Judy Joo

Judy Joo is the Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder, and Owner of Seoul Bird, a London mainstay for Korean street food, with international franchises.

In 2003, following an engineering degree at Columbia University and a career on Wall Street (Morgan Stanley, Fixed Income), Judy Joo decided it was time for a change. Realizing that her passion was in cooking, she enrolled at the French Culinary Institute in New York, where she received her Grand Diplome. 

She received the title of ‘Iron Chef UK’ in 2011, becoming the only female Iron Chef in Great Britain and the second female Iron Chef globally. Joo was also the founder/owner of the award winning Jinjuu restaurants (London and Hong Kong). Additionally, she has authored two cookbooks: Judy Joo’s Korean Soul Food and Korean Food Made Simple. 

Off the back of her success on Iron Chef UK, Judy became a resident judge on Iron Chef America. Her expertise in Korean cooking led to her own shows: Judy Joo’s Return to Korea and two seasons of Food Network’s Korean Food Made Simple. Since then, she has made regular appearances on numerous national programs in the USA including The Today Show, The Talk, Good Morning America and various Food Network shows. In the UK, she appears regularly on Saturday Kitchen, Sunday Brunch and James Martin’s Saturday Morning. In 2021, Judy began starring on ITV’s (UK) new primetime show, Cooking with the Stars.Judy has also been featured in The New York Times, Financial Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, Forbes, People Magazine, and currently has a monthly page in Us Weekly. 

Judy Joo received a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Columbia University in 1997. She was the keynote graduation speaker for Columbia University’s Class of 2018. She is also a member of the prestigious Food Council for City Harvest (New York and London).