Rachael Ray

Celebrity chef speaker Rachael Ray is best known as a television star on her daytime show, Rachael Ray, but she is also an iconic Food Network television personality, bestselling cookbook author, Founder and Editorial Director of her own lifestyle magazine and Founder of the Yum-o! organization.

Rachael Ray didn’t start out as a chef, but as a clerk at the candy counter at Macy’s in New York, then as the manager at the Fresh Food Department in Macy’s. For two years this is where she gives credit for learning about gourmet foods. After leaving Macy’s, Rachael helped at Agata & Valentina, a gourmet New York marketplace, where she worked as the store manager and buyer. Rachael Ray later moved to up-state New York where she started to manage pubs and restaurants at the Sagamore Resort on Lake George. Here, she was recruited by Cowan & Lobel to be the buyer and eventually the chef. To increase the grocery sales during the Holiday seasons, Rachael created cooking classes and one in particular was the promise to create a 30-minute meal, which became widely popular. Here she was discovered by the CBS station is Albany, WRGBTV, which signed Rachael Ray to do a segment of 30-minute meals on the evening news. This relationship grew to include a travel and lifestyles section. This grew to shows on the Food Network such as Rachael’s Vacations, Tasty Travels, $40 A Day, Inside Dish and 30-Minute Meals. This also led to book deals, and the seven most recent titles are New York bestsellers.

In 2005, Rachael Ray launched a new lifestyle magazine, Everyday with Rachel Ray. The magazine didn’t just cover food but travel, food destinations and entertaining. In 2007, it was named Hot List Start Up of the Year and named Advertising Age’s A-List in 2008. In the fall of 2006, Rachael launched her daytime talk show, Rachael Ray. Her new show got honors of top rated premier show since Dr. Phil. In 2008, Rachael won the Outstanding Talk Show —Entertainment Emmy Award.  Other achievements include: Television Week named her Syndication Personality of the Year in 2007 and BusinessWeek honored her as one of the Best Leaders of 2006. In its first year on the air, Rachael Ray won a 2007 Daytime Emmy Award and was nominated for six others including Outstanding Talk Show and Outstanding Talk Show Host. Rachael has also been a regular on Oprah, with her most popular recipe being a romantic pasta dish that aired just in time for Valentine’s Day. In 2007, Rachael launched her Yum-O! organization which helps children and parents develop a strong and healthy relationship with food and cooking. The organization also educates families about ways to create easy and affordable ways and helping those to feed hungry Americans. In May 2011, Rachael accompanied Guy Fieri by announcing their new show Guy vs Rachael’s Celebrity Smackdown. Rachel Ray describes the new show as “the cooking equivalent to Dancing with the Stars.” This same year, Rachael won a People’s Choice Award for Favorite TV Chef. Rachael has partnered with eHow, where people hungry for specialized and accessible food content, will have access to new series, videos, feature articles and original blog posts with the personal touch of Ray and her Buddies, in a community that allows them to share their experiences.

Rachael has endorsed Nabisco, WestPoint Home, Dunkin’ Donuts, AT&T, Burger King, Wheat Thins and is available for speaking engagements, personal appearances and public relation campaigns.