Cat Cora is a world-renowned chef, author, restaurateur, contributing editor, television host, avid philanthropist, health and fitness expert, and proud mother. The Jackson, Mississippi native, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America and cooked in two 3-star Michelin restaurants in France, has been captivating audiences since she made her TV debut in 1999. Most recently, Cat served up her culinary knowledge as a judge on ABC’s culinary competition series Family Food Fight. Cat Cora holds a series of “firsts’, for women in the culinary industry.

In 2005, Cat Cora made television history when she became the first-ever female Iron Chef on Food Network’s hit show: Iron Chef America. Since then, she shattered the glass ceiling as one of the first females to dominate the historically male culinary industry. In 2006, Cat was awarded Bon Appetit Magazine’s “Teacher of the Year Award” and was named the Executive Chef of the magazine. Since then, she has blazed her own trail through the culinary world, becoming the first female inducted into The American Academy of Chefs Culinary Hall of Fame. In 2015, Cat was also the recipient of the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Volunteer Service Award from President Barak Obama. Cat has opened more than 18 restaurants across the United States and globally, highlighting her platform on health, wellness and sustainability.

She founded Little Kitchen Academy, a Montessori-style culinary school for ages 3-teen. Cora is also a prominent published author of three successful cookbooks, one children’s book and, her raw and remarkably candid memoir called Cooking as Fast as I Can: A Chef’s Story of Food, Family and Forgiveness. Outside the kitchen, Cora is best known for her philanthropic efforts. She is the President and Founder of Chefs for Humanity, a non-profit dedicated to reducing hunger worldwide by supporting humanitarian relief and promoting nutrition education. Cora currently resides in California with her wife Nicole and their six boys.

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