Episode 104 From Madison Avenue to the Kitchen: Reinvention, Chopped Champion, and Building a Life on Your Own Terms with Silvia Baldini
Silvia Baldini built a successful career as an award-winning art director and creative director on Madison Avenue — then walked away to start over in a kitchen. The result? A Le Cordon Bleu education, training at the Ritz in London, a Chopped championship, two cookbooks, and Strawberry and Sage, a culinary venture built around food, sustainability, and community — with other women at the table alongside her.
In this episode, Maura and Christie talk with Silvia about what it actually takes to reinvent yourself mid-career, how advertising trained her for the kitchen (and vice versa), navigating male-dominated workplaces in two industries, the Italian philosophy of food that America has largely lost, and why — even with all of it — she doesn't believe you can have it all at the same time.
Episode recorded on June 3, 2026 at the LMC Media Podcast Studio
Website
Les Dames de Escoffier New York Cookbook: Stirring the Pot, by Silvia Baldini and Sharon Franke (2023)
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Silvia Recommends
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan (2006).
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach (1970).
Big Night film (1996)