Executive Interview: Saga Elmotaseb

image source: Danielle McCormick

No matter what culture, age, gender, color, class, or any other difference, people always come together over food.  Saga Elmotaseb, a woman of many talents, is using food to build bridges between cultures.

“Be your dream in everything you do. No filter. No façade. No other agenda. It’s the only way to live in this world,” says Elmotaseb.

Elmotaseb was born in the Middle East and lived five years in Ecuador, but considers herself fully American. That being said, she wants to bring a positive light to the mostly negative media surrounding the Middle East. She says that being a female Middle Eastern professional in the entertainment industry gives her the opportunity to broaden others’ perspectives.

Spice it up with Saga is Elmotaseb’s personally branded cooking show, which can be found on YouTube and her website, spiceitupwithsaga.tv.  There, one will find fun videos in which viewers can cook authentic Middle Eastern cuisine with a Saga twist, full of flavor and delicious ingredients.

As a lover of cultures and a creative spirit, the Chapman University alumna says she loves to have the opportunity to create her own content without the red tape of the studios. “[The studios] have so much red tape and politics that it stopped the creative process,” says Elmotaseb.

After years working with some of the big names in production companies, Elmotaseb says she is happy to be writing, producing, and cooking for her show and is currently pitching it to networks. With five new episodes just wrapped, there are sure to be some fun, new recipes to try!