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First memory: "Watching Mom in a restaurant kitchen. She was flipping something with a spatula. I tried to copy her and ended up grilling my right thumb! I was three or four."

Growing up in a family steeped in culinary tradition, Rachael was exposed to a wide range of cooking techniques, from her maternal grandfather, who grew and cooked everything his family of 12 ate, to her dad's family, which embraced the food-rich traditions of Louisiana. The Ray family owned several restaurants on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, before relocating to upstate New York, where her mother worked as the food supervisor for a restaurant chain. "I was surrounded by all different styles of cooking and worked in the food service industry in just about every capacity you can imagine," Rach says.

By her early twenties, Rachael developed a hankering for city life and moved to New York City, where she landed at Macy's, working first at the candy counter and then as manager of the Fresh Foods Department. She credits her two years there for giving her an education in gourmet foods. After Macy's, Rach helped open Agata & Valentina, the prestigious New York gourmet marketplace, where she was the store manager and buyer. Despite the exciting lifestyle in the foodie circles of New York City, Rachael decided that wasn't how she wanted to live long term, so she moved back to upstate New York and started managing pubs and restaurants at the famed Sagamore Resort on Lake George. From there, she was recruited by Cowan & Lobel, a large gourmet market in Albany, to be their food buyer and eventually their chef.

As a way to increase grocery sales during the holidays, Rachael began a series of cooking classes at Cowan & Lobel, including a course promising to teach "30-Minute Mediterranean Meals," which exploded in popularity. The CBS station in Albany-Schenectady, WRGB-TV, discovered Rach and signed her on to do a weekly "30-Minute Meals" segment for the evening news. Nominated for two regional Emmys in its first year, the segment was a major success; a companion cookbook sold 10,000 copies locally during the holidays.

Rachael's television work grew to include a series of lifestyle and travel segments as well as a long-term relationship with the Food Network, hosting shows such as "Tasty Travels," "$40 a Day," "Inside Dish," and "30-Minute Meals," the latter of which earned her Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Service Show Host and Outstanding Service Show in 2006.

Rachael's current list of cookbooks:

-30-Minute Meals(1999)
-Comfort Foods(2001)
-Veggie Meals(2001)
-30-Minute Meals 2(2003)
-Get Togethers: Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals(2003)
-$40 a Day: Best Eats in Town(2004)
-Cooking 'Round the Clock: Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals(2004)
-Cooking Rocks!: Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals for Kids(2004)
-Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals: Eat Healthy Without going to Extremes(2005)
-Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously -Different Dinners(2005)
-Rachael Ray's Express Lane Meals: What to Kepp on Hand, What to Buy Fresh for the Easiest-Ever
-30-Minute Meals(2006)
-Rachael Ray 2, 4, 6, 8: Great Meals for Couples or Crowds(2006)

Taking the can-do spirit of her television shows and books, Rachael launched a lifestyle magazine bearing her vision called Every Day with Rachael Ray in 2005. With great food at its heart, the full-size glossy magazine, for which Ray serves as editor-in-chief, covers much more than food. The magazine offers smart and easy recipes for an array of delicious foods, as well as practical advice on food destinations and entertaining. Through the magazine, Rach takes readers around the country to meet people who love food -- from top celebrities to authentic artisans to great home cooks.

In September 2006, Rach launched The Rachael Ray Show, her first hour-long, syndicated talk show. Showcasing Rachael's warmth, energy and boundless curiosity, the series -- produced by King World and Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions -- invites viewers to experience life "the Rachael Ray way." She shares her secrets for fearless, can-do living; offers simple solutions to everyday problems; and shows how "you do not have to be wealthy to live a rich life."

"My life has been a total accident -- a very happy, wonderful accident that I didn't and couldn't have planned," Rach says. Despite her growing celebrity, she is determined to stay grounded and hold on to her down-to-earth values. She still spends as much time as she can at her cabin in the Adirondacks with her husband, John, her family -- the "research team" -- and her beloved pit bull Isaboo.

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