Sofia

After graduating from the MA, our alum @Sofia De Matteis, already a celebrated plant-based chef, has surprised even herself by stepping boldly into a new creative chapter. What began as a quiet, meditative hobby - drawing while listening to music - has become her next big venture: Thorani Women, a series of goddess-inspired illustrations celebrating inner strength, wild womanhood, and the beauty of not “fitting in.” Her goal is to release her first eight illustrations as postcards by January 2026, and the first six are already taking shape.

The concept emerged when she rediscovered a torn drawing of Thorani, the Southeast Asian Earth Goddess who protects the Buddha. Realising how rarely women are centred in the stories that shape us, she created her first goddess self-portrait - and felt empowered by seeing herself reflected through divine symbolism. This creative spark grew into a powerful new identity, challenging the old belief that she was “just a chef.” Her path to this moment has been full of courageous pivots: leaving a BA to cook professionally, then completing the MA to launch a plant-based cooking school that quickly became a success on Sweden’s vegan scene.

But success didn’t equal fulfilment. When the cooking academy shifted out of alignment - bringing stress, loneliness, and pressure - she made the difficult decision to step away. What she discovered next was joy: in art, in collaboration, in exploring new forms of creativity, and in building a life paced for sustainability rather than burnout. Today she still teaches pasta-making for fun, but she no longer runs the academy. Instead, she’s embracing a multidimensional creative identity: chef, goddess illustrator, MH Leader-in-training, and first-time birth doula. And with Thorani Women now coming to life, she’s proving that evolving, as an artist and as a person, is its own form of courage!