Ani Phyo
Encyclopedia
Ani Phyo is an Eco-Lifestylist, an organic
chef
and author
. Phyo uses seasonal, local, organic, fresh produce coupled with nuts and seeds to create raw food recipes. Phyo is the author of three cookbooks: “Ani's Raw Food Essentials”, “Ani's Raw Food Desserts”, and “Ani's Raw Food Kitchen” (awarded “Best Vegetarian Cookbook USA 2007”). Phyo hosts “Ani's Raw Food Kitchen Show”, on YouTube.
In August 2010, Phyo was named one of 12 “warriors” in Sambazon Acai’s “Warrior Up” advertising campaign celebrating the work of leading social and environmental activists. In honor of her work with the Pedal Patch Community, a Los Angeles based community organization, where she teaches at-risk youth how to garden and make food in urban areas; images of Ani wearing a warrior headdress are being featured on billboards and bus stops around southern California.
Phyo lives in Los Angeles and is currently working on her next book along with planning projects for TV, DVD, and the web.
Ani Phyo was been chosen by Vitamix to launch their newest blender, the TurboBlend Variable Speed. A 60-minute instructional DVD of Phyo will be included with the blender.
July 17, 1968
Nova Scotia, Canada
Residence:
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Occupation:
Author, show host, health, nutrition, well-being expert
www.AniPhyo.com
Ani Phyo is of Korean descent. She was born in Nova Scotia
, Canada
, and raised primarily in upstate New York
, outside Buffalo
. Her father raised her on mostly vegan fresh whole and raw foods. They had their own organic farm growing up, and grew their own produce for food and juicing.
Her first job after college
was working retail management at Macy’s in Herald Square
in New York City
. Soon afterwards, she moved to London
, England
for a year and a half, then to Sydney
, Australia
for 7 months. Upon her return to upstate New York, she studied post-graduate social psychology
, computer art, and fine art
, which launched her career in multimedia. She produced live multimedia events and convergence TV and internet experiences through the 1990s. During this time, she discovered that eating raw foods fueled her mental clarity and focus, and kept her healthy. This was the early beginning of her raw food career.
Today, Phyo lives in Los Angeles
, California
with her Rhodesian Ridgeback
, Kanga.
and studied international business, graduating in 1987 and 1989, respectively. She then graduated from Cornell University
with a dual bachelor's
in human ecology design and business management in 1990. She then did some post-graduate work in social psychology, 3-D modeling and simulation, computer art, fine art and sculpting at SUNY Buffalo, finishing in 1994.
SmartMonkey Foods was co-founded by Ani Phyo in 1999 in Los Angeles, CA. SMF started as a catering and events company, hosting gourmet raw food dinners in Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Pasadena, CA. As customer requests increased for packed and prepared foods, the SmartMonkey Foods line of packed dressings, sauces, cheeses, pizza crust, desserts was launched.
The company moved to Portland, OR for 4 years 2003-2006, where SmartMonkey Foods provided catering, packaged prepared foods, classes, retreats, weekly cafes, monthly special events, and their fruit and nut bars called SmartMonkey Bars. Clients included Nike, Adidas, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, and Carnival Cruise Lines, to name a few.
SmartMonkey Foods ceased operations in 2009.
lines before ISDN or T1 line
s were available to the U.C. Berkeley multicast backbone (known as MBone), this show was attended by a global audience via the internet, and has changed our marketing landscape.
As an early pioneer of the web, Phyo was a part of San Francisco digital lab, Cyberlab 7, and founder of Dimension 7, where she handled CG work on Virtuosity
, the early cyber film starring Denzel Washington
and Russell Crowe
and produced by Paramount Pictures
. A partial client list includes Warner Bros.
(Porno For Pyros tour, Perry Farrell), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Microsoft
, Pacific Bell
, and Ninja Tunes UK.
Phyo’s produced numerous websites, including a 14,000 page rich-media educational site for Simon and Schuster in 1996. One ground breaking project sent video jockeys across the Mediterranean on bicycle
s with laptop
s and video cameras. The VJs would post their journals online, shoot video and overnight it to Ani, who would edit them and put them onto the website. The VJs would chat online from a different classroom weekly during their journey, and this occurred more than 10 years prior to YouTube
and Facebook
.
Her book Return on Design was an early educational book on user-centered interaction design for the Web and wireless technologies which came out of the design and media classes she taught at U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco State University
, and San Jose State University
.
She has been a consultant for the Disney Channel
(convergence TV and web), ABC Family, Gymboree, Electronic Arts, and Apple Inc., among others.
Phyo has been featured in numerous publications including Food Network, Food & Wine, Oxygen, VegNews, and Alternative Medicine Magazines.
, believing this will help with weight loss and also will help cure chronic
diseases.
Organic food
Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. Phyo uses seasonal, local, organic, fresh produce coupled with nuts and seeds to create raw food recipes. Phyo is the author of three cookbooks: “Ani's Raw Food Essentials”, “Ani's Raw Food Desserts”, and “Ani's Raw Food Kitchen” (awarded “Best Vegetarian Cookbook USA 2007”). Phyo hosts “Ani's Raw Food Kitchen Show”, on YouTube.
In August 2010, Phyo was named one of 12 “warriors” in Sambazon Acai’s “Warrior Up” advertising campaign celebrating the work of leading social and environmental activists. In honor of her work with the Pedal Patch Community, a Los Angeles based community organization, where she teaches at-risk youth how to garden and make food in urban areas; images of Ani wearing a warrior headdress are being featured on billboards and bus stops around southern California.
Phyo lives in Los Angeles and is currently working on her next book along with planning projects for TV, DVD, and the web.
Ani Phyo was been chosen by Vitamix to launch their newest blender, the TurboBlend Variable Speed. A 60-minute instructional DVD of Phyo will be included with the blender.
Personal life
Born:July 17, 1968
Nova Scotia, Canada
Residence:
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Occupation:
Author, show host, health, nutrition, well-being expert
www.AniPhyo.com
Ani Phyo is of Korean descent. She was born in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and raised primarily in upstate New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, outside Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
. Her father raised her on mostly vegan fresh whole and raw foods. They had their own organic farm growing up, and grew their own produce for food and juicing.
Her first job after college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
was working retail management at Macy’s in Herald Square
Herald Square
Herald Square is formed by the intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue and 34th Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Named for the New York Herald, a now-defunct newspaper formerly headquartered there, it also gives its name to the surrounding area...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Soon afterwards, she moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for a year and a half, then to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
for 7 months. Upon her return to upstate New York, she studied post-graduate social psychology
Social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
, computer art, and fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
, which launched her career in multimedia. She produced live multimedia events and convergence TV and internet experiences through the 1990s. During this time, she discovered that eating raw foods fueled her mental clarity and focus, and kept her healthy. This was the early beginning of her raw food career.
Today, Phyo lives in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
with her Rhodesian Ridgeback
Rhodesian Ridgeback
The Rhodesian Ridgeback is a dog breed developed in Southern Africa, where it was used to hunt Lions. This is most likely why this dog is known for its bravery...
, Kanga.
Education
Phyo attended Ewha and Yonsei UniversitiesYonsei University
Yonsei University is a Christian private research university, located in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1885, it is one of the oldest universities in South Korea, the top private comprehensive universities in South Korea, and is widely regarded as one of the top three comprehensive...
and studied international business, graduating in 1987 and 1989, respectively. She then graduated from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
with a dual bachelor's
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in human ecology design and business management in 1990. She then did some post-graduate work in social psychology, 3-D modeling and simulation, computer art, fine art and sculpting at SUNY Buffalo, finishing in 1994.
Food
Phyo has always loved to make food of all sorts. From an early age, she worked with catering companies to refine her culinary skills. Though her background is in high end gourmet complex recipes, today, her she teaches simple, fast, easy to make recipes using common ingredients.SmartMonkey Foods was co-founded by Ani Phyo in 1999 in Los Angeles, CA. SMF started as a catering and events company, hosting gourmet raw food dinners in Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Pasadena, CA. As customer requests increased for packed and prepared foods, the SmartMonkey Foods line of packed dressings, sauces, cheeses, pizza crust, desserts was launched.
The company moved to Portland, OR for 4 years 2003-2006, where SmartMonkey Foods provided catering, packaged prepared foods, classes, retreats, weekly cafes, monthly special events, and their fruit and nut bars called SmartMonkey Bars. Clients included Nike, Adidas, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, and Carnival Cruise Lines, to name a few.
SmartMonkey Foods ceased operations in 2009.
The Web and multimedia
Ani Phyo moved to San Francisco and founded a multimedia company called SmartMonkey Media, which produced live multimedia events, including the world’s first online fashion show, "Fiber," in 1994. Netcast over copperCopper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
lines before ISDN or T1 line
Digital Signal 1
Digital signal 1 is a T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is a widely used standard in telecommunications in North America and Japan to transmit voice and data between devices. E1 is used in place of T1 outside North America, Japan, and South Korea...
s were available to the U.C. Berkeley multicast backbone (known as MBone), this show was attended by a global audience via the internet, and has changed our marketing landscape.
As an early pioneer of the web, Phyo was a part of San Francisco digital lab, Cyberlab 7, and founder of Dimension 7, where she handled CG work on Virtuosity
Virtuosity
Virtuosity is a 1995 techno-thriller film directed by Brett Leonard. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes...
, the early cyber film starring Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
and Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
and produced by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. A partial client list includes Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
(Porno For Pyros tour, Perry Farrell), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Pacific Bell
Pacific Bell
The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company was the name of the Bell System's telephone operations in California. It gained in size by acquiring smaller telephone companies along the Pacific coast, such as Sunset Telephone & Telegraph in 1917...
, and Ninja Tunes UK.
Phyo’s produced numerous websites, including a 14,000 page rich-media educational site for Simon and Schuster in 1996. One ground breaking project sent video jockeys across the Mediterranean on bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
s with laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
s and video cameras. The VJs would post their journals online, shoot video and overnight it to Ani, who would edit them and put them onto the website. The VJs would chat online from a different classroom weekly during their journey, and this occurred more than 10 years prior to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
.
Her book Return on Design was an early educational book on user-centered interaction design for the Web and wireless technologies which came out of the design and media classes she taught at U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
, and San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
.
She has been a consultant for the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
(convergence TV and web), ABC Family, Gymboree, Electronic Arts, and Apple Inc., among others.
Television and media
She has appeared on the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, KGO-TV ABC 7's View From the Bay, WNBC 4 New York's LX New York, XETV CW 6's San Diego Living, and KSWB's FOX 5 San Diego's Morning Show. Phyo is also on various online networks including the VCN, produced by Breakdown Services and the Hollywood Reporter, and on VegNews.com.Phyo has been featured in numerous publications including Food Network, Food & Wine, Oxygen, VegNews, and Alternative Medicine Magazines.
Product endorsements
She is currently endorsed by many leaders in the natural products movement including Vitamix blenders, Excalibur Dehydrator, and Sambazon Acai. Phyo is also featured as part of the Vitamix Blender’s Star Chef series.Controversy
Phyo promotes raw food lifestyle but is often criticized by loyal raw foodists for suggesting her food can be paired with cooked foods. She supports vegetarianismVegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
, believing this will help with weight loss and also will help cure chronic
Chronic (medicine)
A chronic disease is a disease or other human health condition that is persistent or long-lasting in nature. The term chronic is usually applied when the course of the disease lasts for more than three months. Common chronic diseases include asthma, cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS.In medicine, the...
diseases.