Marcela Valladolid

Celebrity chef Marcela Valladolid built her love of food into a high-profile television career. Her career in food got underway when she began helping at her aunt's cooking school in Baja, Mexico. She later studied at the Los Angeles Culinary Institute and the Ritz-Escoffier Cooking School in Paris, before starting her own catering business in Tijuana. She began working as a writer and editor for the magazine Bon Appetit, which brought her to the attention of television producers. After appearing on "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" (NBC, 2015), she starred in the Spanish-language cooking show "Relatos con Sabor" (Discovery en Espanol, 2008). She published a well-received cookbook, Fresh Mexico: 100 Simple Recipes for True Mexican Flavor, which reinforced her appeal. She soon starred in the cooking show "Mexican Made Easy" (Food Network, 2010-12). This led to a string of appearances on other Food Network properties, including "Throwdown! With Bobby Flay" (Food Network, 2006-10) and "Iron Chef America" (Food Network, 2005-). She also served as a judge on "The American Baking Competition" (CBS, 2013). Valladolid became one of the hosts of "The Kitchen" (Food Network, 2014-), an informal cooking talk show. She joined fellow celebrity chefs Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee, Jeff Mauro, and Geoffrey Zakarian in hosting duties until she left the show in 2017. She continued working with the Food Network, though, acting as a judge on "The Best Baker in America" (2017-).