enjoyiana.com

Imagine if the essence of Oprah Winfrey, Ina Garten, Julia Child, Anthony Bourdain, and a sprinkle of Bobby Flay could be blended together to create a spirit child; I think that child would probably be a lot like me. My name is Enjoyiana Nururdin, I’m a Black woman, a Journalist, an avid reader, a daughter, a sister, a foodie, a spiritual baddie, and a certified lover girl of things beautiful and delicious. I am also an aspiring chef! 

 

Food has been my first love since I made my first batch of fried chicken at eight years old. I grew up watching Food Network religiously. Culinary arts has been my backbone since I created my first cookbook in home economics in the seventh grade. Global flavor has been a curiosity since I’ve been able to interact with international cuisine as a journalism student studying abroad in college. And now, with my journalism skills on lock, I am bringing the two worlds together to create the career of my dreams. I am going to be a chef personality and journalist showcasing and creating culinary focused-stories through the power of cooking, eating, and human connectivity! 

 

I am a graduate of Columbia Journalism School, Class of 2022, and University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism alumni, Class of 2021. At Columbia, I was the youngest and only Black person –Black woman– in my concentration of over 20 journalists. I majored in politics and focused on putting Black womanhood at the center of all of my pieces because I wanted to draw attention to intersectionality and bring it to conversations around everything in politics, including food. 

 

The summer before starting graduate school, I binge-watched the series inspired by the book “High on the Hog” and fell even more in love with human-interest storytelling through food. I also read the book by Jessica Harris and especially admired the attention to political and social history as it pertained to Blackness and cuisine. I began brainstorming ideas for my Master’s Thesis knowing that I wanted to build on that and write something about Blackness, food, and politics. In New York, I wrote about a group of Black and Brown chefs –mainly women– that formed a mutual aid organization called the Black Chef Movement, during the pandemic and provided meals for people in the community. I shared their story and highlighted themes of Black feminism in community development, and about how coming together to help people facing hunger was political and revolutionary in nature. I was inspired by their love for others and desire to create sustainable solutions to food insecurity. Volunteering with them throughout the year, and writing and researching about food and Blackness brought me closer to my childhood dreams of having a career centered around storytelling and food. 

 

Upon graduation, I was blessed to receive the work opportunity of a lifetime with Blue Chalk Media. I worked as an Associate Producer on the show From the Source with Chef Katie Button for a short while, and I am grateful for the chance to get closer to my dream of having my own cooking/talk show. Working on the show taught me about sourcing not just quality ingredients but also diverse voices, and I noticed that perspective was an important component of storytelling and culinary arts. I discovered a whole new side of food that I had never seen before. But while I worked remotely during the summer, I realized that I wasn’t happy or in a good mental space, even with this dream job. So I decided to quit. I made the decision to create the reality I wanted for myself. 

 

Finding a way to combine journalism with culinary arts is something I have dreamt about for a long time. I’ve participated in a professional chef competition in high school, worked as a freelance food reporter as a freshman in college, and danced around in the kitchen to cook whenever I needed to go to my happy place. Since high school, I have spent my free time interning, working, and finding opportunities in journalism that would benefit my career and passions, but I never really pursued my passions in culinary arts, until now. Being a first generation college student, I am personally motivated by my desire to make my dreams a reality, and I am also motivated by the truth that, regardless of whatever obstacles might be in my way, I have to be the one to put in the grunt work to make things happen. 

 

As a young adult, specifically a young Black woman, pursuing her dreams independently, I know that I am going to make it happen regardless and I’m grateful for the chance to pursue them. As a journalist, I have learned that everybody brings their own flavor and history to life, as a foodie I want to bring that to the table and explore it by honoring and showcasing individual heritage and culture. This platform allows me to ground my inspirations and bring my worlds of journalism and culinary arts together. We all deserve to live healthy, happy, and fulfilling lives, and there are powers at play in this world that have prevented so many of us from doing so. Those wrongdoings need to be called out and the responsible parties held responsible, and we as a people deserve to heal from the harm caused. Rather than accepting that things are the way they are, I work to engage in conversation that honors the power of subjectivity in every individual’s life experiences and humors the thought of a world where we achieve peace and unconditional love. We’ve lived in and accepted darkness and destruction for so long. Enough is enough. The buck stops here. Join me if you will. I can’t wait for you to experience what I’ve got cooking up!