Carla Hall: From Top Chef to Center Stage

About this episode

Carla Hall shares her journey from CPA to celebrated chef and TV personality, discussing her bold career pivots and the lessons learned along the way.

If you’ve ever watched Top Chef, you may know Carla Hall and her signature catchphrase, Hootie Hoo! But Carla didn’t start her career in kitchens. Before she became a beloved TV personality and celebrated chef, Carla was a CPA at Price Waterhouse who quickly realized her destiny was not in spreadsheets. What followed was a series of bold, joy-fueled pivots: modeling in Paris, launching a lunch delivery service out of her kitchen, competing on Top Chef, co-hosting ABC's The Chew, and now taking the stage in her own one-woman show. In this episode, Carla opens up about the courage it took to keep betting on herself at every turn—from enrolling in culinary school at 30 to building a platform for women over 50—and what she's learned about cooking, performing, and living with love at the center of it all.

People in this episode

Guest: Carla Hall

Topics covered

• career pivots
• cooking
• television
• personal growth
• women empowerment

Keywords

• Carla Hall
• Top Chef
• cooking
• career change
• women over 50

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Price Waterhouse, Top Chef, ABC

Books & works: The Chew

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