Padma Lakshmi

Padma Lakshmi is a TV host, New York Times best-selling author, activist, producer and mother who began her career as a model and actress. A renowned food expert, Lakshmi is the host and executive producer of Bravo’s Emmy Award–winning series Top Chef, now in its 20th season. She is also the creator, host and executive producer of Hulu’s Taste the Nation, a series that explores the cuisines of various cultures and groups around the U.S.

She wrote her memoir, Love, Loss, and What We Ate, in 2016. The author of multiple cookbooks, she published her first children’s book, Tomatoes for Neela, in ’21. It went on to become a New York Times bestseller. She is an ACLU artist ambassador for immigrants’ rights and women’s rights, and was appointed a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme. After unknowingly suffering from endometriosis for decades, in ’09 she cofounded EndoFound to help fight the stigma of chronic pain. The nonprofit organization aims to advance awareness of the disease through educational measures. Lakshmi made her SI Swimsuit debut in the ’23 issue.