Meet Anna Vocino | Bestselling Cookbook Author and Founder of Eat Happy Kitchen

I have only ever been self-employed in a creative profession or by a business I
started, so risk is an inherent part of my nature. Acting, podcasting, comedy, starting a business, self-publishing books that may never make their money back… that’s all risk.

A person’s tolerance for risk plays out in the decisions they make, so I often make decisions that others might not have the capacity to make or even understand.

That said, I realize I still need to make the car note, cover the mortgage and pay
for my daughter’s college tuition, and I’m fortunate that the risks I’ve taken have
allowed me to do that.

Where are you from and how did your background and upbringing impact who
you are today?

I was raised by a single mother in the south. I was a quintessential latchkey kid, so taking care of myself was a no-brainer. When I got home from school, it was up to me to put the store brand pop tart in the toaster and park myself in front of the TV. The big difference was that while other kids were watching reruns of the Brady Bunch, I tuned in to PBS to watch Julia Child. I’d be so inspired by these magnificent dishes Julia cooked that I’d go to the freezer and look for the
ingredients to create my own magical recipe. Unfortunately, the fanciest thing in
our freezer was off-brand Steak-Umms. You can only get so far with that.
It was just the reality of the late 70s and early 80s. My mom was a product of the time, buying in to the notion of just how wonderful convenient prepackaged,
processed foods were. It wasn’t until I grew up and was exposed to real food that I was able to realize my calling.

What is the most important factor behind your success / the success of your
brand?
Authenticity. I spent an inordinate amount of time building an audience based on who I was. The only way to build that level of trust is to be consistently authentic.

What value or principle matters most to you? Why?
I can’t think of anything more important than integrity. We established the best
laid business plans and projections that would guide the profitability and growth
of the company, but I have been faced with making tough decisions that impact
those plans for the sake of integrity. I have been willing to take on production
delays and incur additional costs in order for a product with my name on it to be
100% right.

Work life balance: how has your balance changed over time? How do you think
about the balance?
In spite of what hustle, girl-boss culture wants to tell you, you really can’t do it all at once. There’s a give and take. I’m fortunate to be at a time in my life where I’m an empty nester, so I have more time to devote to building a brand. I also have an incredible husband who is as much a cheerleader as he is a supporter.
The fact is, I don’t just have one business card, so I’m not really sure what work
life balance is. I have a super cool day job of being the female voice of the NBC
Television Network; I’m a comic; I host podcasts; I write cookbooks; and now I
also run a consumer packaged goods company. There are tons of plates spinning
all the time and while keeping them from falling is a significant challenge, it’s part of the fun that makes this all worth doing.

What’s the end goal? Where do you want to be professionally by the end of
your career?

I have two main goals. First, I’d like to grow my company enough to change our
little healthy corner of the supply chain. Everything from farmers to
manufacturers to the people working at the grocery store. There’s plenty of
opportunity to help producers up the ante on real foods. Second, and perhaps the primary purpose of the entire Eat Happy Kitchen brand, is to impact the health of consumers through the real foods we make available to them.