Lunch at Michael's with Brooke Bailey Johnson: The Food Network's Renaissance CEO

Originally Published June 18 2007When Brooke Bailey Johnson joined The Food Network as president in 2004 Rachael Ray invited her to dinner Together they left the network39s offices at Chelsea Market where quotRachael spent about ten minutes shopping for fresh foodquot They then went to Rachael39s apartment and quot30minutes later we were enjoying a great meal I was living inside the Rachael Ray brandquot Brooke laughed as we chatted over our Lunch at Michael39samp174 recently Whether it39s 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 network39s lineup next season or meeting with the 30 member culinary team in The Food Network kitchens Brooke is having fun quotThe only negative is I have to constantly watch my weightquot Brooke laughed Brooke loves food and wine although she didn39t consider herself a quotfoodiequot when she joined the network after 10 years at AampampE Networks where she was general manager of AampampE launched The Biography Channel and was Senior VP of programming for both AampampE and The History Channel quotThe food world is fun and I39ve become much more expert in seasonal ingredients artisanal cooking working with fresh ingredients and nonprocessed 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 multiplatform world They39ll go with us to other platformsquot 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 quotI always thought I would end up in LA after college at Northwesternquot she shared She did return briefly to LA 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 quottotally learning how the TV business worksquot before returning to Chicago to join ABC owned WLSTV 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 WABCTV 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 AampampE where she was responsible for dramatically increasing ratings with Biography joint productions with the BBC and shifting the network39s bedrock war programs to the new History Channel quotI39ve been fortunate to have lived through two revolutions in the media industryquot Brooke comments quotFirst the cable revolution and now the new media revolution This business is thrilling and a constant challengequot At Food Network she39s programming more entertainmentbased 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 videoondemand A new line of Food Network kitchenware products will be sold beginning this Fall at Kohl39s Brooke is actually doing less cooking at home these days as both her children are away at college her son at St Mary39s College of Maryland and her daughter at Ithaca College Being an quotempty nesterquot frees Brooke to enjoy the opportunities her position offers quotChefs 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 tripsquot Brooke spearheads The Food Network39s 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 quottakes her mind off everything elsequot and to play some golf quotbadlyquot She39s the definition of a renaissance woman To contact Brooke Bailey Johnson write to contactmediavillagecom Lunch at Michael39s is a registered trademark of Myers Publishing LLC

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Lunch at Michael's with Brooke Bailey Johnson: The Food Network's Renaissance CEO

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