooking classes and weekly meal prep for families. My work spread through word of mouth, and my client base expanded.
In 2024, I relocated to O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, where I continue to offer personalized plant-based meal prep, private chef services, and cooking classes. Today, my mission is simple: to help others feel their best—physically, mentally, and emotionally—through the healing power of food.
