Jonell Nash (December 20, 1942 – February 27, 2015) was a food editor for Essence from 1984 to 2008 and author of the cookbook Low-Fat Soul, published in 1996.

[1] Jonell Nash graduated from Wayne State University and started teaching high school home economics.

[1] Nash left her home economic's job to go work for Scholastic's Coed magazine.

Her first book is Essence Brings You Great Cooking was published in 1994 and had over 300+ recipes from the magazine.

[7] Nash financed a scholarship for students to study Southern cooking in the honor of chef Edna Lewis with the help of the organization Les Dames d’Escoffier New York, an organization of women in the food and hospitality professions.