Profiles of FACS Success
brittany secrest
Rachel Ray
Rachael Ray was born August 25, 1968 in Glen Falls, New York. She grew up in a family that owned restaurants, 4 of them. Most of Rachael's early jobs were in the food industry. Rachael worked for Agata & Valentina food industry it was then when she started making her 30 minute meals which got the attention of the local TV station. Rachael also wrote a number of cookbooks and was shown on many more TV shows like Food Network.
Twitter: @rachaelray
Nonprofit Organizations
Along with making books, Rachael Ray established Yum-O! to educate children and family the importance of nutrition and to help feed children in need.
Not a chef, but a cook
Rachael ray says that she is not a chef, but a cook because she had no formal culinary instruction. She gives credit to her family for ownership of restaurants and cooking as a 'way of life' for her cooking talents. Working as a food buyer for a gourmet retailer added experience to her food knowledge.
Secret to success
"I never wanted to be on food television or daytime television," she confesses. "I never thought I'd author a cookbook. I just knew that I wanted to work in food, and the rest of it's sort of a combination of luck and very weird circumstances." Rachael Ray said that the key to her success was growing up around food and putting value in everything that she did. "Value in everything we associate ourselves with, and there is definitely a 'can do' factor. Everything I touch or anyplace I go, anything I teach -- anybody else could experience that too, young our old, rich or poor. A good quality of life isn't just for the rich, it's for everybody. That's the overall message we try and convey in everything we do." Rachael has always been a bubbly person.