Katie Brown, one of America's favorite lifestyle gurus, made her way to the heart of our homes with simple tips and practical advice. But before she was an accomplished author and TV star, she was a woman intent on entertaining the people she loved.
Katie's Story
"As an out of work actress, I, like most out of work actresses, was making a living out of waiting tables."
Unfortunately I spent most of my time not waiting on my tables, but in the kitchen with all the chefs. And I really loved it. I really learned a lot from them. That evolved into having dinner parties where I'd test different recipes out on all my friends. That evolved into a catering company called Katie's Foods, and it was such hard work. You're on your feet all the time, you're panicked all the time, you want to make your client happy. I thought, "I still want to be cooking, but I don't know that I want to work quite this hard. And I'm tired of my car always smelling like food."
I decided to open a little store in Los Angeles called Goat. It had a little café in back, and we'd sell our homemade bubble baths, picture frames and sofas that we got at flea markets and recovered. I would do a supper club every Friday night where I would put this big, long table down, and I'd put everyone at one table. Some people would come with two people, some people would come with 10, but they'd all have to sit at one table. I served everything family'style. It became this very raucous, fun novelty in L.A., and it was written up in Vogue and Vanity Fair. It became this really fun place to end up at on a Friday night.
"Lifetime was looking for the next Martha Stewart, and they were doing a nationwide search. They just happened to call me."
I thought, "I can't do this. I know nothing. Who can compete with Martha? Martha is Martha." I was totally intimidated at the mere thought of it. I thought, "I'm never going to get this job. But just maybe, if I could get in a room with them, I would stand a better chance." So I lied and said, "I am going to be in New York next week" - I had no money to fly to New York and no plans to go there - and they asked me to if I wanted to have lunch. We went to lunch together, and they called about 20 minutes later and said, "Can you meet with the president of Lifetime tomorrow morning?"
"I was terrified. I walked into this room at Lifetime as a bohemian store owner who cooked for a living."
A big group of really fancy women dressed in black were sitting around this big table. I noticed that they had little files in front of them that said my name. I thought, "I'm dead. I just want to walk out of here with my dignity. They're going to find me out. I'm so not Martha." They started shooting questions at me, and as I was answering them, like I'm sure many women have felt when they are doing or talking about what they love, I realized that I could do this job. I actually got more confident as the interview went on. The next thing you know, I was shooting a pilot for them, and that went from once a week to every day. And now I've done more than 200 episodes. I've written five books. I write a column for the NY Times Syndicate. I've just had my first line of products come out.
"It all evolved from home, from my family."
After I got the job my whole family was out to dinner. Immediately, we started redoing the restaurant we were in - "It's too bad that the tables are round, they should really be square. Those curtains are way too high."
I laughed and realized, this is what we do. This is what I did growing up. A lot of families go sailing together, or skiing. We talk about decorating and we cook. All my aunts and uncles brag about how many people they fed the night before, what tomatoes they did or didn't grow and who made the better caramel ice cream this year. Our house revolved around food and feeding lots of people and how you decorated your house.
During that celebratory dinner together, I realized I got to where I was through my whole life. This is really what I love. It's what my family taught me. I always joke that I really only do what my mom does, only I get paid for it. I get to talk about the good stuff in life, the stuff that makes life a little bit better. It's a really fun job, and I'm driven by my love of it and my belief that all things that have to do with people living can make life a little better.
"Call me what you will. Domestic goddess would be fine - I like being a goddess."
I'm honored to be able to spend my days inventing ways to make women and families live more comfortably and with more ease. It's been a lot of hard work, but it's fun work. You know that saying, if you find something you love, you never work a day in your life? Sometimes I feel that way. I have to pinch myself because I didn't start out saying, "I really want to do this. I am going to be the next Martha Stewart." It never even crossed my mind.
I learn as I go, and I am always kind of flying by the seat of my pants. With each new thing that someone gives me, like designing my own product line, I ask myself, "Okay, how am I going to do this?" I think if anything in life scares you a little bit, that probably means you should do it.
Katie Brown is the host of The Katie Brown Workshop, the author of Katie Brown's Outdoor Entertaining and the spokeswoman for Bounty Paper Towels. She is also the mother of a very active 3-year-old baby girl and credits her domestic expertise to her mother, her 14 aunts and uncles, and her 32 first cousins.
