Elle Simone

Simone was born LaShawnda Sherise Simone Scott[1] and grew up in Detroit, Michigan in a middle-class 7th-Day Adventist family.[1][2][3] She attended Eastern Michigan University.[1] Her first cooking job was at a kosher bakery in Oak Park, MI.[1] Before entering the culinary field, Simone worked as a social worker in Detroit.[4][5] She moonlighted as a prep cook.[3] She attended Culinary Institute of New York.[1] She has a master's degree in entertainment business.[2][5]

At age 28, Simone lost her job as a social worker, her car, and her home during the 2008 recession.[5][6] She took a job on a cruise ship as a cook for two years.[3][5] In 2009 she moved to New York, working at a women's shelter, and in 2010 attended culinary school.[1][3][7] She did an internship with Food Network.[5] She worked as a food stylist for Cabot Creamery and The Chew.[3] She worked in culinary production for Cook's Country, Food Network, Bravo, and Cooking Channel.[3][5][8]

Simone was the first African American woman to appear as a regular host on the PBS television show America's Test Kitchen starting in 2016.[1][9][10] She is a test cook and food stylist for the show.[11] She also develops videos for the show's online cooking school.[12]

She was featured in a segment of NBC's The Hub Today .in 2018[1] and in 2019 hosted 28 Days of Edna, a monthlong America's Test Kitchen series focussed on Edna Lewis.[3]

Simone is a member of the board of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs.[13] She has said she wants to become the "culinary Oprah."[1][7]

Simone founded SheChef, a mentoring and networking organization for women of color in the culinary field, in 2013.[14] As of November 2018 it had over 1000 members.[4][8][15] She was motivated to do so after realizing that although 90% of her culinary school classmates had been women or persons of color, this group was underrepresented among chefs.[16]

Simone is a survivor of ovarian cancer.[5] She was diagnosed in 2016 at the age of 40.[17]