About Juna Gjata

Juna Gjata was born in Fier, Albania. Her earliest memories are of long summer days spent playing on unpaved roads and freshly picked strawberries from her parents' garden. At age three, she became ill with a rare autoimmune condition that put her in the ICU for months. When she finally left the hospital, her skin was red and raw, and her eyes were so damaged she could barely open them. Seeking treatment, her parents brought her to America, arriving in Boston a week before Thanksgiving.

Juna's mother, a trained violinist, took a job at Dunkin' Donuts. Her father, an architect, worked construction. They traded family, friends, and community for a tiny three-room apartment, and learned English by listening to public radio. Although doctors could not cure Juna's vision, Boston offered something else: the rare chance for a blind child to get an equal education.

In first grade, Juna learned to read Braille and use a cane. In fourth grade, her music teacher taught himself Braille music so she could participate in class. Her recess teacher adapted kickball and four-square so she could play with the other kids. While her parents worked long hours to cover unsuccessful eye surgeries and living expenses, Juna and her mother stayed up late most nights practicing classical piano together, preparing for the Saturday conservatory program that would shape the next decade of her life.

At eighteen, Juna performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center as a solo pianist. She attended Harvard University, majoring in cognitive neuroscience. After college, she began hosting and producing her own podcast with NPR, Food, We Need to Talk, focused on one of her greatest passions: health and fitness. To date, the podcast has received over five million downloads and helped thousands of people change their relationship with food and their body. In 2023, Juna and her co-host Dr. Eddie Phillips published their book Food, We Need to Talk with St. Martin's Press.

In 2024, Juna joined The Mel Robbins Podcast as senior producer, helping shape one of the most downloaded podcasts in the world. While there, she won multiple Signal Awards, and her work on The Let Them Theory audiobook earned her a Grammy nomination.

She is now pursuing an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business with the goal of one day owning her own media company. She believes that the stories least likely to be told are often the most worth telling. Juna loves snowboarding, weightlifting, writing and playing music, and of course, her tiny dog Pooh Bear.

Follow Juna on TikTok here.