Hi, everyone. I'm Hilary Kerr, the co-founder and chief content officer of Who What Where,

and this is Second Life, a podcast spotlighting women who have truly inspiring careers.

We're talking about their work journeys, what they've learned from the

process of setting aside their doubts or fears, and what happens when they embark on their

second life. Today on the show, I'm speaking with viral culinary content creator Tony Chapman,

aka the Moody Foodie. If you're like me and you love food,

you may have seen one of Tony's mouth-watering recipes in your feed,

like her Jamaican curry chicken or her oven-baked ribs.

Tony taught herself how to cook when she was just seven years old,

but she wasn't always a food guru.

She actually studied business and

started her career as a bank teller. When Tony was fired from that job, she quickly pivoted

into the culinary space and launched Tony Cooks, a New York City-based meal delivery service

that she initially bootstrapped from her kitchen. Her business was catapulted

into the spotlight when she posted a tweet asking people to buy her meals so she could make

ends meet after getting let go, and it went viral. Tony's online presence only grew during the

pandemic when she started making content on her TikTok in 2020, posting videos of herself

making her favorite meals as The Moody Foodie. Her work eventually caught the attention of the

folks at BuzzFeed, who tapped her to be a content producer and on-camera talent for their popular

tasty program. And now, after years of sharing delicious meals online and teaching her audience of

millions how to make them at home, Tony's bundled some of her favorite recipes into her

debut cookbook, Everything's Good, Cozy Classics You'll Cook Forever. The book is a beautiful

...