Take your audience on an inspiring journey into the life of culinary icon. Cat Cora shares her path to success and the obstacles she fearlessly confronted along the way. From her early passion for cooking to breaking barriers as the first female Iron Chef on Iron Chef America, Cat's odyssey is a testament to resilience and determination. Overcoming gender bias, personal hardships, and the competitive culinary world, she emerged as a trailblazer, advocating for women's empowerment and sustainability. Audiences leave inspired by her triumphs and lessons learned, as Cora's story embodies the spirit of perseverance and the power of following one's dreams.

More about Cat Cora

Cat Cora is a world-renowned chef, author, restaurateur, contributing editor, television host and personality, actress, avid philanthropist, health and fitness expert, lifestyle entrepreneur and proud mother of six. The Jackson, Mississippi native trained at the Culinary Institute of America, cooked at two 3-star Michelin restaurants in France and has opened more than 18 restaurants across the United States and over 500 pop-ups across the United States globally, highlighting her platform on health, wellness and sustainability. Cora is a prominent 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.

Cora has been captivating audiences since she made her TV debut in 1999, as co-host of Food Network’s Melting Pot with Rocco Di Spirito. She went on to host My Country My Kitchen: Greece, Date Plate, and was one of the featured hosts on Fine Living’s Simplify Your Life. Cora also served up her culinary knowledge as a judge on ABC’s competition series Family Food Fight and founded Little Kitchen Academy, a Montessori-style culinary school for ages 3-teen.

Cat Cora is a woman who holds a series of “firsts” for women in the culinary industry.

In 2018, Cora partnered with WW on a first-of-its-kind health food destination inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, called WW FreestyleTM Café: BKLYN. That same year, she was proud to be featured in the permanent collection of the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Museum’s Kitchen Table exhibit in Meridian, Mississippi.

In 2005, 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. After her Iron Chef debut, she was featured extensively on a number of television shows, most recently as co-host on BRAVO's Around the World in 80 Plates as well as FOX's My Kitchen Rules. In 2006, Chef Cora 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.

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. In 2018, Chef Cat Cora launched her Women’s Empowerment Culinary Internship Program to mentor, give back and help women succeed in the culinary arts. For her efforts, President Barak Obama awarded her the prestigious President’s Volunteer Service Award and The President’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Chef Cora continues to be a leader in her industry as she synchronizes her award-winning talents with mainstream accessibility, all while she evolves into a space beyond the culinary world. Cora currently resides in California with her wife Nicole and their six boys.