Sara Bradley grew up in Western Kentucky. She has cooked professionally for more than twenty years, including for Michelin-starred chefs in New York and Chicago. In 2015, she opened her own restaurant, freight house, back home in Paducah, Kentucky, and in 2025, she was a James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef- Southeast. Sara is a two-time runner-up on Top Chef, a Chopped Grand Champion, and the first-ever Chopped Legend. In 2025, she was the first rookie competitor to ever make it to the finals of Food Network's Tournament of Champions. When she's not at the restaurant, you'll find her digging for lucky rocks with her husband, Austin, or chasing dreams with her daughters, Lula and Hazel. Emily Timberlake is the coauthor of award-winning and bestselling books including House of Nanking with Kathy and Peter Fang, I Sleep in My Kitchen with Mariam Daud, Foodheim with Eric Wareheim, Cure with Neal Bodenheimer, and Chapter One with Bobby Flay. A former senior editor at Ten Speed Press, she has edited more than sixty-five books on food, beverage, and pop culture. She lives in Oakland, California, with her husband, daughter, and two cats.