Giada DeLaurentiis: The Dark Times Made Me Strong | E21

In the historically male-dominated culinary industry, Emmy-award-winning TV personality, celebrity chef, and New York Times best-selling author Giada De Laurentiis has not only helped pave the way for female chefs but has also shined a spotlight on the culinary arts as a whole. 

Giada has always been a trailblazer: from being the first in her family to graduate from college, to being the only woman in her class at Cordon Bleu in Paris, to being the first female chef to open a restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip at The Cromwell Hotel in Las Vegas.  But along the way, Giada faced a great deal of adversity - getting bullied as a child, experiencing the devastating loss of her brother, and fighting the sexism and discrimination she faced in the culinary industry.  For Giada, these challenges only fueled her fire - with her passion, a love of great food, and tremendous amount of perseverance - she had built an empire. 

In this episode, Randall and Giada talk about how Giada discovered her passion while working at her grandfather’s restaurant DDL Foodshow, the cultural Italian norms that impacted her life, how she launched her career, how she overcame challenges and practiced resilience, how her time on The Today Show gave her confidence, and everything she’s learned along the way. 

Topics Include: 

- Growing up in a traditional Italian family and her experiences in childhood

- Getting bullied as a child

- Being the first person in her family to attend college

- Applying for and attending Cordon Bleu in Paris

- Starting GDL foods 

- Landing Everyday Italian on the Food Network 

- Does practice make perfect?

- Sexism in the culinary industry

- Being the first woman to open a restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip

- Giada’s Restaurant at The Cromwell

- Challenges she had to overcome

- How her brother’s passing influenced her life 

- The three most important ingredients to success

- Advice for changing eating habits 

- Establishing the right work / life balance 

- Giving back and Stand Up To Cancer

- And other topics…

Giada De Laurentiis is an Italian-American celebrity chef, writer, and Emmy award-winning television personality.  She was the host of Food Network's Giada at Home and has been the host or co-host of 18 television shows, and she also appears regularly as a contributor and guest co-host on NBC's Today show.  She is the founder of the catering business GDL Foods, and the founder and CEO of Giadzy.com, an e-commerce platform which sells culinary goods and contains recipes, entertaining, and travel tips.  Giada is also the author of nine cookbooks including the #1 New York Times Best-Seller Eat Better, Feel Better.

Resources Mentioned:
Giada’s Website
Giada’s Books
Giada’s Restaurants

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