At the age of six, Nirmala began to cook in a tiny kitchen with no running water or electricity. She was born in Guyana, South America to parents of Indian descent. When she was 11, her family immigrated to New York City, and she grew up in the culinary melting pot of Queens. In 2002, Nirmala quit her corporate job at a marketing firm. She is the founder of the award-winning spice and ayurveda beauty company Nirmala's Kitchen Inc. TM. Today, she travels the world regularly in search of new additions for this thriving enterprise. She has travelled to more than 167 countries. Nirmala has been featured in Bon Appetit, O: The Oprah Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Food & Wine, The New York Times and numerous other publications. She is a frequent guest on Martha Stewart, The Today Show, CNN, and The CBS Early Show. Nirmala has published multiple travel- memoir cookbooks: In Nirmala's Kitchen: Everyday World Cuisine (Lake Isle Press, 2006), Nirmala's Edible Diaries (Chronicle Books, 2009) and Ellishiva Cinnamon and the Sixth Element, the exciting first volume in a lush, vivid historical-fantasy series. (Vanadala 2016) She is the Television host and Executive Producer of Nirmala's Spice World, airing globally on Zee Living and Asia TV networks, worldwide. Today, Nirmala is a sought-after speaker and consultant on global trends on food, flavor, and fragrance for Fortune 500 companies, and Michelin 3-star chefs. She has spoken and conducted interactive seminars on food, culture, yoga, ayurveda, vastu shastra, farming and ancient civilization at The American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian. She is also the founder of Nirmala Global Village, a foundation dedicated to empowering orphans around the world. Ms. Narine lives on an organic farm in New York's Hudson Valley. Her name is Sanskrit for "pure."