Table of Biography
Early Life
Vivian Howard was born on March 8, 1978. Presently, she is 44 years old and her birth sign is Pisces. She is originally from Deep Run, North Carolina, a small community near the town of Kinston.
Her parents, John and Scarlett Howard were farmers who raised hogs and grew tobacco, soybeans, cotton, wheat, and corn. Moreover, her father owns J.C. Howard Farms, Inc., a pork production company with 27K pigs, owns 5K acres of row crop farmland, 5K acres in forestland, a timber production company, and 14 John Deere dealerships.
Her grandfather and great-grandfather were also tobacco farmers in Lenoir County.
Caption: Vivian Howard’s childhood picture with her family. Source: Instagram
Education
At the age of 14, she attended an all-female Moravian boarding school, Salem Academy. There, she was classmates with Adrian H. Wood. Then, she spent two years at Virginia Episcopal School.
Similarly, in the year 2001, she earned her BA in the English Language from North Carolina State University. And, during her time at NCSU, she studied abroad for a semester in Argentina, as part of a culinary-themed program.
Likewise, after graduating, Vivian moved to New York City and started working in advertising for Grey Worldwide. This personality quit after 18 months and began working as a waitress at Voyage restaurant.
Moreover, Scott Barton, the restaurant’s executive chef, became her early mentor. She graduated from the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC in the year 2004. Vivian completed an internship at Wylie Dufresne’s wd~50 and trained as Chef de Partie at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market.
Personal Life
Vivian is married to Ben Knight. The pair met while working together at Voyage restaurant in NYC. The couple lives on Howard’s family homestead in Deep Run, North Carolina with their twin children, a boy, and a girl.
There is not much information regarding their personal and married life.
Caption: Vivian Howard’s picture with her husband and kids. Source: Instagram
Career
Vivian married Ben Knight, one of her coworkers at Voyage. Then, the two began a soup delivery business out of their apartment in Harlem, an effort that included chilling soup in the bathtub.
Despite offers from investors to open a brick-and-mortar location in New York, they agreed to accept Vivian’s parents’ offer to buy a restaurant in Kinston. She and Knight moved to North Carolina in the year 2005 and opened Chef & the Farmer in 2006 in a downtown building that was previously a mule stable.
However, more than 60% of the ingredients used in the restaurant come from within a 90-mile radius. In the year 2012, the Chef & the Farmer building caught fire and was rebuilt.
Similarly, in 2013, she and her husband Knight opened the Boiler Room, a casual spot that serves oysters and burgers catty-corner from Chef & the Farmer. Vivian has authored a cookbook and memoir, titled Deep Run Roots – Stories and Recipes from my Corner of the South, which was released in October 2016.
Caption: Vivian Howard while cooking. Source: Garden & Gun
More
And, after the book was released, it remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for 3 weeks. In the year 2017, the book won four IACP Cookbook Awards including Cookbook of the Year, Julia Child First Book Award, Outstanding Restaurant Cookbook, and Outstanding Cookbook in the General Category.
The couple opened a restaurant called Benny’s Big Time Pizzeria on December 12, 2017, in the Warehouse District of Wilmington, NC. Furthermore, in the year 2020, Howard released her second cookbook ‘This Will Make It Taste Good: A New Path to Simple Cooking.’
Therefore, the cookbook is built around a core collection of flavorful bases that become key components in the section of recipes that follow. And, in 2021, she opened Lenoir, her first restaurant in Charleston, SC, which includes a sister café Handy + Hot.
She launched and stars in the public television show Somewhere South and A Chef’s Life, for which she has won Peabody, Emmy, and James Beard awards.
Brand Endorsements
This public figure has endorsed many products from different brands on her Instagram page. Some of her recent endorsements are Wallaby Organic Yogurt, discovery+, Garden & Gun, Bon Appetit mag, Amazon Kindle, T. Marzetti® Foodservice, and many more.
Body Measurements
Vivian Howard is 4 feet and 11 inches tall and weighs around 60 kilos. This personality has a pair of grey eyes and blonde hair. This lady has not given any of her other body stats including her chest size, dress size, hip size, shoe size, waist size, etc.
However, she has maintained a healthy and fit body physique.
Vivian Howard – Social Media
Her Instagram account ‘@chefandthef’ has earned over 97.3K followers. Similarly, she has amassed over 72K followers on her Facebook account. And, her Twitter account has gained over 19.4K followers.
Vivian Howard – Net Worth 2023
This amazing woman is sure to accumulate a handsome amount of money through her profession. However, Vivian Howard has a net worth of around $6 million.