Chef Carla Hall Honored with Trailblazer Hunger Leadership Award

We are pleased to announce that celebrity chef, author, television personality, restaurateur, and motivational speaker Carla Hall is the recipient this year’s Trailblazer Hunger Leadership Award.

This award is presented to public figures who have used their influence to improve the lives of people experiencing hunger.

Throughout her career Hall has celebrated food as a means of connection and nourishment and has worked to end hunger for children and seniors in the U.S. and abroad.

“Being a chef, it is my business and my passion to feed people,” said Hall in an interview with AARP. “To know that so many people aren’t being fed is a travesty.”

Her approach to ending hunger is rooted in her philosophy of always cooking with love. Carla is very active with a number of charities and not-for-profit organizations. She is on the Board of Trustees for Beyond Bedtime and GenYouth and is an ambassador for the USO. Carla also volunteers time to promote other non-profit organizations such as: The Alzheimer’s Association, The James Beard Foundation, FEED America, and the Jacques Pépin Foundation. The thread which runs through all of these things are her efforts towards teaching and advocating for better nutrition for youth, elderly and the underserved. In 2024-2026, Carla is being honored by Les Dames d’Escoffier as Grande Dame, a lifetime achievement award and honorary title is given to members in recognition of extraordinary contributions within the fields of food, beverage and hospitality.

Hall first gained national recognition in 2008 as a contestant on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef: All Stars.” She spent seven years co-hosting ABC’s Emmy Award-winning lifestyle show “The Chew,” and currently serves as a judge on Food Network baking championship programs and as the host of “Chasing Flavors” on HBO Max. She is the author of several cookbooks, the latest of which, “Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration,” was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. In 2024 Hall was named a Grande Dame of Les Dames d’Escoffier for recognition of extraordinary contributions in the fields of food, beverage, and hospitality.

Carla Hall will receive her award via a video acceptance at the Hunger Leadership Awards, along with our other award recipients, on June 24 in Washington, D.C. Our annual celebration brings together leaders from government, philanthropy, the private sector, and the wider anti-hunger community to recognize distinguished leaders whose vision and commitment are building the momentum to achieve zero hunger in the U.S. and around the world.