How Chef, Author, and Recipe Developer Molly Baz Became a Cooking Connoisseur

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

There’s no denying Molly Baz is a culinary force to be reckoned with. Since she departed from Bon Appétit magazine in 2020, where she was the senior associate food editor and became a mainstay personality for the publication’s YouTube channel for her innovative recipes, Baz has continued to pave her own path within the industry. She has built a burgeoning brand that is unquestionably her, adding many titles to her résumé such as recipe developer, chef, and cookbook author. In fact, her first cookbook, Cook This Book, was a standout among 2021 best sellers, garnering acclaim as a palpable guide to the ins and outs of the kitchen through tasty recipes.

Her same culinary voice is echoed throughout The Club by Molly Baz on her website, where she provides weekly recipe drops, and in her YouTube channel, Hit the Kitch. To complement her culinary expertise, Baz has also entered the dynamic world of wines by launching her company, Drink This Wine, in collaboration with esteemed natural wine producer Andy Young of The Marigny. The brand’s tagline, “Imperfect wine for imperfect people with impeccable taste,” perfectly embodies the brand’s playful ethos around drinking wine. Following the immense success of its first product, a chillable red wine, the company plans to launch another red and white and orange wine in the near future. 

As Baz sits at the helm of her culinary adventure while also becoming a thought leader in the industry, it may be no surprise that her career started in the kitchen. She worked in professional kitchens in Boston and New York as a line cook and even co-founded a catering company. Listen to the latest episode of Second Life to hear how Baz’s past careers have led her to build a culinary empire—and to hear more about her second cookbook in the pipeline, set to release this October.

Next: How Gaëlle Drevet Built Fashion's Favorite Brand: The Frankie Shop