(CNN) -- Family, food and faith have guided Kylie Kwong to where she is today. The 41-year-old chef has been cooking up a storm with her TV shows and restaurant for over a decade, adding a dash of color and flavor to Australia's cultural life. A third generation Chinese who grew up in the suburbs of Sydney in the 1970s, Kwong left High School to work for an advertising agency. She soon realized, however, that making people feel bad in order to make them buy things they didn't want wasn't for her. Making people happy through good food was much more appealing.
@highlight
Kylie Kwong is an Australian TV chef and restaurateur
@highlight
Grew up in Sydney suburbs and opened her restaurant in 2000
@highlight
Practicing Buddhist she cooked for the Dalai Lama in 2009
She also let cameras follow her to southern China and the village where her great grandfather once lived; the first time a member of @placeholder's immediate family had been there in 90 years.