Auria was born and raised in a tiny town called Seremban in Malaysia. She came to the US in the early 90s to continue her studies at Berklee College of Music.

While living in the college dorms, she would cook Malaysian meals for her friends who had grown tired of the same old, same old cafeteria fare. She quickly learned to tone down the heat in her cooking when her friends' faces turned bright red and large pitchers of water were needed to put out the fire!