Aarti Sequeira

Aarti Sequeira
Born August 19, 1978
Mumbai, India
Education

Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism

New School of Cooking
Spouse(s) Brendan McNamara

Culinary career

Cooking style Indian-American cuisine

Aarti Sequeira is an Indian chef and television personality, best known as the winner of the sixth season of Food Network's reality television show, The Next Food Network Star.[1] As a result of that victory, her show Aarti Party premiered on the network on August 22, 2010. She had previously worked as a CNN news producer and in 2008 started the online cooking variety show Aarti Paarti. She currently hosts another cooking show, Taste in Translation,[1] in which she seeks the most popular dishes from around the world.

Early life, education and early career

Aarti Sequeira was born in Mumbai on August 19, 1978 and raised in Dubai.[1] She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 2000.[2] After graduation, Aarti worked as a producer for the cable news company CNN until 2003, before moving to Los Angeles, California.[3]

Cookery

Sequiera trained at the New School of Cooking in Culver City and in 2007 earned a professional certificate.[4] In 2008, she started an online cooking variety show called Aarti Paarti.[5] Drawing on the flavors of her childhood, Sequeira uses Indian ingredients in her cooking, and credits much of her culinary inspiration to her Indian cultural background and her mother's influence.[2]

Food Network

In 2010, Sequeira became a participant in the sixth season of The Next Food Network Star, a reality series on the Food Network. She was among 12 contestants participating in cooking competitions and on-camera challenges to determine who would be awarded their own culinary show on the network. Although Sequeira believed her experience with the Aarti Paarti online show would give her an advantage with the camera segments, she instead found them to be very challenging.[6] Judges and critics were attracted to her bubbly personality, sense of humor, on-screen charisma and strong food. During the season finale on August 15, Sequeira was selected as winner of The Next Food Network Star beating out two finalists. Her show Aarti Party focuses on sharing easy ways to enhance American favorite dishes with simple but unique Indian influences.[7]

Personal life

Aarti Sequeira is married to actor Brendan McNamara,[1] who went to her alma mater Northwestern University. The two hosted the online show Aarti Paarti.[2] Sequeira grew up in a traditional Indian Catholic home. [8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Qazi, Nisa (March 15, 2013). "Eats, shoots and blogs: Bona fide celebrity chef Aarti Sequeira talks about how she came to represent Indian food in the US". ft.com. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "BSJ Alumna Aarti Sequeira". Medill School of Journalism. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  3. ↑ Holbrook, Damian (August 16, 2010). "Watercooler: Who's Our Next Food Network Star?". TV Guide. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  4. ↑ "About aarti!". aartipaarti. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  5. ↑ MacIntyre, April (August 16, 2010). "Food blogger Aarti Sequeira takes Next Food Network Star prize". Monsters and Critics. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  6. ↑ Lynch, Rene (June 4, 2010). "They all want to be the next Guy Fieri". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  7. ↑ Slezak, Michael (August 16, 2010). "'Next Food Network Star' season finale recap: And the winner is...". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Aarti Sequeira Bio: Chefs". Food Network. August 2010. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2010.

External links