Asha found her way to the culinary industry non-traditionally. While she grew up in a family that was always cooking, and followed the lead of her mother and three aunts in the kitchen, learning from them the recipes of coastal Kerala, she always had a passion for skincare and wellness, and early on in her career, opened an ayurvedic spa in Atlanta, a practice that was central to her upbringing in India. After treatments at the spa, Asha would serve her customers a home cooked Ayurvedic meal. In 2011 she opened her first restaurant, the acclaimed Cardamom Hill restaurant in Atlanta’s West Side neighborhood, showcasing the blending of her two Souths. The restaurant earned her a spot on Bon Appetit’s 50 Best New Restaurants list, a nod as one of Southern Living’s 5 Best Restaurants in the South, and a James Beard Award nomination for Best New Restaurant. Around the same time, she also opened Third Space, a high-end culinary studio where she created custom culinary experiences. Today Asha owns and operates Tulip & Tea in Conyers, GA. Tulip & Tea is a one-of-a-kind retail and lifestyle studio that offers High Tea service, curated dinning experiences, cooking classes, and corporate events. The space also showcases a retail section with everything you need to create glorious tablescapes - including vases, candles, tea pots, tea cups, lush florals and more. Asha has also curated The House of Goretti, a personal venture into the world of loose tea. Asha's tea line is sold at her retail location Tulip & Tea in Conyers and on her online shop.Asha is the author of two cookbooks, My Two Souths (2016), and I Cook In Color (2020), both from Running Press. Both cookbooks have received rave reviews from the Washington Post, Garden and Gun, and The New York Times, to name a few. My Two Souths was nominated as a finalist for a James Beard Award in the American Cooking category, and was also a finalist in Gourmand's World Cookbook Awards, while also being recognized as one of the “100 Best Cookbooks of All Time,” by Southern Living.Her most recent cookbook, I Cook in Color, challenges the barriers built around her and the food she is expected to cook, and takes readers on a flavorful voyage from the comfort of their own home kitchen, celebrating cross-cultural flavors, rainbows of vegetables and gem-toned desserts, all with the spice-forward twists that Asha has become known for.