Yasmeen Tadia x FEHMZ: A Book, a Kitchen, and the Sweetness That Connects Us
From the Kitchen to the World: Why This Partnership Is Personal
Some partnerships are strategic. Others are personal. This one is both.
For years, my mom would send me recipes from FEHMZ’s account. I would watch the videos, save them, and genuinely love the content. There was something so familiar about it. The flavors. The techniques. The simplicity. It felt close to home long before I ever imagined we would connect personally or collaborate professionally.
A brief social hour with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, crafted by Invited Chef Brandon Testi.
My mom would then look at me and ask if I had watched it yet. She would tell me how much she loved the way FEHMZ simplified everything, how she made the recipes approachable and easy for me to learn. Those moments were about more than food. They were about connection, encouragement, and sharing something we both loved.
I actually connected with FEHMZ directly through Instagram during one of the hardest seasons of my life, while I was caring for my mom at MD Anderson in Houston. She was battling MDS and had gone through a stem cell transplant. I remember the exact moment FEHMZ messaged me. I turned to my mom and said, “Oh my God, guess who I’m talking to.” She was overjoyed.
My mom has since passed. Allah yerhama, which means “may God have mercy on her soul.”
What made that moment unforgettable was not just who FEHMZ was, but how she showed up.
Here was someone who had never met me, never met my mom, yet took the time to check in, to ask how my mom was doing, and to care. Moments like that matter more than people realize, especially in seasons like that.
About a year after my mom passed, I traveled to South Africa and reached out to FEHMZ to see if she would like to meet for brunch. When we finally sat down together, it felt effortless. We hit it off immediately and realized we were on the same wavelength, creatively, culturally, and personally. What started years earlier through recipes and messages suddenly felt full circle.
Then this year, we met again and decided it was time to do something together. That conversation became the foundation for a US launch … pairing her book with my treats, reimagined through South African flavors that honor where this story began.
Food has always been more than nourishment in my life. It has been a bridge to family, culture, and love. Through her work, FEHMZ invites us into her kitchen and reconnects us with the childhood favorites our moms and grandmas made with intention and care. For me, that connection runs deep, because so much of her food mirrors the way my mom cooked.
FEHMZ is deeply inspiring. She built a powerful career that began right from her own kitchen, and she did it with authenticity, warmth, and heart. That journey mirrors my own in many ways, which is why this collaboration felt natural rather than manufactured.
Together, we created a limited release book launch bundle that brings South Africa straight to your doorstep. A thoughtfully curated experience pairing her highly anticipated book with three custom treats made exclusively for this moment:
Sugaire® Organic Cotton Candy in Black Licorice
Sugaire® Organic Cotton Candy in Sticky Toffee Pudding
HotPoppin® Gourmet Popcorn in South African Peppermint Crisp
Each flavor was chosen with intention. Nostalgic. Comforting. Elevated. Designed to honor memory, culture, and the kitchens that shaped us.
This collaboration allows me to bring those flavors back into my life, and to share them with our community in a way that feels meaningful, personal, and true.
The FEHMZ x Make Your Life Sweeter® bundle is a limited release drop, available while supplies last.
Drops Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2026 | Available exclusively at makeyourlifesweeter.com | Shipping within in the US only. (International shipping of books was covered by Yasmeen Tadia & Make Your Life Sweeter.
Sometimes business becomes friendship. Sometimes collaboration becomes legacy.
Spreading sweetness,
