With over 3.6 million followers on Instagram, Yumna Jawad – founder of Feel Good Foodie – is one of the most popular food writers on social media. Her blog began on Instagram as a “micro-blog” in 2013 and blew up online thanks to the realness, simplicity and accessibility of her recipes. Although Jawad had no formal cooking training or experience, the images she shared of the recipes she cooked for her family captured the attention of millions of followers. She has been featured by the likes of SELF Magazine, The Next Web and Entrepreneur.

Jawad now lives in Michigan, USA with her family, but her international background has added to the creativity of her popular recipes. With family roots in Lebanon, she was born in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and also lived in Sierra Leone as a child before moving to Dearborn, Michigan. When Jawad first learned to cook she focussed on traditional Lebanese food, and would call her mom who took her step by step through each recipe. She began to share the recipes on social media posting photographs of her food taken on her iPhone. Although her meals weren’t styled or edited, her food was simple and approachable, and social media users found each recipe easy to recreate in their own kitchens.

Although she’s now expanded her repertoire exponentially, Jawad still enjoys including a Middle East/Mediterranean flavour to many of her recipes because of the focus on healthy ingredients. Jawad continues to inspire millions of readers to try to incorporate feel good ingredients and wholesome recipes with into their everyday lives.