Celebrity chef, television host, author, restaurateur, Carla Hall has many titles, but the one she likes the best is authentic.
Carla Hall has many titles — celebrity chef, television host, author, restaurateur — but the one she likes the best is authentic.
Hall told Dan Simmons on WTOP News’ Founding DC podcast that she tries “to close the gap on my public persona and the person at home.”
“I didn’t really become a celebrity until I was 44,45. So, I mean, I’m baked,” Hall said. “The best compliment that I can get is when people meet me and they will say, ‘You are just like I thought you were.’”
While Hall is a public person, she admits she is a “borderline introvert and extrovert.”
“So, after being out, I do have to sort of come home retreat,” Hall said.
How does the first lady of The Food Network unwind?
Spending time with her husband Matthew, watching television and playing games.
“I’m very competitive in games. I don’t want to play with you If you’re not competitive,” Hall declared.
Now it’s not video games that Hall is playing, her favorite is any that involve dice.
“I’m talking Yahtzee. I’m talking, Farkle. So, we play Tenzi. It’s kind of like musical chairs with dice,” Hall said.
Hall does not seem to be a participation trophy type of person. When she married her husband, she gave his son Noah a note letting him know that victories are earned.
“I said, look, you have two great parents, but I’ll be there, as you know, a mentor, or whatever you need me to be. I will never let you win in a game, but when you win, you will really win,” Hall said.
While Hall told her stepson that if he falls, she will probably laugh but said she would be there to pick him up.
Hall picked herself up after graduation from Howard University with an accounting degree.
During her early 20s she was working for Price Waterhouse and realized it may not be for her.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t want to be 40. Hating my job,’” Hall said. “I feel like I would die if I kept this job.”
After spending five years running a lunch delivery service, Hall attended L’Academie de Cuisine, which would lead her eventually to stardom.
Hall, who recently opened the restaurant Bumblebirds in D.C., admits she loves to win, but does not define success like a lot of us do.
“Climbing the ladder in your job, making a certain amount of money, buying a house,” Hall said. “I never thought those things were success, they were all the result of success.”
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