<\/p>\n
Celebrity chef, television host, author, restaurateur, Carla Hall has many titles, but the one she likes the best is authentic.<\/p>\n
Carla Hall has many titles \u2014 celebrity chef, television host, author, restaurateur \u2014 but the one she likes the best is authentic.<\/p>\n
Hall told Dan Simmons on WTOP News\u2019 Founding DC<\/a> podcast that she tries \u201cto close the gap on my public persona and the person at home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t really become a celebrity until I was 44,45. So, I mean, I\u2019m baked,\u201d Hall said. \u201cThe best compliment that I can get is when people meet me and they will say, \u2018You are just like I thought you were.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n While Hall is a public person, she admits she is a \u201cborderline introvert and extrovert.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, after being out, I do have to sort of come home retreat,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n How does the first lady of The Food Network unwind?<\/p>\n Spending time with her husband Matthew, watching television and playing games.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very competitive in games. I don\u2019t want to play with you If you\u2019re not competitive,\u201d Hall declared.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s not video games that Hall is playing, her favorite is any that involve dice.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m talking Yahtzee. I\u2019m talking, Farkle. So, we play Tenzi. It\u2019s kind of like musical chairs with dice,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, look, you have two great parents, but I\u2019ll 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,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n While Hall told her stepson that if he falls, she will probably laugh but said she would be there to pick him up.<\/p>\n Hall picked herself up after graduation from Howard University with an accounting degree.<\/p>\n During her early 20s she was working for Price Waterhouse and realized it may not be for her.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my gosh, I don\u2019t want to be 40. Hating my job,\u2019\u201d Hall said. \u201cI feel like I would die if I kept this job.\u201d<\/p>\n After spending five years running a lunch delivery service, Hall attended L\u2019Academie de Cuisine<\/a>, which would lead her eventually to stardom.<\/p>\n