Cooking iconRachael Rayshot to fame while working at her local Cowan & Lobe, a specialty food market.
The station hired Ray to do a “30-Minute Meals” segment on the evening news.
The success of her segment inspired the chef to create a cookbook, which sold 10,000 copies locally.
“My first vivid memory is watching my mom in a restaurant kitchen,” she says.
“She was flipping something with a spatula.
I tried to copy her and ended up grilling my right thumb!
I was 3 or 4.”
That’s our message."
While maneuvering New York City’s elite and diverse foodies circle, she became the target of a mugger.
She recalls screaming so loud, she “scared” herself.
Quickly, she grabbed her pepper spray and used it against the assailant.
The boy ran away from the scene.
But less than two weeks later, he returned.
This time he pulled Ray into a passage outside the building and struck her with his pistol.
In response, Ray screamed for the building’s guard dog, Lisa.
Lisa’s barking scared off her attacker.
But Ray had had enough.
“Nothing so much happened,” Ray said of the incident.
“People have a lot worse things in life.
But it was like, O.K., I’m not going to wait for strike three.
Ray packed her bags and moved upstate, landing a job at Cowan & Lobel in Albany.
The traumatic experience led Ray to the career-changing movement that made her a cooking phenomenon.
