Other Women's Jobs // A Day In The Life & Career Of Daniela Sfara

NAME: Daniela Sfara

AGE: 49 - I will be 50 on 12 June, 2025

INSTAGRAM HANDLE: @danielasfara

JOB TITLE: Entrepreneur | Private Italian Chef + Culture Ambassador of Italian Diaspora

MOVED TO THE UAE IN: I live in Canada and travel to UAE (Dubai) for exclusive Supper Club dinners as well as Italy

For over 40 years, Daniela has had the honor of learning regional Italian dishes from mamma, nonna, and passionate custodians of tradition. She was welcomed into their kitchens, listened to their stories, and absorbed their culinary rhythms - not just as recipes, but as a way of life. These moments rooted her mission to preserve and share Italy’s lesser-known regional cultures.

Daniela's culinary journey began long before her formal training – as a toddler beside mamma in Toronto and at nonna’s table in Italy. Their instinctive, seasonal cooking taught her to see food as joyful heritage. Though her background is in fine jewellery design which she spent 25 years passionately immersing myself in, food remained a constant undercurrent. The pandemic rekindled this passion, giving rise to a “second act” that found Daniela —as did Dubai—through her niche in regional Italian cuisine.

Today, Daniela cooks, teaches, and serves as a cultural bridge. She was honored as a Women in Leadership champion by the Italian Canadian Business Association and now serves as Canadian President of ELITE, Italy’s Culinary and Hospitality Excellence Association. She also writes for VeraVita, sharing stories of Italy’s hidden places and people, and leads “Italus,” an immersive cultural experience launching in Calabria.

Daniela has partnered with consortia and heritage organizations to promote Italian excellence, always with integrity and authenticity. Her soon-to-be-finished cookbook will be a cultural archive of overlooked regional stories and recipes.

In Dubai, Daniela is hosting dinners and classes at Studio One Hotel. Here, she will connect with global audiences who cherish real food and stories. When she returns home to Canada, she will have the privilege of celebrating Italian Heritage Month by keynoting Aurora’s inaugural flag-raising ceremony. It’s truly an honour for Daniela to represent the Italian Diaspora, and she hopes to make every young at heart feel proud, seen, and deeply valued.

Let's learn about a day in the life and career of Daniela:

5:00 a.m. – I’m part of the 5AM club. And no day of mine starts without an espresso! I am Italian after all. Once that’s in me, I like to read, get a workout in, sometimes I’ll take my dog for a walk.

6:00 a.m. – With the hour, I've showered, gotten dressed and ready for the day.

7:00 a.m. – The hustle begins at 7am. Following breakfast, I review the day’s priorities and get stuck into my creative work – that is, article and blog writing, podcast recording, content creation, and recipe development.

9:00 a.m. – Once the rest of the world starts waking up around 9am, I’ll tend to my emails, schedule in calls, host or attend webinars, dive into strategy meetings, menu development and event planning.

1:30 p.m. – Lunch time – my favourite! I’ll make myself a nice lunch, take the dog out for a second walk, run important errands if any, and do some recipe testing and refining.

3:00 p.m. – I’ll review sales metrics, content performance on my platforms, and analyse my audience insights to see how I can bring more content that’s valuable to them.

4:00 p.m. – Arguably the busiest time of my day. This is the time I do some digital product development, plan out my courses and modules, new guide outlines, plan out my consortia and affiliate coordination, do some tech and back end work for the website, get stuck into recipe research, work on field notes, and content calendar prep.

6:00 p.m. – Start winding down for the day with light admin, final emails and scheduling, updating my visibility strategy, mapping out my brand expansion, and planning my to-do list for the next day.

7:30 p.m. – Computer off, eat my dinner, unwind, journal or read, make up off, and mental reset.

9:30 pm. – In bed and asleep for a 5am start.

When preparing client dinner or events, 5:00-9:00 am remain same, then in the kitchen to prepare all dishes, press linens and prepare for client arrival - or me to be at client's home to execute curated dinner.

My entire day is dedicated to clients when I have bookings - they are my priority.