Lily Serna is an Australian mathematician and television presenter,[1] best known for co-presenting the SBS game shows Letters and Numbers (2010−2012[2]) and Celebrity Letters and Numbers (2021−), as well as the cooking show Destination Flavour (2012). She works as a data analyst for Atlassian in Sydney.[3]

Lily Serna
Born (1986-07-05) 5 July 1986 (age 38)
Occupation(s)Mathematician, television presenter, data analyst
PartnerBlair Hickey
Children2

Early life and education

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Born in Jerusalem to a Palestinian family,[4] Serna attended Cheltenham Girls High School in Sydney, Australia, and graduated from the University of Technology Sydney in 2009, with a Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance and a Bachelor of International Studies.[1][5] She spent a year living in Bordeaux, France.[6]

Career

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In August 2010, Serna began co-presenting Letters and Numbers on SBS Television while completing honours studying part-time in mathematics with applications in biology.[7][5]

In August 2012, she was appointed Numeracy Ambassador for National Literacy and Numeracy Week and in September to the board of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute,[3] although she is no longer a board member. She works as a data analyst for software company Atlassian.[3] She had previously been a data analyst at Fairfax Media.[8]

Serna was co-host, with actress and presenter Renee Lim and Adam Liaw (second season winner of MasterChef Australia) of the SBS cooking show Destination Flavour which was first broadcast as a 10-part series in late 2012.[9]

Serna appeared in an episode on risk for the ABC's Catalyst television program which aired in 2019.[10]

She is again a co-presenter in a celebrity version of Letters and Numbers which commenced transmission on SBS on Saturday 2 October 2021.

Personal life

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Serna became engaged to Blair Hickey at Surprise Bay during a hike in Tasmania early in 2019.[11] They have a child born in late 2019.[12]

Publications

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  • Serna, L. 2012. Lily's Number Puzzles. Hardie Grant. ISBN 1742704018
  • Serna, L. 2019. Curious: life hacks through maths. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9781760781156

References

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  1. ^ a b "Lily Serna". Saxton. 2011. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2011.
  2. ^ "SBS drops Letters and Numbers for Countdown". 24 June 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Gender's in the Balance". Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute. 3 October 2017. Cite error: The named reference "AMSI" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ "I couldn't solve this maths whiz's problem. Without HSC maths, could you?". Sydney Morning Herald. 16 March 2024. Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b Sacha Molitorisz (2 August 2010). "Boot camp for the brain". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  6. ^ "Lily Serna interview".
  7. ^ "Meet the Hosts: Lily Serna". Letters and Numbers website. Special Broadcasting Service. 2010. Archived from the original on 16 April 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  8. ^ Roberst, Elise (28 April 2019). "Data star Lily Serna". Careers with STEM. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  9. ^ "MasterChef winner Adam Liaw snares own TV show on SBS". The Daily Telegraph. 14 March 2012. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  10. ^ "Should I Risk It?". Catalyst. ABC. 8 October 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  11. ^ Serna, Lily (6 January 2019). "We're getting married!!!". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  12. ^ Serna, Lily (31 December 2019). "One final addition before the year is out". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2020.