Olia Hercules was born in Kakhovka, in the South of Ukraine. She trained at the renowned Leiths School of Food and Wine, then worked as chef de partie in restaurants and as a recipe developer. Her first book, Mamushka, went on to win the Fortnum and Mason Award for best debut cookbook and was followed by Kaukasis, Summer Kitchens and Home Food. After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Olia co-founded a global initiative with her friend Alissa Timoshkina, to raise money for Ukraine through cooking. #cookforukraine has raised over £2 million pounds to date. Her new book, Strong Roots, will be out later this year.