Manuela Scalini, born and raised in Brazil, is an international wellness expert and professionally trained raw food chef. She travels the world teaching plant based workshops, catering wellness and yoga retreats and consulting for restaurants in SE Asia, USA and Latin America. When she is not traveling, she is running Manná Plant Powered Wellness,  her weekly signature detox meals & retreats out of her home  in Barbados.

A Certified Raw Food Chef from Living Light Culinary Arts Institute in California, and Certified Yoga Instructor from Radiantly Alive in Bali, Manuela intwines her mixed cosmopolitan Brazilian heritage into her culinary delights, creating an unique exotic experience.  As a world traveler, Manuela is an expert in tropical flavors and cuisine.  One of her many passions is creating beautiful gourmet plant based dishes using local and seasonal flavors of all the places she travels to, drawing inspiration in the freshest ingredients to nourish and energize the body, mind and soul.

Manuela began her raw food journey nine years ago when she was searching for an alternative way to heal inflammation in her body after a snowboarding accident. She  joined a 21 day raw food detox and never looked back. Her body instantly began to heal and function in its most optimum level, and she significantly noticed a huge shift in her vitality, clarity and mood. What was at first just a diet, became a lifestyle. She left her successful career in the visual effects film industry in San Francisco, California, and began sharing her knowledge to help others in their journey to a healthier lifestyle. “Nothing affects us more than what we eat and our emotions…when we clean up our bodies, we clean up our lives…we remove all the filters that are keeping us from feeling 100% alive and connected to ourselves, those around us, and our planet”.