Plant Girl Magic: Recent Episodes
Chef Joya
Welcome to Plant Girl Magic! I’m Chef Joya, a celebrity vegan chef known for making the vegan versions of your favorite soul food and afro-caribbean dishes so good they rival the originals. On this podcast, I’m sharing the stories behind the magic, from my own vegan journey and celebrity stories, to topics I care deeply about like food injustice, family, and life as an influencer. If you have a topic you want me to cover on the podcast, please send me a DM on Instagram @cookingwithjoya.
We are BACK with Part 2 of my wine down session with Chef Lisa Brooks! In this episode, we talk about content creation, social media haters, what it was like to compete on Chopped, her biggest cooking motto, and why she’s so passionate about working with Black women If you want to become a personal chef, check out Chef Lisa’s free training on how to make six figures in the first year of business!
Listen to Part 1 with Chef Lisa
Connect with Chef Lisa Brooks!
- TikTok
- Website
In this episode:
- Why I struggled to ask Chef Lisa to assist me in the Charlotte SHOUT! Festival
- The behind-the-scenes tea of the competition I never told Chef Lisa… until now
- Vegan does NOT mean skinny or even healthy lol
- Chef Lisa’s core value of “The Joy of the Feast” and what that means to her
- Whether Chef Lisa feels restricted by dietary restrictions at dinner parties or events
- The ups and downs of content creation on different platforms
- How we deal with mean comments on social media
- How we really feel about social media influencers
- Whether content creating actually pays off
- Chef Lisa’s experience and strategy on Chopped on Food Network and whether she’d do another cooking competition in the future
- Why Chef Lisa is so passionate about hiring and mentoring Black women in the culinary industry
Welcome to Plant Girl Magic! I’m Chef Joya, a celebrity vegan chef known for making the vegan versions of your favorite soul food and afro-caribbean dishes so good they rival the originals. On this podcast, I’m sharing the stories behind the magic, from my own vegan journey and celebrity stories, to topics I care deeply about like food injustice, family, and life as an influencer. If you have a topic you want me to cover on the podcast, please send me a DM on Instagram @cookingwithjoya.
The Plant Girl Magic theme music is produced by my brother, Y’oMusic.
Connect with Chef Joya!
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Website
- Chef Joya’s Nest
Y’all know I talk about my mentor Chef Lisa Brooks all the time, but today is extra special because she is wine-ing down with me on the podcast! In this two part series (we talked for two and a half hours y’all), Chef Lisa is sharing all about her background, her opinions on culinary schools, her first impressions of me, and so much more. I hope you guys enjoy and laugh along with us in this episode. Stay tuned for part 2!
Connect with Chef Lisa Brooks!
- TikTok
- Website
In this episode:
- How Chef Lisa became a Chef and the signs that led her there
- Why she would never work in a restaurant
- Why she chose to go to culinary school at CPCC instead of Johnson & Wales
- All the ways she explored entrepreneurship while she was growing up
- How Food Lion recruited her as a chef
- How I pursued her for years until she finally agreed to be my mentor
- The moment I blew Chef Lisa’s mind with my vegan cooking
- All the stories from my own journey becoming a Chef that Chef Lisa witnessed and mentored me through
- Lessons Chef Lisa has learned as a personal chef from her own mentors
- What she expects from her mentees and her approach to mentorship
- The lessons she’s learned from me on appearance, professionalism, and vegan cooking
- What Chef Lisa considers the “it” factor in a fellow chef
Welcome to Plant Girl Magic! I’m Chef Joya, a celebrity vegan chef known for making the vegan versions of your favorite soul food and afro-caribbean dishes so good they rival the originals. On this podcast, I’m sharing the stories behind the magic, from my own vegan journey and celebrity stories, to topics I care deeply about like food injustice, family, and life as an influencer. If you have a topic you want me to cover on the podcast, please send me a DM on Instagram @cookingwithjoya.
The Plant Girl Magic theme music is produced by my brother, Y’oMusic.
Connect with Chef Joya!
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Website
- Chef Joya’s Nest
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to work with celebrities? Not only work with them, but be responsible for nourishing them after a hard day of filming, performing, and engaging with fans? In this episode, I’m giving you all the background on how I started working with celebrities, celebrity stories of who I’ve worked with so far (I’m just getting started, y'all!), and why I don’t really work with other chefs.
Some things I share in this episode are:
- How it’s still wild to me to call myself a “celebrity chef”
- What it was like cooking for celebrities like Tabitha Brown, Fantasia, and Mo’Nique
- My relationship with Fantasia and how I almost missed the chance to become her personal chef
- Whether I get starstruck around my celebrity clients
- The one thing all my celebrity clients have done that I’m so grateful for
- Why I don’t really work with other chefs (besides my mentors and friends)
Welcome to Plant Girl Magic! I’m Chef Joya, a celebrity vegan chef known for making the vegan versions of your favorite soul food and afro-caribbean dishes so good they rival the originals. On this podcast, I’m sharing the stories behind the magic, from my own vegan journey and celebrity stories, to topics I care deeply about like food injustice, family, and life as an influencer. If you have a topic you want me to cover on the podcast, please send me a DM on Instagram @cookingwithjoya.
The Plant Girl Magic theme music is produced by my brother, Y’oMusic.
Connect with Chef Joya!
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Website
- Chef Joya’s Nest
I get asked all the time how I became an influencer, how I grew my following, and what’s the behind the scenes of being a content creator. In this episode, I’m sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly on what it's really like to be an influencer. From how much I spend each month on content creation to brands that refused to pay me, I’m spilling all the tea that no one talks about so you can decide if the influencer life is right for you.
In this episode, I’m sharing:
- How much time you need to commit to be a content creator
- My why + why you need to have a strong why as an influencer
- The struggles of being both a private chef and a content creator
- How much it costs to be an influencer
- What it’s like being a Black influencer on social media
- The public scrutiny and judgment you face as a content creator
- What it’s really like to work with brands
- The best parts about being an influencer and content creator
Welcome to Plant Girl Magic! I’m Chef Joya, a celebrity vegan chef known for making the vegan versions of your favorite soul food and afro-caribbean dishes so good they rival the originals. On this podcast, I’m sharing the stories behind the magic, from my own vegan journey and celebrity stories, to topics I care deeply about like food injustice, family, and life as an influencer. If you have a topic you want me to cover on the podcast, please send me a DM on Instagram @cookingwithjoya.
The Plant Girl Magic theme music is produced by my brother, Y’oMusic.
Connect with Chef Joya!
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Website
- Chef Joya’s Nest
The Plant Girl Magic podcast is here, y’all! In this very first episode of the show, I’m sharing my personal vegan journey from sneaking bites of meat when I was seven years old to becoming an award-winning celebrity vegan chef. You might have heard me talk about my parents raising us vegan, but there are some details in here I have not shared before, so be sure to tune in! If you love this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and tell a friend to tell a friend!
In this episode, I talk about:
- Sneaking in meat after my parents said our family was going vegan
- The one time I almost died eating pork
- The vegan foods available to us when I was a kid vs. what we have now
- Venturing back into eating meat in my teens
- Having cooking competitions with my family… and losing
- My career as a makeup artist and model before I became a chef
- How I blew a professional chef’s mind with my vegan cooking
- My struggling with feeling like being a vegan chef was putting myself into a box
- How a Mac & Cheese competition changed my career and my life forever
Welcome to Plant Girl Magic! I’m Chef Joya, a celebrity vegan chef known for making the vegan versions of your favorite soul food and afro-caribbean dishes so good they rival the originals. On this podcast, I’m sharing the stories behind the magic, from my own vegan journey and celebrity stories, to topics I care deeply about like food injustice, family, and life as an influencer. If you have a topic you want me to cover on the podcast, please send me a DM on Instagram @cookingwithjoya.
The Plant Girl Magic theme music is produced by my brother, Y’oMusic.
Connect with Chef Joya!
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Website
- Chef Joya’s Nest
Welcome to Plant Girl Magic! I’m Chef Joya, a celebrity vegan chef known for making the vegan versions of your favorite soul food and afro-caribbean dishes so good they rival the originals. On this podcast, I’m sharing the stories behind the magic, from my own vegan journey and celebrity stories, to topics I care deeply about like food injustice, family, and life as an influencer. If you have a topic you want me to cover on the podcast, please send me a DM on Instagram @cookingwithjoya.
The Plant Girl Magic theme music is produced by my brother, Y’oMusic.
Connect with Chef Joya!
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Website
- Chef Joya’s Nest