When Brooke Bailey Johnson joined The Food Network as president in 2004, Rachael Ray invited her to dinner. Together, they left the network's offices at Chelsea Market where "Rachael spent about ten minutes shopping for fresh food." They then went to
Rachael's apartment and "30-minutes later we were enjoying a great meal. I was living inside the Rachael Ray brand," Brooke laughed as we chatted over our Lunch at Michael's® recently. Whether it's having dinner at Babbo with Mario Batali; joining the cast and crew of Emeril Live for cooking lessons between tapings; meeting new chefs like Columbian Ingrid Hoffman whose new series Simply Delicioso will
join the network's line-up next season; or meeting with the 30 member culinary team in The Food Network kitchens; Brooke is having fun. "The only negative is I have to constantly watch my weight," Brooke laughed.
Brooke Bailey Johnson with Jack Myers at Michael's
Brooke loves food and wine although she didn't consider herself a "foodie" when she joined the network after 10 years at A&E Networks (where she was general manager of A&E, launched The Biography Channel, and was Senior VP of programming for both A&E and The History Channel). "The food world is fun, and I've become much more expert in seasonal
ingredients, artisanal cooking, working with fresh ingredients and non-processed foods. But cooking, she adds, is also about socializing with friends. We have a real emotional connection with our viewers. They have strong feelings toward our brand and our programs and that bodes well for us in a multi-platform world. They'll go with us to other platforms."
Brooke grew up in a show biz family in Los Angeles. Her dad, Ed Bailey, produced the legendary series Truth or Consequences and This Is Your Life. Her mom did program transcriptions for NBC and her grandparents were radio actors. "I always thought I would end up in L.A. after college [at Northwestern}," she shared. She did return
briefly to L.A. but then set out on a car trip to small markets up and down the west coast, scheduling interviews with television stations along the way. Finally, an ABC affiliate in Tucson hired her as a production assistant, working her way up and "totally learning how the TV
business works" before returning to Chicago to join ABC owned WLS-TV, where she became executive producer of AM Chicago and assistant program director.
ABC took note of the rising star in Chicago and invited her to move to the flagship WABC-TV in New York as program director, where she hired Regis Philbin and Cindy Garvey to host a local morning show that evolved into Live with Regis and Kathie Lee and that is one of the
most successful syndicated talk shows in TV history. Brooke was on a path to become station general manager at ABC but was recruited to sister company A&E, where she was responsible for dramatically increasing ratings with Biography, joint productions with the BBC, and shifting the network's bedrock war programs to the new
History Channel. "I've been fortunate to have lived through two revolutions in the media industry," Brooke comments. "First the cable revolution and now the new media revolution. This business is thrilling and a constant challenge."
At Food Network, she's programming more entertainment-based series in primetime, such as Iron Chef America, Good Eats with Alton Brown, and the new Food Dudes, which follows the adventures of two young caterers in Los Angeles. The daytime schedule focuses more on the actual cooking experience and programs that school viewers in
cooking. These series offer the network interactive opportunities with recipe offers and brand extensions into cook books, cookware, DVDs and video-on-demand. A new line of Food Network kitchenware products will be sold beginning this Fall at Kohl's.
Brooke is actually doing less cooking at home these days as both her children are away at college, her son at St. Mary's College of Maryland and her daughter at Ithaca College. Being an "empty nester" frees Brooke to enjoy the opportunities her position offers. "Chefs are
generally gregarious and fun to be around. I could go out every night of the week. I love all types of food and love to take wine trips." Brooke spearheads The Food Network's support of Share Our Strength, a charitable organization that distributes funds to several organizations including the New York Food Bank and City Harvest.
While Brooke might not have been a foodie when she first joined The Food Network, all signs point to her having
adapted quickly to her environment. But she still finds time to play classical piano (she studied at Julliard as an adult), which "takes her mind off everything else," and to play some golf "badly." She's the definition of a renaissance woman.
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