According to Rachael Ray, she grew up in food. "My first vivid memory is watching my 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 3 or 4," says Rachael, who insists that cooking is a way of life she was simply born into. "Everyone on both sides of my family cooks"

Rachael has parlayed that birthright into a wildly successful career as a syndicated television star, 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.