Meet Shandra

Shandra grew up in Banyuwangi in East Java, where her family owned a food production company, a peanut factory, a bakery, and a restaurant. When she was five, Shandra’s grandmother set up a child-sized stove—with a real flame—and taught her how to cook eggs. Soon Shandra was cooking and serving the dishes she made to her grandmother’s employees, and that was the beginning of Shandra’s lifelong passion for food and cooking.

Shandra stayed in the city of Jakarta after college, to become a financial banking analyst and money market trader. But after violent demonstrations against the government erupted in 1998, Shandra became a fierce anti-violence and labor rights activist, work she pursues to this day.

Shandra, who has lived in New York City since 2001, has also worked in restaurants and managed her own catering company, and currently teaches culinary skills to survivors of human trafficking through a nonprofit she founded, which aims to empower survivors of human trafficking with support services and vocational training. Shandra also travels the world as an anti-trafficking leader and activist. She now lives in Queens with her family.

Shandra and her cooking have been featured by CBS Saturday Morning’s The Dish, Spruce Eats, Food & Wine, WNYC, Gothamist, American Essence Magazine, They Had Fun, and more.