Lily Serna (born 5 July 1986) is an Australian mathematician and television presenter, best known for co-presenting the SBS game shows ''

Letters and Numbers ''Letters and Numbers'' is an Australian game show on SBS (Australian TV channel), SBS. It is hosted by former newsreader Richard Morecroft, co-hosted by David Astle and Lily Serna. Although it is based on the France, French game show ''Des chiff ...

'' (2010−2012) and ''

Celebrity Letters and Numbers ''Celebrity Letters and Numbers'' is an Australian comedy panel game show on SBS which premiered on 2 October 2021. It is a revived version of the game show ''Letters and Numbers'', which aired on SBS from 2010 to 2012, with an altered format w ...

'' (2021−), as well as the cooking show ''Destination Flavour'' (2012). She works as a data analyst for

Atlassian Atlassian Corporation () is an Australia, Australian-United States, American proprietary software company that specializes in collaboration tools designed primarily for software development and project management. Domicile (law), Domiciled in ...

in Sydney.

Early life and education

Born in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

to a Palestinian family, Serna attended

Cheltenham Girls High School Cheltenham Girls High School, is a public, comprehensive, high school for girls, located in Cheltenham, a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1957 and operated by the New South Wales Departme ...

in Sydney, Australia, and graduated from the

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a Institute of technology, ...

in 2009, with a Bachelor of Mathematics and Finance and a Bachelor of International Studies. She spent a year living in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, France.

Career

In August 2010, Serna began co-presenting ''

'' on SBS Television while completing honours studying part-time in mathematics with applications in biology. 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, although she is no longer a board member. She works as a data analyst for software company

. She had previously been a data analyst at

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...

. Serna was co-host, with actress and presenter

Renee Lim Renee Li-Yen Lim (born ) is an Australian actress, television presenter, and medical doctor. She is best known for her roles as Constable Jung Lim in '' East West 101'' (2007–2011), Mae in ''Please Like Me'' (2013–2016) and her recurring r ...

and

Adam Liaw Adam Liaw ( zh, t=廖崇明, p=Liào Chóngmíng; born 8 September 1978) is a Malaysian-born Australian cook, television presenter and author. He was the winner of the second season of ''MasterChef Australia'', defeating student Callum Hann in ...

( second season winner of ''

MasterChef Australia ''MasterChef Australia'' is an Australian competitive cooking reality show based on the original British ''MasterChef (British TV series), MasterChef''. It is produced by Endemol Shine Australia and screens on Network 10. Restaurateur and ch ...

'') of the SBS cooking show ''Destination Flavour'' which was first broadcast as a 10-part series in late 2012. Serna appeared in an episode on risk for the ABC's ''Catalyst'' television program which aired in 2019. She is again a co-presenter in a celebrity version of

which commenced transmission on SBS on Saturday 2 October 2021.

Personal life

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

Publications

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serna, Lily 1986 births Living people Australian television presenters Australian women television presenters Australian people of Palestinian descent People from Jerusalem University of Technology Sydney alumni Australian mathematicians Australian women mathematicians