Elia Aboumrad was born in Mexico and is currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada. She attended Ecole Lenotre in Paris and trained in some of the toughest schools in Europe. Her versatility and range in cooking earned her 34 different culinary degrees. In the past, she struggled in the kitchen and often related to the movie Forrest Gump, a story of a boy who goes through a lot of challenges before becoming a self made man. At present, she is one of the contestants in the reality cooking competition Top Chef.