Jenya was born in Russia where at an early age, with the tutelage of her grandmother, she developed her love of preparing delicious whole food; food harvested with love, fresh from her grandmother’s garden. Jenya’s culinary experiences include working as an executive chef manager at a vegetarian restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Other experience includes catering large scale events and working as a private chef.

Jenya is a very proud mother of 26 year old twin sons. They are one of the reasons for her interest in good health and nutrition.  The other reasons are her desire not to succumb to a devastating family history of diabetes and heart disease and to help others do the same.

In 2007 her dream of combining nutrition and food for health and longevity came true as she graduated the Living Light Culinary Arts Institute as a raw food Chef/Instructor. She shares her passion through her company Essential Energy Cuisine by offering life changing retreats, classes and vibrant health coaching.
Jenya lectures extensively--in natural food markets, wellness centers, corporate venues, professional organizations and colleges nationally.

Jenya’s current projects include a DVD, Change Your Food-Change Your Life , a simple approach to incorporating the raw lifestyle in to your life, to be released November 2008, and a book of the same title, to be released September 2008.

My life-long love affair with good food began at age 6, with cooking lessons from my grandmother. As a teen, I became a vegetarian for several years.  This fostered my interest in fresh produce and natural ingredients. At the age of 12, I had an opportunity to live in Austria and Italy before coming to United States. Living with a family in Rome, gave me the opportunity to learn first-hand how the women of the region prepared fresh foods meticulously chosen from the local market each day.  Several years later, I had an opportunity to travel to China and Korea and experience the preparation of many wonderful vegetarian delicacies there as well.

Back in the States I began to meet more and more people interested in improving their diets and their health but lacking the time and knowledge it takes to get started. They found the “cook” book approach to be somewhat intimidating because of the unfamiliarity with many ingredients and equipment required, as well as, the many unfamiliar steps required to complete some of the recipes.  Also, many students were not interested in radical dietary changes, but simply wanted creative ways to get the fruits and vegetables they needed. I began developing time-saving techniques and tasty, familiar dishes that could be made with common ingredients and basic equipment.  I was sure this would appeal to mainstream America.  Since most of us learn best by observing I teach what I’ve learned.  I teach in groups or individual classes where students can learn and become proficient and confident with the basics of raw food preparation, which I find is a necessary step before they move to more complex dishes.

My soon to be released DVD, and other projects are all geared toward making it easy and enjoyable for anyone to eat a healthier diet.