Fatima Ali

In April 2019 (posthumously) she won a James Beard Award of Excellence.

After competing on Top Chef, Fatima Ali was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma and underwent surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in January 2018. After undergoing chemotherapy, she was initially declared cancer-free, and in April 2018, she cooked in public at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival. However, in October 2018, in a personal essay published by Bon Appétit, Fatima Ali reported that her cancer had returned and become terminal. She died at her family's home in San Marino, California on January 25, 2019, at the age of 29. Family and friends laid her to rest in Lahore on February 1, 2019. In April 2019, Fatima Ali was posthumously awarded a James Beard Foundation Award for her essay.

In 2017, Fatima Ali was a contestant on Top Chef: Colorado. Although she finished in seventh place, she was voted the fan favorite.

Fatima Ali began her culinary career as a junior sous chef at Café Centro in New York City. In 2012, she won an episode of Chopped (Season 12, episode 2, "A Guts Reaction") on the Food Network. She continued her career in New York City, becoming the youngest executive sous chef at Stella 34 Trattoria at Macy's Herald Square, and then the executive sous chef at La Fonda del Sol.

Fatima Ali was born and raised in Pakistan, dividing her time between Sargodha and Lahore. She was educated at the Karachi Grammar School. Fatima Ali was the daughter of lawyer and attorney-general Ashtar Ausaf Ali and educator Nawaz Sharif. She learned to cook from her father, her grandmother, and her family's cook, Qadir. She immigrated to America at age 18 to attend the Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 2011.

Fatima Ali (May 18, 1989 – January 25, 2019) was a Pakistani-American executive chef, restaurateur and television personality.