We have a new reigning World’s Best Female Chef and this year we are happy to congratulate Mexico’s own Daniela Soto-Innes, partner and chef at the prestigious Cosme in New York City, ranked 3rd amongst The World’s 50 Best for their continuous innovation and for revolutionizing Mexican fine dining with a creative and fresh take on it.

Chef Daniela was born in Mexico City, where she was surrounded by strong female role models that positively influenced her culinary upbringing. Daniela’s grandmother owned a bakery and she would often take her in to work to teach her the ins and outs of a commercial kitchen and production, as well as the key role of its leader, furthermore empowering Daniela to become one.

Her family was happy to encourage her, even compete with her, they made sure it was and enjoyable experience. “I grew up with a line of really strong women that love to cook,” she says.

From a very young age, Chef Daniela proved she was the one to keep an eye on. She was awarded the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Award in 2016 at the age of 25. Now, at 28, she is the youngest chef to receive the World’s Best Female Chef Award.

In the early 2000s, she moved to Austin Texas, where she studied at Le Cordon Bleu and graduated with honors. Chef Daniela came back to Mexico City where she became one of the most promising figures of the culinary scene, conquering restaurants like Pujol, where she became Chef Enrique Olvera’s protege.

In 2014 she partnered with Chef Enrique to develop Cosme in New York City

She pays no mind to the so called culinary “rulebook” or how a leader is “supposed“ to act. We often see chefs being portrayed as over perfectionist, rude, even violent and abusive or plagued with anger issues, but not Daniela, she’s always seen with a smile on her face, happy to collaborate with her team and come up with new and exciting dishes designed to impress even the most jaded palates. Chef Daniela’s leadership style is unlike anything we’ve seen.

“Both older talent and young talent deserve all the respect at all times, and we should be able to hear what has to be said. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been cooking 40 years or one year. There are cooks who weren’t even cooks when they joined me a year ago, and they’ve taught me a lot more than what I knew when I started at the age of 14.”

Daniela is looking to inspire and empower both young and older cooks from any background to follow their dreams.

She is extremely talented, creative, and over all, a joyful rebel. Chef Daniela Soto-Innes’ future is as bright as her smile.