While serving as Executive Chef at Le 144, a restaurant affiliated with Paris' famous The Petrossian dining establishment, Dia became one of the most respected female chefs in France. She later presided over the kitchen at Le Vraymonde, an upscale restaurant located in Paris' Buddha-Bar Hotel.
After foregoing traditional schooling to study catering and hotel management, she became a cook in Petrossian's vegetable department and was soon thereafter appointed sous-chef.
In 2014, she received the prestigious Trofemina Trophy for her culinary and philanthropic work.
Born in Paris, France to Senegalese parents, she grew up with six siblings.
She and fellow chef Anne-Sophie Pic both hold the distinction of having risen to prominence in the largely male-dominated French culinary world.