Despite being one of North America's most important culinary figures, the co-owner and head chef of The Grey is not afraid to be vulnerable and searingly honest about herself, her work and the state of the industry.
This year has been Mashama Bailey's year. After being named one of the 100 most influential people of 2026 by Time magazine, her profile written by Kamala Harris, attorney and former vice president of the United States, Bailey was named the winner of North America's Best Female Chef Award 2026, as part of North America's 50 Best Restaurants.
"I feel I'm having a resurgence," Bailey says. "This year, to have two back-to-back recognitions, it's fantastic. It's really preparing me to pass the torch. I want it to be more about the team. I want it to be about Erik Carreno, my chef in Savannah, and Antonia Usan, my chef in Paris. I want it to be about the people supporting me because they helped bring my ideas to life. As chefs, we can't say enough about our teams. We just can't."
Where it all began
Born in the Bronx, Bailey moved to Georgia at the age of two, eventually settling in the port city of Savannah. She learned to cook at home thanks to her mother and grandmother, eventually attending culinary school in New York.
Mashama Bailey accepting the North America's Best Female Chef Award 2026, at the North America's 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony
After a stint at now-shuttered seafood restaurant Aquagrill in SoHo and a period as a private chef on the Upper East Side, Bailey embarked upon a work-study programme in Burgundy. Here, mentor Anne Willan, founder of École de Cuisine La Varenne, encouraged Bailey to abandon her food writing studies and continue her path as a chef.
Back in New York, Bailey took on a sous chef role at Prune working with Gabrielle Hamilton. "I knew I wanted to work in higher echelon kitchens, but I was already an adult and I didn't want to work in a ratty boys' club. So I went to Prune and worked for a woman in a small space that gave us creative liberty. During staff meals, I started to unlock some of the food I became more interested in as a chef. That was the beginning."
Shades of The Grey
She was introduced to entrepreneur John O Morisano four years later and together they opened what would become The Grey, her debut restaurant housed in a long-abandoned Jim Crow-era segregated Greyhound bus station, in 2014.
It was a rough start, Bailey reflects. "Around six months in, we were really struggling. I had never run a space or been a head chef, so everything was off. A young woman from the Prune team had come with me but was exhausted and thinking of quitting the industry. I felt I was failing as a leader."
Things turned around after making the switch from a European-focused menu to something more regional. Then the recognition came. In 2018 she was nominated for Best Chef: Southeast in the James Beard Awards and featured on Chef's Table in 2019. "That had a lot to do with changing my trajectory," Bailey says. "It made us a household name and gave us a bigger platform."
The Foie & Grits dish at The Grey, which Bailey describes as a beautiful play on a Southern breakfast
Bailey and Morisano have been figuring out Savannah's restaurant scene ever since, from the challenges of hiring in Savannah – "there's a small cooking school but the focus is on recruiting chefs to work in hotels and the mindset is different" – to the weather.
"You have to be a local restaurant and be there for the local community, whether in good times or bad," Bailey says. "When there are storms, we advocate for the team. We want to be a beacon for people who can't leave town or are stranded. If they need a hot meal and one of us can get to the restaurant, we'll fire up the kitchen and cook."
Then came dreams of Paris. "Honestly, my business partner is a Francophile and for me, what chef doesn't want to have a restaurant in Paris or New York, so I'm along for the ride." L'Arrêt by the Grey, an American bistro in Paris, opened in September 2025 after a few more challenges, from tricky neighbours to figuring out the food.
"The sourcing is different. I can buy the same ingredients I buy in Savannah in Paris, but they're going to cook differently," Bailey says. "They're going to taste different because they're grown differently. I'm stumbling through and trying to figure out what ingredients suit our narrative."
Personal stories
The thread that has always run through Bailey's cooking is celebrating personal stories. "When I first started cooking, you cooked Italian, French or Spanish," Bailey says. "Now, the stories of Indigenous people are celebrated through food and in higher echelon kitchens. When it comes to food and race, every story is important. Where you're from is the best way to talk about who you are. I encourage people to go to places where they're interested in the food and culture."
Chicken country captain at The Grey, a traditional Southern dish made with curry, peppers, okra and aubergine
Outside of the kitchen, Bailey has been chairwoman of the Edna Lewis Foundation since 2017, working to celebrate the African-American culinary community and culture, while providing training and opportunities for people in the fields of cooking, agriculture, food studies and storytelling. "What is Black food in America? I really want to unravel that. It's not as straight a line as someone cooking from different regions of Italy or France," Bailey says.
Finding balance and space for creativity
The conversation around work-life balance has had more focus in the past few years, but there's certainly still work to be done. Bailey insists the current generation of chefs has a huge opportunity to teach people healthier and more sustainable ways of working. The relentless nature of restaurants isn't healthy for anyone. "In those down moments, give yourself grace. Allow yourself to rest and recharge and then get back out there. As a leader, I owe that to the entire team."
It's not just about working hard and playing hard, says Bailey. It's also about working hard and getting sleep, taking time off and treating yourself.
"As chefs, we need to fill our cup in ways that help inspire us creatively. I'm starting to have those conversations. 'What are you doing? Are you taking pictures? Are you doing pottery? Are you writing? Are you working out? What are the things you're doing to nurture yourself to keep on giving?'"
For Bailey, writing is the perfect creative outlet. However, after co-authoring Black, White, and The Grey with business partner Morisano, she admits it's been a hard thing to come back to. "I haven't really written since high school," Bailey says, "but I've been cooking for the last 25 years. In the book, I had to be vulnerable and transparent about how I felt about mine and my business partner's relationship. We never had conversations about race, working with each other or the male-female dynamic. It was traumatising and took me a while to get over."
Mashama Bailey with business partner John O Morisano
Despite finding it difficult to balance margins with increasing labour and food costs – margins have dipped from 10 per cent to three or four – it's important to Bailey to invest and support the team, through healthcare, time off and closing the restaurant on certain days.
"The great thing about working in Paris is that there are lines that you cannot cross. I'm bringing that back to Savannah. It was a case of whoever's the first in and last to leave gets promoted. I want to change that – it's not about how much time, it's about how productive and how engaged you are."
While 2026 may have been the year of Mashama Bailey, she always has one eye on the future, demonstrating her commitment to redefining and preserving Southern and Black American cuisine for future generations.
"At this stage in my career, I really want to pass the torch. I want to grow more businesses and find the next Black female chef that's crushing it."
Mashama Bailey is the winner of North America's Best Female Chef Award 2026, as part of North America's 50 Best Restaurants. Discover the full list and other special award winners.
