Here's How Much Carla Hall Is Really Worth

It should come as no surprise that Carla Hall formed part of the heart and soul of ABC's Emmy Award-winning hit The Chew. After all, she cooks from the heart and has been chewing soul food since childhood. As recounted on her website, Hall "grew up surrounded by" soul food. But that doesn't mean Hall thought she was born to be a chef, let alone shine a spotlight on that particular cuisine. In a 2018 interview with NPR, Hall recalls cooking soul food with her grandmother as a child, but failing to appreciate its rich cultural significance.

Hall initially didn't choose cooking as a career path. A graduate of Howard University's Business School, she spent a couple of years not cooking the books as an accountant. Fast-forward to today, and she has written about the richness of soul food in two cookbooks, Cooking with Love: Comfort Food That Hugs You, and Carla Hall's Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration, and earned some riches herself. Hall's journey from the comparatively-flavorless world of accounting, to being a celebrity chef and author, has amounted to a net worth that would satisfy anyone's soul.

Speaking with NPR in 2009, Hall recalled that after graduating from business school she landed a position at Price Waterhouse in Tampa. She quickly realized that the price was wrong for her personal cost-benefit analysis. "I hated my job, but I always was excelling," she said. "So even though I left Price Waterhouse, I was still trying to pass the CPA exam." Yet she dreaded the long-term outlook of an accounting career. After passing the exam, Hall quit, explaining, "My biggest fear was being 40 and hating my job."

Hall had dabbled in modeling while attending Howard University. So, she decided to travel down that path, which led her to Paris. Life in the City of Love ignited her passion for food. She immersed herself in cookbooks and spent about five years selling sandwiches. That led her to culinary school. She would graduate to higher and higher echelons, distinguishing herself with an impressive showing on Top Chef, and shining like the star she was on The Chew.

Hall offers this food for thought, telling Yahoo Finance that her advice to people eager to change their careers is "follow your heart," but "don't jump in with both feet." How much money has Carla Hall made from following her heart? Celebrity Net Worth says she's worth $2.5 million. So, Hall's life has definitely been enriched by both collard greens and greenbacks.