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Former model and accountant Carla Hall, 44, jump-started her own company, Alchemy Caterers, with cookbooks, only later rounding out her background with cooking school. The Howard University graduate worked as an accountant at PWC and then left for Europe to model at runway shows like Betsey Johnson and Workers for Freedom. She fell in love with food in Paris while showing off her svelte frame. In Europe, though she did not cook, she picked up cookbooks lured by beautiful photographs and complete "how tos" on Italian and French cuisine.

After three years in Europe, she returned to Washington, living with her sister while figuring out her next move. "The fluke came when I made food for my sister's baby shower in 1991," says Hall who by then had started experimenting with her cookbooks. She brought the leftovers to a friend's workplace. Inspired by her friend who said that she wished she could eat like that all the time, the next day Hall loaded a basket with creamy, sweet chess pies, turkey biscuits and lemon blueberry bread and sold them at nearby offices. Within a week, the Lunch Bunch had seven clients. For four years, she cooked soup, breads, cakes and other food, concentrating on making healthy food for the black community.

Then in 1995, she, too, went to the L'Academie de Cuisine to bone up her skills. After graduating, she worked in hotel kitchens before starting Alchemy Caterers, where she has prepared food for Al Gore's political fundraisers and corporate clients like the Smithsonian. Now Hall is the teacher, leading classes at Sur La Table. Still, she says, it takes more than training to be a good chef. "You have to put love in your food," says Hall. "If you are not in a good mood, the only thing you should make is a reservation.