275: Career Conversations: Meeting cookbook writer Dominique Woolf

Practice, practice, practice. It's good advice whatever food career you're hoping to embark on, and according to Dominique Woolf it is particularly good advice if you want to get into writing cookery books.

In this edition of the Career Conversations podcast series, Dominique tells Elisa Roche there simply is no substitute for getting as much experience as possible.

She recently won the TV show "The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver" and is releasing her first cookbook "Dominique's Kitchen" this month.

But, she says, success didn't come overnight. In fact she says she spent years going to events to learn about cookbooks, meeting her favourite writers and reading as much as she could.

"It was something that had been bubbling away for years and years and years," says Dominique. "Winning the show was the ultimate validation."

Her advice to anyone hoping to one day become a cookery book writer is to get work experience, read as much as you can, and keep practising: "Writing is essential."

Dominique started life as a singer-songwriter, but gave up that dream to start and family.

Then she re-discovered her other passion; food. She went to Leith's Cookery School in London, where she says she learned all the basics, emersed herself in the industry, and gained lots of new skills.

As well as all her success as a writer, she also runs a successful business called The Woolf's Kitchen.

Dominique Woolf, cookbook writer and entrepreneur

Dominique Woolf is a half-Thai mum of three, entrepreneur and keen home cook. 

Having been a singer-songwriter and recruitment consultant in a previous life, Dominique decided to change careers and focus on her first love - food - after realizing just how much she enjoyed getting creative in the kitchen. 

She trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine to immerse herself in the industry and hone her skills, then became a food writer, before starting her own business, The Woolf 's Kitchen, in the middle of lockdown 2020. 

Initially selling a range of sauces inspired by those her Thai auntie used to make, she has now expanded into chilli oils, pastes and nuts, too. 

She won a cookbook deal after appearing on The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver and her first book Dominique’s Kitchen publishes on 9th June.