About Lauren
Lauren is an award-winning home cook with a love for low cost, low waste food.
With viral budget recipes and Spanish tapas dishes, her vibrant and colourful food encourages anyone to pick up a spatula start cooking.​​​​She has worked with global brands, charities and organisations to share her recipes and also raise awareness of topics such as global food waste & food poverty whilst empowering young people to become more independent through cooking, budgeting & meal-planning.​
A key mission of Lauren's is to get the younger generation cooking, having grown up in a household where home-cooking and learning about ingredients was a core part of her childhood!
How it all started...
Lauren started cooking back when she was 5 years old, when her dad taught her how to make simple salad dressings for family meals. During university, she started the @laurenleyva Instagram account as a simple photo gallery to show her friends what she was cooking as a student, however as her audience grew, she realised she could develop her hobby into a comforting online place where people could enjoy her recipes and lifestyle content.
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She initially founded the brand The Starving Student®, encouraging students to cook from scratch and to eat well throughout university. As a student for 7 years, Lauren became an expert in meal-planning, budget-cooking and adapting her meals based on her busy study schedule. This brand further grew Lauren's online presence within the food space.
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Years later, after graduating with 3 degrees to become an architect, Lauren made a huge career pivot to work full time as a campaigner, creator & home-cook...​
Awards & Recognition
Winner - University of Nottingham Alumni Awards 2025
In recognition of Lauren's community work, charity work & campaigning to raise awareness of global food-related issues.
Winner - Tastemakers 2024 - Thought Leader Award
An award recognised by The Careers' Edit for Lauren's thought leadership within the food, community and sustainability spaces.
Finalist - UK Youth Awards 2021
Young Creative Category for work on Lauren's own brand, The Starving Student.
Winner - Top Woman To Watch 2018
A Top 100 position in The Tab's Future 100 Scheme.
 Volunteer cooking workshop with The King's Trust for the "Change A Girl's Life" campaign |  Volunteer cooking workshop with The King's Trust for the "Change A Girl's Life" campaign |  National Article |
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 Founding Member of Creator Leaders |  Winner of a Thought Leader Award by The Careers Edit |  Lauren Leyva |
 Volunteer cooking workshop with The King's Trust for the "Change A Girl's Life" campaign |