Yara Elmjouie

Yara Elmjouie (Persian: یارا علم جویی) is an Iranian American journalist, writer, senior producer, and documentary filmmaker with AJ+, Al Jazeera Media Network's all-digital video news network, which he joined in 2016. 
He is the host, founder, and senior producer behind Eat This with Yara,Eat This with Yara Official Show Page. AJPlus.net. Retrieved 2023-03-19. an award-winning online documentary series that looks at the intersection of food with society, culture, politics, and science. The series has been recognized by the Daytime Emmy Awards,"50th Annual Daytime Emmy Nominations". Daytime Emmy Awards. Retrieved 2023-06-23. the James Beard Foundation,"The 2022 James Beard Media Award Winners". James Beard Foundation. Retrieved 2023-03-19 the Webby Awards,Webby People's Choice Award | "Dumpster Diving Reveals U.S. Food Waste Crisis". The Webby Awards. Retrieved 2023-03-19.Webby Awards | "The Awful Truth About 'No Trespassing' Laws". The Webby Awards. Retrieved 2023-06-19."Al Jazeera Digital wins three top prizes in 2023 Webby Awards". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2023-06-19. and the American Association for the Advancement of Science."2022 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award Winners Named". sjawards.aaas.org. Retrieved 2023-03-19. Yara is also known for his work on "Becoming Iranian American,""Becoming Iranian American Pt.1". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-03-19. a four-part documentary series on Iranian Americans and their immigration history that he hosted and co-produced for AJ+.Shams, Leyla. "Growing Up Irooni- An Interview with Yara Elmjouie". Chai & Conversation. Retrieved 2023-03-22.Elmjouie, Yara. "Being An Iranian American" Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 2023-03-19
In addition to his documentary work, Yara hosts and produces short social media explainer videos on a variety of topics ranging from Iranian society"The Most Famous Woman in Persian Literature?". Instagram. Retrieved 2023-03-22. to food-related issues."Did You Know That 'No Trespassing' Signs Are Linked To Slavery?". TikTok. Retrieved 2023-03-22. Prior to AJ+, Yara was a Tehran-based freelance print journalist who reported on Iran for a variety of publications such as Time Magazine,Elmjouie, Yara. "The Great Chicken Run of Iran: Why Poultry Makes Tehran Anxious". TIME Magazine. Retrieved 2023-03-22. The Guardian's Tehran Bureau,Elmjouie, Yara. "Alone Again, Naturally: Women Singing in Iran". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-03-22.Elmjouie, Yara. "Iranian Press Freedoms Grow for Still-Wary Journalists". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-03-22.Elmjouie, Yara. "Iran's Morality Police: Patrolling the Streets by Stealth". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-03-22. and Vox Media's Polygon.Elmjouie, Yara. "The Game Industry of Iran". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
==Personal Life and Education==
Yara is of Iranian descent. He was born and raised in Los Gatos, California, where he attended Los Gatos High School and graduated in 2009. Growing up, Yara spent a considerable amount of time living in Tehran as his parents shuttled back and forth between Iran and the U.S."Ep-76: Entry Point to Cultures: Yara Elmjouie". Immigrantly Podcast. Retrieved 2023-03-22. He can read, write, translate, and speak fluently in Persian."B the Change with Bita Milanian | Episode 18". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
Yara spent his first year of university at the University of California at Davis before transferring to New York University, where he double majored in political science and Middle Eastern Studies."We Are Yara Elmjouie". Ethnically Ambiguous Podcast. Retrieved 2023-03-22.Yara Elmjouie | LinkedIn Education Tab. LinkedIn. Retrieved 2023-03-22. After graduating in 2013, he moved to Tehran, Iran, where he lived and worked as a journalist and translator from 2013 to 2015.
==Career==
Yara's first stint in media was an internship in 2009 at the video game news site 1UP.com, the sister website of the nationally distributed U.S. magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly.Yara Elmjouie's Website. www.yelmjouie.com. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
After graduating from New York University in 2013, Yara moved to Tehran, Iran, where he worked as a freelance correspondent for English-language news outlets while also carrying out translation work, including for documentary films such as Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami's Going Up the Stairs"Going Up the Stairs | Women Make Movies | Clips". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-03-22. Yara Elmjouie's name is mentioned in the closing credits. and Sonita,Official Website for "Sonita". www.sonita.ch/en. Retrieved 2023-03-22. Yara Elmjouie's name is transliterated from Persian as "Yara Elmjui." as well as Firouzeh Khosrovani's Fest of Duty.Fest of Duty (Whole Film). Vimeo. Retrieved 2023-03-22. Yara Elmjouie's name is mentioned in the closing credits.
Yara moved back to the U.S. in late 2015. In May of 2016 he joined Al Jazeera's AJ+, which was initially headquartered in San Francisco.Thadani, Trisha. "Al Jazeera to shut down San Francisco office, home of AJ+". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
==Eat This with Yara==
Yara is the host and senior producer of Eat This with Yara (initially branded as In Real Life), an award-winning AJ+ documentary program launched in 2018. The show explores the intersection of food with society, culture, politics, and science, and has covered topics such as the history of Native American cuisine,"Why You Must Try Native American Cuisine | AJ+". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-03-22. migrant farmworkers in California,"What Everyone Gets Wrong About Farm Work | AJ+". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-03-22. the U.S. food waste crisis,"Why Do We Waste Perfectly Good Food In The U.S.? | AJ+". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-03-22. and the state of school lunch in America."What's Wrong With School Lunch in the U.S. | AJ+". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
Since its launch, Eat This with Yara has won a James Beard Award, two Webby Awards, multiple Shorty Awards,Winner in Instagram | "Why Eating This Fish Could Save Coral Reefs". Shorty Social Good Awards. Retrieved 2023-03-22.Best Instructional Video | "Why Do We Waste Perfectly Good Food In The U.S.?". Shorty Awards. Retrieved 2023-03-22. and an AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award. The series has also received nominations for a variety of awards,Yara Elmjouie Honors & Awards | LinkedIn. LinkedIn. Retrieved 2023-03-22. including a national Daytime Emmy nomination for an episode about the history of trespassing laws in the U.S., "The Awful Truth About 'No Trespassing' Laws". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-06-19. and a Capital Emmy nomination for an episode about how Black women used covert bake sales to fight segregation in the American South."2020 Emmy Award Nominations and Emmy Recipients". National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. p. 26. Retrieved 2023-03-22.How Black Women Used Covert Bake Sales to Fight Segregation | AJ+ YouTube. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
==Becoming Iranian American==
In 2018, Yara co-produced and hosted a four-part documentary series detailing Iranian Americans' immigration history, the epicenter of their community in Los Angeles (aka "Tehrangeles"), and his own parents' immigration stories. The series circulated widely among the Iranian diaspora, and has been discussed on various podcasts and in articlesCole, Juan. "Between Iranian and American (AJ+ Video)". Informed Comment. Retrieved 2023-03-22.Leong, Amanda. "Coloring Cosmopolitanism: Re-thinking Sino-Iranian-American Intimacies". Thirteenth Global Studies Conference. Retrieved 2023-03-22."The Re-education of Iranian and U.S. Relations". North Carolina Consortium For Middle East Studies. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-03-22.Shams, Alex. "Becoming Iranian-American". AlexShams.com. Retrieved 2023-03-22.This Iranian-American Life: Yara Elmjouie | Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies. Instagram. Retrieved 2023-03-22. since its release.
Category:1991 births
Category:People from Los Gatos, California	
Category:Iranian American
Category:Journalists
Category:Writers