Melissa d’Arabian
Celebrity chef, TV host, and bestselling author
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About Melissa d’Arabian
Melissa d’Arabian is a bestselling cookbook author and celebrity chef who naturally connects with audiences on a wide variety of speaking topics. With an MBA from Georgetown University, Melissa enjoyed a successful career in corporate finance and strategy before becoming a stay-at-home mom to her four daughters.
Passionate about sharing her tried-and-true recipes and money-saving tactics, d’Arabian competed on and won season five of The Next Food Network Star. She has since become well known for Ten Dollar Dinners – her Food Network cooking show and New York Times bestselling cookbook.
Her second cookbook, Supermarket Healthy debuted in December 2014. D’Arabian is the creator and host of acclaimed Food Network web series, “The Picky Eaters Project,” a regular judge on popular Food Network primetime series Guy’s Grocery Games, a nationally syndicated columnist for The Associated Press, and a regular contributor to Food Network’s FN Dish blog.
Through national media, events, and speaking engagements, d’Arabian authentically shares her diverse life experiences and expertise on topics including food and cooking, money-saving strategies, family and parenting, healthy lifestyle, business and leadership, faith, and causes closes to her heart including suicide prevention and childhood hunger.
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Speaking Topics
Food, Cooking, Money-Saving
A trusted resource for home cooks everywhere, Melissa d'Arabian is well known for sharing her satisfying and nutritious yet simple and affordable meal ideas as well as her useful time- and money-saving strategies.
Faith & Inspirational
Melissa d'Arabian's primary goal is to be on the path God wants her to be on, which affects her daily decisions as a woman, wife, mother and professional. She shares inspirational and motivational messages based on her personal journey of faith through family, work, challenges, and beyond.
Suicide Prevention & Awareness
Whether speaking to Congress in Washington DC or at events for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Melissa seeks to raise the volume on a national conversation about suicide. Speaking from personal experience having lost her mother to suicide while in college, Melissa shares messages of hope, helping those in need and those left behind, and what we can do reduce stigma and prevent suicide.
Business & Leadership
As an MBA graduate and former corporate finance and strategy professional turned stay-at-home mom and celebrity chef, Melissa d'Arabian shares insights on Playing a Game You Can Win, Infusing Your Life Mission into Your Career, Emotional Intelligence, How an MBA Helped Her Win “The Next Food Network Star,” Work-Life Balance: The Realistic Modern Lifestyle, among other thought-provoking topics.
Women
Connecting with other women on their paths to success is Melissa d'Arabian's personal life mission. She shares insights and strategies on how she ensures her life’s actions and choices support that mission and how others can do the same – no matter their life mission. Inspiring women of all ages and backgrounds, she also shares thoughts on supporting other women, establishing meaningful relationships and positive role models.
Family & Kids
Straight from her own home bustling with four little women, Melissa shares ideas on everything from combatting picky eaters and great strategies for family travel to keeping the romance alive and how her own family life growing up affects her parenting today.
Collegiate
Melissa connects with college students on topics of personal and professional growth, strategies for success, cooking on a college budget and with limited resources, as well as her personal experiences as a college student and how those experiences have shaped the person she is today.
Childhood Hunger
Melissa grew up poor and often without the food she needed every day. Melissa speaks about her personal experiences including those who helped her, how she and her family managed, lessons she learned, and how these experiences influence her life today. She also sheds light on the childhood hunger statistics today in the United States and how we all can help end childhood hunger.
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Praise for Melissa d’Arabian
It was such a thrill for our women’s church group to have Melissa speak about her faith. She is a celebrity in the kitchen, which brought some younger women to our event, that would not have come to hear a different topic, but now have joined our monthly breakfasts. Most of the women coming thought Melissa would be talking about her cooking show, and it would be a pleasant day, but perhaps not too meaningful. Boy, were they all pleasantly surprised at the depth and the meaning of her faith story. Plus, the importance of having a life mission faith statement to keep your walk with the Lord on the right path. We all took away the importance of having a faith mission statement, saying yes to what matches our mission statement, and no to the things that do not. She is a gifted speaker, very clear with her message, extremely personable, and very honest and open with the story of her life.
— United Methodist Church Women’s GroupMelissa brought great, practical ideas that attendees could share with their clients. I found it refreshing to see how Melissa tied her background in economics into food choices and making decisions around feeding practices. She’s an extremely bright woman and her energy is infectious. She is charming, witty, and warm-hearted – a joy to work with! A genuine and caring individual I would love to work with again!
— National WIC AssociationMelissa shared such a tangible and practical way to grasp our purpose on this Earth as women and as mothers and how to make decisions that align within that purpose. She was encouraging, funny, and personable. I wish she could speak every week! I really feel like she connected with us as moms and spiritual women.
— MOPS International (Mothers of Preschoolers)A fantastic presentation! She is such an engaging speaker, and I am amazed at how she is able to provide a balance of relating to the attendees emotionally while also offering very useful and action-oriented advice. I’ve never had so much positive feedback about a webinar!
— Georgetown University Career and Alumni RelationsWhile Melissa is a consummate professional both on- and off-camera, it’s her inherent accessibility and comfort speaking “off-the-cuff” that allows her to connect with the audience in a way that’s both refreshing and unique among those in her field. In less capable hands, a presentation extolling the virtues of heart-healthy cooking may have come off as dull or—worse yet—preachy, but Melissa effortlessly entertained, while still managing to convincingly communicate the subject matter. In a true testament to her natural abilities as a public speaker and presenter, the entire crowd was fully engaged throughout—no small feat, considering they were all eagerly awaiting the presentation of $40,000 in cash prizes!
— Good HousekeepingShe is a captivating and passionate speaker and has a natural talent to connect with her audience. Additionally, she has a remarkable ability to take complicated information and present it in a personal and compelling way.
— American Foundation for Suicide PreventionHer speech resonated with the hundreds of young women in the room. Her enthusiasm was inspiring and her message solid. She can deliver an inspirational message to any woman. And, we know we’ll invite her back!
— Alpha Chi Omega sororityPraise for Ten Dollar Dinners: 140 Recipes and Tips to Elevate Simple, Fresh Meals Any Night of the Week
Melissa’s Ten Dollar Dinners broadens the horizon of dinnertime possibilities and deliciousness. This is a great resource for new, affordable cooking ideas.
— Alex GuarnaschelliThese recipes are quick, easy, inexpensive, and most important: outstandingly delicious. If you want to put incredibly great-tasting food on the table without spending a fortune, this is the book for you!
— Robert IrvineMelissa’s real life experience as a wife and mom make her the perfect person to help all of us get dinner to the table.
— Bobby Flay -
Books by Melissa d’Arabian
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Media About Melissa d’Arabian
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- 212 572-2013
- Melissa d’Arabian travels from San Diego, CA
Featured Title
Supermarket Healthy
“Just like so many families in America, we have a mortgage, bills, and four kids to budget for. So I made it my job to figure out a way to create food for my family that is just as healthy and good as what is being sold in fancy, premium markets, but that also respects my need to be a smart, price-savvy shopper. I’m not the only one who wants to cook within my budget while still feeling good about the food I buy, eat, and prepare for my family and friends.” – Melissa d’Arabian