Ina Garten Net Worth In 2022 - The Barefoot Contessa
American author and television personality Ina Garten net worth is $60 million. She now lives with her long-term partner, investment banker Jeffrey Garten. She is best known for being the Emmy Award-winning Barefoot Contessa series host on the Food Network.
Ina Rosenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on February 2, 1948.
Ina was one of two children born to dietician Florence and surgeon Charles H. Rosenberg and raised in Stamford, Connecticut.
Early on, she was praised for her academic prowess and shown a high affinity for science, which she claims she still employs while experimenting with dishes.
When she was just 15 years old, she was visiting her brother at Dartmouth Collegewhen she first met her future husband, Jeffrey Garten.
After high school, she had intended to enroll at Syracuse University, but she delayed starting her schooling so that she could wed Jeffrey in 1968.
Jeffrey Garten, Ina's spouse, served as dean of the Yale School of Management from 1995 until 2005.
He regularly appears on her culinary program, helping out or trying out the food she makes.
As a Democrat registered voter, Garten has given money to the presidential campaigns of Bill Clinton, John Kerry, George H. W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
The 16th annual Hudson Peconic fundraiser for Planned Parenthood had her as the hostess.
Garten is on the East Hampton Design Review Board, a group that monitors construction permits and gives its approval to different local architectural and design components in order to promote the historic area.
Ina Garten Cooking in her kitchen holding a bowl of veggies
Ina started dabbling in cooking and entertaining to keep herself busy while Jeffrey completed a four-year military tour during the Vietnam War after the couple shortly moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Ina obtained her pilot's license during this time.
She fell in love with French food, outdoor markets, and vegetable stalls when the pair went on a four-month camping trip in France after Jeffrey's stint in the military was over.
When they relocated to Washington, D.C. after returning to the United States in 1972, dinner gatherings there started to become a weekly ritual.
Garten was pursuing an MBA at George Washington University while working in the White House.
She started off as a government assistant and worked her way up to the post of budget analyst, where she wrote the nuclear energy budget and policy papers for Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
In this period, Garten started to sell homes for a profit, and the proceeds allowed her to make her first significant acquisition, The Barefoot Contessa Speciality Store.
She made the decision to look into an advertisement in the New York Times for a specialized food business that was up for sale in the Hamptons.
She and her husband Jeffrey traveled to Long Island to see the shop, where they fell in love.
Despite having no prior experience in the industry, Garten instinctively knew that was what she wanted to pursue.
The owner contacted the next day to accept Garten's offer after she made it to her.
After buying the 400-square-foot business in 1978, she quit her position with the government, and the pair relocated to New York City.
The original proprietor of the business gave the establishment the name of the 1954 Ava Gardner movie.
When Garten took over, she preserved the name because it fit with her conception of an "elegant yet earthy lifestyle."
Within a year, Garten relocated the Barefoot Contessa to a bigger space, which it soon outgrew.
In 1985, they moved once again, this time to the wealthy Long Island community of East Hampton.
The shop increased in size by more than seven times and focused on selling regional specialties including lobster Cobb salad, locally produced cheeses, and fruits and vegetables.
As the company expanded, Garten hired more local chefsand bakers while still doing a lot of the cooking herself.
Celebrity clients like Steven Speilberg and Lauren Bacall praised her.
She sold the business to Amy Forst and Parker Hodges in 1996, who carried on Garten's traditions.
The collapse of the lease negotiations in 2004 resulted in the store's permanent closure.
Garten took her hand at authoring a cookbook and established herself an office above the Barefoot Contessa shop.
The reaction from readers to The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook was overwhelmingly positive, making it the most thrilling professional endeavor she had ever undertaken.
Her second book, Barefoot Contessa Parties, was released in 2001.
After the 2002 release of Barefoot Contessa Family Style, Foot Network contacted her with a proposal to host a culinary program of her own.
She repeatedly turned down their offer until the contract was handed to the London-based production firm behind Nigella Bites.
She consented to a 13-show season, and "Barefoot Contessa" made its debut to enthusiastic reviews in 2002.
Since then, the program has continued.
Her spouse, their friends, and even celebritiesare often included.
The program gets some of the top ratings on the Food Network and averages one million viewers every episode.
The program has received Daytime Emmy nominations, and Garten took home the award for Best Culinary Host in 2009.
Garten was in the administration before to becoming a well-known chef. Garten resided in Washington, DC, in the late 1970s and worked for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Garten reportedly contributed to the creation of the nuclear energy budget while working for both Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, according to Insider.