For Katie Lee, cooking wasn’t just a hobby growing up – it was a way of life. Raised in a modest, tight knit West Virginia family, each evening centered around the dinner menu.

Eager to get involved, Katie began cooking at the tender age of four under the guidance of her mentor Grandma Dora. Using fresh vegetables from her grandpa’s garden and meat from the family’s cattle and pig farms, Katie quickly learned the value of seasonal ingredients.

From food to fashion, Katie summarizes her style with her three c's—casual, comfortable with a touch of couture. She also refers to her culinary approach as "conscious consumption." She explains, "If you are what you eat, then you should know what you are eating, where it came from and how it was raised." This philosophy is clearly reflected in her first cookbook The Comfort Table (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2008).

In October of 2009, Katie expanded The Comfort Table series by releasing a follow up to her 2008 best-seller called The Comfort Table: Recipes for Everyday Occasions (Simon Spotlight Entertainment). A one-stop shop for all things entertaining, the book features full menus for various at-home celebrations. Simple suggestions for décor and iPod playlists complement the theme of each meal to round out the experience, making a night at home an easily elegant event.

Katie's broad culinary experience ranges from hosting the first season of Bravo’s hit reality series Top Chef to writing culinary and lifestyle features for an array of magazines. She is the food and lifestyle contributor for The Early Show and has appeared on Oprah, CBS Sunday Morning, The Talk, The Rachael Ray Show, The Nate Berkus Show, and Iron Chef America. She writes a regular column for Cosmopolitan has been featured in publications such as People, Vanity Fair, Food and Wine, Town & Country, and InStyle.

In June 2011, Katie released her first foray into fiction called Groundswell (Gallery Books), a glamorous and addicting novel designated "the must-have accessory for this summer's beach bag" by New York Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster. Her "Eat, Surf, Love" story follows a young woman recovering from divorce who finds the healing power of surfing—and love—in an idyllic beach town in Mexico.

Katie received her bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism at Miami University in Oxford Ohio, and also studied in Florence, Italy. In 2004, she returned to her classroom in Italy to teach American students about dining in Tuscany.

Outside of her culinary and literary adventures, Katie sits on the Celebrity Board for Feeding America. When not working or volunteering, she enjoys surfing, traveling, and playing with her pug Fionula. She resides in the Hamptons.