In-Conversation-With-Exceptional
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About Monica Bhide I am an engineer-turned-writer based out of Washington, DC. I have been published in many major national and international publications, including Food & Wine, The New York Times, Parents, Cooking Light, Prevention, Health, SELF, Bon Appetit, Saveur, and many more. I wrote a weekly syndicated column for Scripps Howard Media called “Seasonings” and am a frequent contributor to NPR’s Kitchen Window and AARP-The Magazine. My work has garnered numerous accolades, such as my food essays being included in three Best Food Writing anthologies (2005, 2009 and 2010). I have published three cookbooks, the latest being Modern Spice: Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen (Simon & Schuster, 2009). My spice app, iSPICE, was just released for Apple products. 2 Table of Contents Introduction 5 Aarti Sequeira, Food Network star 7 Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times best-selling novelist 11 Amanda Hesser, co-creator of the revolutionary site Food 52 15 Joan Nathan, best-selling cookbook author 19 Corinne Trang, award-winning cookbook author 22 Andrea King Collier, award-winning author and essayist 27 Andrea Nguyen, best-selling cookbook author 31 Carla Hall, co-host, ABC’s The Chew 34 Camille Noe Pagán, debut novelist and longtime Professional writer 40 Clotilde Dusoulier, best-selling cookbook author and blogger 44 Heidi Swanson, best-selling cookbook author and blogger 48 Daisy Martinez, Food Network star 51 Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief, Food & Wine magazine 55 Dorie GreensPan, legendary cookbook author 58 Elise Bauer, Pioneering, super-successful blogger 61 Elissa Altman, award-winning writer and author 64 Frances Largeman-Roth, best-selling author 67 Grace Young, best-selling cookbook author 70 Bethanne Patrick, editor and best-selling author 73 Paula Wolfert, legendary cookbook author 78 Lisa Rogak, New York Times best-selling author 83 Kat Kinsman, managing editor for CNN’s food blog 87 Jaden Hair, best-selling cookbook author and blogger 90 Jen Singer, best-selling author 94 Karma Wilson, award-winning children’s book author 98 Kim Severson, best-selling author and New York Times journalist 102 Lisa Armstrong, award-winning journalist 106 Lynne Rossetto KasPer, award-winning radio show host and author 109 Meagan Francis, blogger and best-selling author 113 Melissa Clark, best-selling cookbook author 116 3 Nathalie DuPree, TV show host, best-selling cookbook author 120 Nycci Nellis, TV and radio show star 123 Padma Lakshmi, Top Chef host and cookbook author 128 Ramin Ganeshram, award-winning journalist and author 132 Ruth Reichl, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet, all-around suPerstar 136 Sarita Mandanna, debut novelist 140 Virginia Willis, best-selling cookbook author 146 Susan Orlean, suPerstar author 150 Tracey Jackson, best-selling novelist 153 Vivian Schiller, chief digital officer, NBC news 157 Chiki Sarkar, publisher, Penguin India 160 Rebecca Brooks, brilliant PR strategist 163 Dianne Jacob, award-winning writer and author 167 Diana Abu-Jaber, award-winning novelist 171 Mollie Cox Bryan, cookbook author and novelist 175 Sydny Miner, vice President, executive editor of Crown Archetype 179 Bee Yin Low, blogger and best-selling cookbook author 182 Molly Wizenberg, best-selling cookbook author 186 Deborah Madison, award-winning cookbook author 189 Aviva Goldfarb, best-selling author and owner of Six O’Clock Scramble 193 Rebecca Katz, best-selling cookbook author 198 Sara Moulton, TV show host and best-selling author 203 T. Susan Chang, award-winning writer and author 208 Pam Krauss, vice president, publishing director of Rodale 213 Saira Mohan, suPer model and author 218 Ritu Dalmia, chef, TV show host and best-selling author 222 Acknowledgements 225 4 Introduction I read once that motivation is like bathing: it is recommended daily. Ah, I knew what that felt like from first-hand experience. The publishing industry had been hit hard and I felt like I needed a daily dose of motivation and inspiration to keep me going. With that in mind, in early 2011 I launched a series on my website called “In Conversation with Exceptional Women.” I could not think of a better way for myself to get motivated than to talk with women who were making great strides despite the harsh economic climate. I chose women who I thought embodied positivity, reflected grace and possessed great smarts. The series initially featured interviews with more than twenty-five women who have inspired me over the years and whom I believed would be an inspiration to others. I spoke with these women on how they defined success and how they lived life to its fullest potential. The interviews are intended to inspire and motivate, and I believe they are very successful in doing so. You will notice a theme in the selection of women: most are in media (writers, chefs, authors, celebrities). These are the women I am surrounded by in my life as a writer. Today, I am happy to present you with these brief but intense interviews. In addition to the interviews that I conducted online, I have included over twenty additional interviews not previously published on my blog. Among the interviewees are: Kim Severson, former New York Times food writer and current Atlanta bureau chief Ruth Reichl, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet and former restaurant critic of the New York Times 5 Susan Orlean, legendary New Yorker writer and book author Lynne Rosetto Kasper, host of American Public Media’s The Splendid Table Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief, Food & Wine magazine I hope the interviews will inspire you as much as they have inspired me. Read the section on how successful women define success and then create your own definition. This one step helped me define who I am and what my purpose is. My definition of success: Waking up with a smile on my face and going to bed with a smile in my heart. Happy reading! 6 Aarti Sequeira, Food Network star I was so thrilled when Aarti Sequeira [http://www.aartipaarti.com/] won the competition to become a Food Network star and now, she has just finished recording her third season of Aarti Party [http://www.foodnetwork.com/aarti-party/index.html]! How terrific! Bubbly, vivacious, full of life and just all around a great person, Aarti has proved over and over again that if you follow your passion, with all your might and with a positive attitude, you can and will succeed. My one word for Aarti: Fantastic Tell my readers a little bit about your background. You went from being on YouTube to becoming a Food Network star. Tell us a little bit about that journey. Did you always want to do this? Oh gosh, no. It was a complete and utter surprise. Since the age of seventeen, I had decided that I was going to be a reporter, that Christiane Amanpour and I would walk arm in arm, dodging bullets to get the truth. Hey, I was seventeen. But God had other ideas. I worked at CNN for a while, and then all of a sudden, work dried up. I couldn’t get work no matter how hard I tried. Then, a friend said, “You should have a cooking show.” I laughed at the idea because I hardly considered myself a cooking expert. I just liked to cook. But my husband, who has always been my biggest cheerleader, immediately took to the idea, and did a very Hollywood thing: he wrote a one-sheet concept of the show, which he called “Aarti Paarti.” Pretty soon we were shooting in our tiny kitchen, and working in variety elements that not only showcased our goofy personalities, but attracted viewers who don’t normally watch cooking shows. When someone said that I should try out for Food Network Star, I was baffled yet again. There’s a running theme here, isn’t there? I’d watched a few episodes of the show, and it had quickened 7 my resting heart rate to concerning levels. Here were people who were food professionals, trained at the best schools in the world, with successful restaurants or catering businesses… and they were struggling. How the heck was I going to do it? That’s why I count this all as a miracle. There’s no way that, on paper, I should have won. But somehow, I did. And it has changed my life. What inspires you to cook? Hunger. Ha! Well, I really started learning to cook because I thought that was just what grown up women did! My mum was always so proud of the food she’d make—cooking wasn’t just about feeding us, it was about expressing our heritage or experimenting with a new ingredient or showcasing some incredibly fresh vegetables. I felt like I had to carry on that tradition. Cooking is something you can be proud of yourself for accomplishing—but free from stress and high stakes. I thank God every day for taste buds. Can you imagine eating food every day that was tasteless?! I’m also inspired by creations I see on food blogs or at restaurants or in magazines. Oh, and the lavish spread of fruit and vegetables at our farmers’ markets here in Los Angeles—be still my beating heart! We are so spoiled; you can find a farmers’ market around town every day of the week. And everything is exquisite. We had strawberries in March this year! And they were red all the way through, juicy, sweet… amazing. If you look back at your sixteen-year-old self, what advice would you offer yourself? “This too shall pass.” I never felt like I fit in. I had pretty strict parents so I didn’t get to socialize outside of school all that much, which would make me feel like a bit of an outsider at school.