Top Hollywood Stars: Aida Mollenkamp Early life

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Aida Mollenkamp Early life

Aida Mollenkamp (born April 15, 1980) is a chef, television personality, and writer.
Contents
* 1 Early life
* 2 Education and career
o 2.1 Food Network and Cooking Channel
* 3 Family
* 4 References
* 5 External links
Early life
Mollenkamp grew up in Southern California and attended Chadwick school in Los Angeles. Before she got interested in cooking, she played soccer, did classical dance, and other extracurricular activities. At 13, a skiing accident rendered her temporarily unable to dance and she turned to cooking as a means of expressing herself creatively.
Education and career
Mollenkamp received a B.S. in hospitality management from Cornell University.[3] Following this, she worked as a hotel and restaurant consultant at Ernst & Young, then moved to Europe, living between Florence, Italy and Paris, France for two years. She attended culinary school and received a Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in 2004.[3] Over the years, she has worked at several different restaurants and hotels in the United States (including California Pizza Kitchen and the Hotel Bel-Air, both located in Los Angeles, California). Following her return to the U.S., Mollenkamp became an editor at the San Francisco, California-based CHOW.com online food magazine starting in January 2005.
Food Network and Cooking Channel
Mollenkamp's first Food Network series, the interactive program Ask Aida, began airing on August 2, 2008 and has filmed three seasons.[4] Her second show, FoodCrafters for Food Network’s new sister network, Cooking Channel, debuted May 31, 2010. In FoodCrafters, she leaves the kitchen to uncover handmade food finds from around the nation.
Family
Mollenkamp's mother, Marianne Lindstrom, is Italian American and her stepmother is French,[ both of whom helped foster her passion for cooking while she was growing up in Southern California. Mollenkamp also prepared recipes on her show inspired by her sister Ivy and their grandmother. Mollenkamp's brother, Christophe, was shown on the Dear Food Network Grilling episode titled "Grilling in Paradise." Her sister Ivy serves as her public relations manager.Aida currently lives in California.

Aida Mollenkamp