Rachael Ray at a meet-and-greet in Enterprise, Alabama, in 2007. Photo: Dow.nathan at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Rachael Ray, born in Glens Falls on Aug. 25, 1968, built one of the most recognizable careers in American food television. She did it from a start in the Capital Region and the southern Adirondacks, and she has kept a home in the area for years.
Her family moved to Lake George when she was 8. Her mother managed restaurants there, including a Howard Johnson’s, and Ray graduated from Lake George Junior/Senior High School. Much of what she later taught on camera, quick meals from ordinary groceries, grew out of restaurant kitchens and grocery aisles rather than culinary school.
From an Albany market to television
Ray moved to New York City in 1995 and worked the candy counter at Macy’s Marketplace, then at the specialty food store Agata & Valentina. She later returned to the Adirondacks and managed Mister Brown’s Pub at The Sagamore on Lake George. Her next job brought her to Albany, where she became a buyer at Cowan & Lobel, a gourmet market.
In the early 2000s she worked with Price Chopper Supermarkets on cooking classes and in-store demonstrations, and she wrote her first cookbook, 30 Minute Meals. The same name went on her Food Network show, which ran for 11 seasons from 2001 to 2012 and was revived in 2019. A travel series, $40 a Day, followed for three seasons and 77 episodes, from 2002 to 2005.
Talk show, magazine and brand
Ray signed a syndication deal in 2005, and Rachael Ray premiered on Sept. 18, 2006. The daytime talk show was taped in New York City and aired until May 24, 2023, ending after its 17th season. Wikipedia’s list of her awards includes a 2009 Daytime Emmy for outstanding service host.
Her magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, launched on Oct. 25, 2005, from The Reader’s Digest Association. Meredith Corporation acquired it in October 2011. She also lent her name to a long list of products: a line of pet food, Rachael Ray Nutrish, introduced in July 2008, with proceeds going to a fund called Rachael’s Rescue; bedding and bath goods; and a furniture collection with PulteGroup in December 2016. She was also a spokesperson for Nabisco crackers and a Dunkin’ Donuts endorser.
Her books include Rachael Ray’s Open House Cookbook (2000), Yum-O! The Family Cookbook (2008), The Book of Burger (2012) and Rachael Ray 50 (2019). In 2006, Time named her to its list of the 100 most influential people. That same year she started Yum-O!, a nonprofit centered on family cooking and feeding hungry children.
Lake Luzerne
Ray married John M. Cusimano on Sept. 24, 2005, in Montalcino, Italy. Her main residence has been in Lake Luzerne, New York. A fire destroyed that house on Aug. 9, 2020, and she and her family were confirmed safe. She also owns an apartment in Greenwich Village in Manhattan.
When she announced in 2023 that the talk show would end, she also announced a new venture, Free Food Studios. She appeared as herself in the final episode of the series The Curse in 2024.
The Albany-to-Lake George stretch of her biography is where she held the jobs that led to television, and Lake Luzerne is where she made her home as her work moved between New York City and a national audience.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Rachael Ray,” and Wikimedia Commons file records.
