Episode 75: Molly Yeh

An interview with Molly Yeh about how her Chinese Jewish heritage and Midwest roots influenced her career, how she made a big life transition, how she maintains work-life balance, where she gets her inspiration for her recipes and her best career advice.

Welcome to the 75th episode of 5 Questions with Dan Schawbel. As your host, my goal is to curate the best advice from the world’s smartest and most interesting people by asking them just 5 questions.

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This episodes guest:

My guest today is the star of Girl Meets Farm on The Food Network, Molly Yeh. Born in Glenview, Illinois, Molly is of Chinese and Jewish descent with parents who are musicians and a sister who is also a chef. After following in her parents’ footsteps as a member of two percussion ensembles, which won gold medals, She moved to New York City to attend Julliard. Molly turned the journals she kept in her childhood into a blog back in 2009. After attracting a large following on the blog and on social media, Molly published her first book, Molly on the Range in 2017. The next year, Molly became the star of her own TV series on The Food Network called Girl Meets Farm, which is now in its fifth season. My good friend and middle eastern foodie Jeff Gabel told me about Molly years ago before she had her own TV show so I finally had the chance to speak with her about her life, inspiration, and advice.

The 5 questions I ask in this episode:

You’re very proud of your Chinese Jewish heritage and Midwest roots. How do think about your identity as it relates to the brand you developed?
After studying at Julliard in New York, how were you able to adapt to life in the Midwest and what advice would you give to people in a big life transition?
How do you maintain a work-life balance between blogging, being a mom, and your TV show?
Where do you get the inspiration for your recipes and decide which ones to write and talk about on TV, in books and online?
What is your best piece of career advice?

Follow Molly’s journey: