Leila, the missing link

A Seeker of Stories at the Court of Kitchen Wishes
Leila Firusbakht is a fighter — she stands her ground and defends her ideas with conviction.
Her eyes are dark, deep, serious, yet there’s always a spark — a playful light shimmering underneath.
On the surface, she seems grounded, focused, telling her stories with a kind of measured passion.

But beneath that surface, something restless — a small, curious demon — tells another story.
The story of someone who knows how vital it is to have roots, yet also understands that sometimes, you need to break away… and do something completely different.

It must be that spark in her eyes.

Independent by nature, after earning a degree in forestry sciences and spending years in journalism and environmental activism, Leila entered the world of fair trade in the 1990s — long before it was widely known.

Together with a few friends, she had an idea: to bring that same philosophy into catering, focusing on themes that are mainstream now but were groundbreaking then — local food, seasonal ingredients, short supply chains.
The idea worked. It led her to open her first space in Florence and launch what quickly became a successful business.

She found her Ikigai — her “good reason to wake up in the morning” — in a field she had never imagined: the kitchen.

“I couldn’t even fry an egg back then… and honestly, not much has changed.
I had no one to look up to, it was all completely new — but pretty soon I realized this was my job.”

She discovered her creative side — a natural talent for communication, organization, and event design — and people loved it.
It was a small revelation; she had never seen herself that way.
The second surprise? She loved it. Absolutely.

Leila comes from a multicultural family, and maybe that’s why she doesn’t see borders or limits in her relationships.
She loves to host parties, bring people together, work with others from around the world, and make friends with those who are nothing like her.

Despite — or perhaps because of — this whirlwind of people and connections, her most important trips are always solo. Patagonia, Chile, Cuba — just to name a few.
Traveling alone forces you to open up to the world, to question yourself, to leave your comfort zone and face the unknown with courage.

Speaking of comfort zones, joining Kitchen Wishes was exactly one of those moments when she left hers completely behind.
After 12 years in a job she loved, she felt the need for something new — not a calculated choice, but a pull.
Kitchen Wishes appeared like a new planet waiting to be explored. And as a true traveler, she couldn’t say no.

After years in Florence’s catering scene, she had already heard of Giulia and Elena — and they had heard of her.
They met by chance at a bar counter (a great place, by the way, to start new adventures). They looked at each other and laughed.

“The first thing they told me was, ‘We know who you are — you’re the competition!’
We started talking that same night, and from there came the idea of doing something together.
I soon realized there was room on their team for someone like me, with my particular skills.
Listening to them, one sentence appeared clearly in my mind: ‘That’s me!’”

She’s also a huge David Bowie fan — and she was struck by one of Giulia’s recipes, posted on the blog as a tribute to the passing of the Thin White Duke.
The stars, it seems, were already aligned. They just needed a little push.

Leila became what she calls “the missing link” — an unexpected bridge between Giulia, Elena, and the world outside, both real and digital.

She’s now the head of service, contributing her ideas and handling the organizational and social aspects.
She does her best to free Giulia and Elena from the daily logistics, so they can focus on what they do best — playing with food, creativity, invention.

Meanwhile, she keeps learning from them — new lessons, new planets, new sensations. The exchange never stops.

The result is an all-female trio where, as in the best collaborations, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

That egg? She still hasn’t learned how to cook it… but it doesn’t matter.

“I’ve never learned to cook — but I’m crazy about everything that happens around food:
the social moments, the theater, the music, the togetherness.
What fascinates me is when a dish has a story to tell, a past, a journey of its own.
For me, food is a portal — a key that opens doors to different worlds.”