2026-09-08 13:20
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September 8, 2026
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When Carla Hall was 30, she had a spiritual reading done. The woman told her that her 40s were going to be amazing. Hall was unsure, but the woman was insistent — there was something about that decade as a whole.
And there was. “Top Chef” helped launch Hall — a Howard University graduate who worked as an accountant and a model before starting a lunch delivery service, going back to culinary school, becoming a chef and then starting a catering business — into the public eye in 2008, where she has remained, constantly evolving for almost two decades. She was a co-host of the daytime talk show “The Chew” throughout its seven-year run. She voiced a version of herself on “BoJack Horseman” and guest-starred on “General Hospital.” She hosted “Worst Cooks in America” and “Best Baker in America.” This summer, she starred in “Please Underestimate Me,” an original one-woman show, and launched The MeMenu with executive coach Deborah Grayson Riegel, a leadership and personal growth program for women over 50. Her new cookbook, “Carla Bakes,” hits shelves today.
“It was in my 40s when all this great stuff happened to me,,” Hall said. “Finding myself and being in this whole crazy thing — not that it defines me — but I started to take control and make choices that were out of the box when I was 42. Your 40s are going to be amazing.”
The wisdom dispensed didn’t end there as Hall shared with me all about her return to her theater roots, being guided by curiosity and understanding her own power.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How old are you, and what’s the best thing about being the age you are?
I am 62 years old — and the best thing is my bucket of fuck-its.
The older I get, the less I hold my tongue. I mean, I’m not rude — I don’t ghost people. But I don’t procrastinate with answers because I’m going to tell you exactly what I think about it right now because I’m going to honor your time and mine.
You just finished your run of your one-woman show. What led to that experience and what did you learn from it, especially in this season of life?
I was a theater kid and I really wanted to get back to theater. I decided to focus on, in addition to food, voiceovers, cameo roles. I took an acting class and I just decided to act as if I’m doing this thing because I really wanted to manifest a show. I had this idea of doing a variety show like Carol Burnett because I love Carol Burnett and nobody was doing a variety show. I just kept asking people and talking to people, to actors and directors.
I was hosting the “Halloween Baking Championship” and I was talking to the showrunner, Leslie Thomas, and I said, “I really want to do a one-woman show.” She had done a movie and her wife had done a course on solo shows. So the three of us — Lori Kaye, Leslie Thomas and I — started in February 2023.
I also realized if it’s something that I wanted to do, I wasn’t going to ask for permission to do it and wait for someone else to give me an opportunity. I was very clear about sort of moving this forward myself and letting everyone else catch up.
How have you learned about defining ambition and following your ambition throughout your life? Has your definition of ambition changed as you’ve gotten older?
I am not ambitious. I know I look ambitious; I know I’m doing all of these things. But I do things out of curiosity. I do not do things out of pursuit of fame. I do not do things because I want recognition. I don’t do things for money. I do things out of curiosity.
How has that curiosity guided you? You have done a lot of different things throughout your life and career and you have made a lot of changes. What has helped you hone your ability to know when it’s time to make a move and how to shape that next step?
Especially the older I get, I have so many experiences to call upon and reflect on and a lot of times, what comes up for me is, “Why not? Why not me? Why can’t I be the one to do this?”
Now I’m not saying that I don’t struggle through imposter syndrome — like, “Oh my gosh what if I fail?” I would like to say that I don’t think about that, but I do. But the desire to do something new and to have this great experience is more overwhelming to me than to do it well.
I remember falling on stage when I was hosting the James Beard Awards, right in front of 1,000 people. My whole thing, looking back at that moment, was taking care of the audience. I remember having these thoughts of, “Uh-oh I’m about to fall — how do I want to fall? Engage the core. Make it big.”
I literally had those thoughts as I was going down to make it dramatic. Then I got up and the audience is still going, “Oh my gosh — what happened?” So I ran downstage and I said, “Y’all know that shit was funny, right?” Just to break the tension. And then they laughed and I knew it was going to be a great show because nobody was like, “Oh my gosh now we have to think about her falling the entire time.”
(Penguin Random House)
You’re from Nashville, and I was wondering how being from the South, and especially being a Black woman from the South, has informed how you think about aging and identity and power?
There’s always the Black woman who feels like she’s holding everything together: holding the family together, holding herself together, doing all of these things, looking great with color and flash and awesomeness, but then there’s the other side who says, “You know what? You really don’t have to. What do you want for yourself?”
Being from the South, we as Black women have been taught to toe certain lines. The other day I was walking and there was another Black woman who was walking down the path and she was on the right side of the path and she went to move around us. And I said to her, “You had better not move. You are on the right side of the street. Why are you going to move?”
She hadn’t even realized she was doing it. I think part of that comes from growing up in the South. Everybody’s first, before you. But I’m like, “Oh no.”
We do not have to move around other people. We are not in the wrong. No words have to be spoken but there is an ownership and an attitude you have to carry and to know your self-worth and know that it will prevail.
I loved the really beautiful essay you wrote for The Bitter Southerner about your mom and your caregiving for her and your home. What has caring for an aging parent taught you, practically and emotionally, and what would you want to tell people about navigating this season of life?
Dementia is degenerative and she’s getting worse. She’s starting to repeat things. We’ve having to spend a lot more time caring for her and she doesn’t necessarily want a caretaker there. Luckily, I have my sister, who is very involved, so I have a partner to tag team with. My sister has just been amazing.
I say to my mom, “We are your report card.” My mom is an amazing woman, and we would not be the women we are without her and without my grandmother. I talk a lot about the women in my family because my mother divorced early and so there were just a lot of women in our family. So that’s the thing — when I think about Black women and power, that’s my family. And Black women will hold it down and hold it together and make something out of nothing. That’s what I want for all Black women and what I want for myself.
If everything went away today and I didn’t have a job, what would I do? I’m going to tell you — I would create a job. I would create a job for myself.
And the thing is, I would create it not out of a place where I am resentful, but knowing that this creation takes me to the next step that I’m supposed to be at. When I see challenges in my own life, I’m like, “OK universe, what are you trying to tell me? Where do I need to move?”
What is the advice that you are the most grateful that you did not listen to?
It would probably have to be whenever somebody says, “Act your age” or “dress your age.” Those words mean nothing to me.
You’ve been in the public eye for two decades now, and you did 1,000 things before we all even knew your name. What do you hope the next 30 years of your life will look like and what are you excited about now?
I do my paper art and I would love to have a show. I would love to be on a sitcom. I would love to have retreats with The MeMenu where women are gathering and we’re talking about our lives and owning them and making new dreams for ourselves at 40, 50, 60, 70.
If I’m still breathing, I’m still changing and I’m still dreaming.
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