Vidya Maharaj

In the immediate years following her schooling, Maharaj served variously as an adjunct graduate professor, environmental consultant, project manager, and researcher.

As a senior epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2016 to 2018, she led a team of clinical researchers investigating the Zika virus outbreak, focusing on reported cases of infection in pregnant women, fetuses, and infants.

After leaving the CDC, Maharaj served as the director of research development for the Center for Regenerative Medicine in Miami in 2018. She also worked with big and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies before she was named, in 2021, as vice president for clinical operations and development for Regenerative Outcomes Miami, a firm specializing in pharmaceutical clinical trials in the fields of regenerative medicine and biotechnology.[3]

In December 2019, Maharaj, in collaboration with her two brothers, opened Diya Miami, a restaurant in Miami Beach's trendy Sunset Harbour neighborhood.[2][4] The idea of starting the Indian-influenced vegetarian restaurant evolved from the Maharaj family's efforts to aid in the treatment of their Parkinson's disease-afflicted patriarch.[2][5]

Maharaj, the restaurant's executive chef, mastered her mother's recipes while a brother researched ancient and little-known Indian recipes that might serve as inspiration for the restaurant's menu.[6] Drawing from her background as an epidemiologist, she devised a menu that relies heavily on ingredients and spices (such as cilantro, ginger, and turmeric) that boast immune-boosting qualities, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties, and other health benefits.[6][7][2] Maharaj told Miami's Community News in 2020, “We wanted to introduce a concept that authentically represented our heritage and offered extensive options for vegetarians and our community... [using] healthy and flavor-forward food.”[6]

"I am the vice president of a biotech company that submits FDA-approved new drugs and therapies during the day, and at night I am a chef," she told the Trinidad Express in August 2021.[1]

Maharaj told The Huxley Morton Podcast in August 2021 that "actually getting the food on the table to the customers is one of my passions. I make sure everything tastes the way it's supposed to taste and look the way it's supposed to look."[5]

"Chef life is not easy," she added. "I have a newfound respect for [it]. Anyone who's a chef or works in the kitchen -- it is the most difficult, hard-working job one can have. It's very demanding." On juggling two jobs, she noted: "I am so busy from four in the morning to 11:30 at night."[5]

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 threatened to upend the restaurant's launch. Maharaj told CBS Miami in August 2020 that "as an epidemiologist, I knew what was coming....[S]o with my background, we went into emergency operating kind of mode"[7] outfitting the restaurant with precautionary innovations and implementing measures for safe dining.[7][8]

The concept of her restaurant has grown to more a gastronomic experience for fusion Indian cuisine from traditional Indian cuisine. This allows her to showcase her culinary skills keeping some Indian notes. Her recent ambition includes a new restaurant concept inspired by an authentic vegan, Mexican, casual menu, at BackRoom, also in Miami Beach.

In 2021, Maharaj and her restaurant, in conjunction with chef José Andrés' World Central Kitchen, helped raise over $6,000 for meal distribution to frontline healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients in India.[9][10]

Maharaj is scheduled to be a featured chef at the 7th annual SEED Food and Wine Festival in Miami in November 2021.[11] Her restaurant participated in the 2020 and 2021 South Beach Wine & Food Festival.