Zola Nene

Chef Zola Nene was born in Durban, based in Cape Town, South Africa. When she was 6, her family moved to George and her dad started to work in a petroleum plant in Mossel Bay. After she got enrolled in university, she chose Bcomm law as her intended major. However, after about 2 years, she realized that it was not the right career path for her and she has a much greater passion in the culinary world. So she applied the working visa and went to England to follow her culinary dream.

Chef Zola Nene stayed in England for about two years. During her time, she first started working as the chef for the hot section of a brasserie in Cheshire. Then, because of her diligence at work, she was later being promoted to the head pastry chef.

After receiving valuable working experience, she went back to South Africa and enrolled in Institute of Culinary Arts in Stellenbosch. It is where she decided to shift her culinary focus to food media. She later moved to Johannesburg and worked as a catering manager.

Her passion and deep love for food has certainly influenced many people, including the producer of Expresso, a South Africa breakfast TV show which particular focused on daily lifestyles. She was later chosen as the Food Stylist and the resident chef of the show. With the help of Expresso, more people got to know her through television and she managed to broadcast her idea of simple, down-to-earth, family cooking style to more people in South Africa. With the help of her deep enthusiasm for cooking, in October 2010, the show Expresso was considered as the most famous breakfast TV show in South Africa.

In February, 2016 she completed her first cookbook “Simply delicious”. It is not a book just about food. It is a book that represents her love of nature, her love for the people in her life, and her love for the family. It is a book that symbolizes her growth and her cooking style. It is also a book that makes people bonds closer over food. In 2017, her cookbook was one of the four cookbooks that received the Gourmand World Cookbook award. In 2018, she released a second cookbook titled "Simply Zola." She also hosts the TV show "Celeb Feasts wit Zola." Her career and life is a testimony to the fact that everyone should pursue their dream regardless of race or gender.