About
Vegan chef, cookbook author, and culinary content creator known for veganizing soul food and Afro-Caribbean comfort dishes, for starring in the digital cooking series Vegan On A Budget, and for building a major following through her Cooking With Joya YouTube and Instagram accounts. She is also known for hosting the podcast Plant Girl Magic and for being featured in major outlets including Ebony, Food Network, BET, First We Feast, Condé Nast Traveler, Parade, and Travel Noire.
Before fame
She learned to cook at home. She initially pursued creative work outside of food including working as a professional makeup artist. She began sharing cooking content on YouTube and Instagram in 2018. She won Critics' Choice Best Vegan Chef and Readers' Choice Best Chef in 2019. She started posting cooking videos more consistently during the COVID-19 pandemic which helped boost her online growth. She released her debut cookbook Cooking With Joya: It's Soul Mahmazing! Vol. 1, in 2020.
Trivia
She launched her first line of vegan gourmet seasonings in October 2021. She was selected as a Women Building the Future Honoree in 2021 by Vegan Women Summit and Impossible Foods. She was named Critics' Choice Best Vegan Chef in 2019 and 2021 by Queen City Nerve. She was also named Readers' Choice Best Chef in 2019 by Queen City Nerve. She won Charlotte Eats Chef in 2022.
Family life
Her real name is Adjoa Courtney. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was raised in a vegan household after her family transitioned to plant-based eating when she was seven years old. She has 15 siblings. She is a mother.
Associated with
She has cooked professionally for Fantasia Barrino.
