REKITA NICOLE

KELIS GRADUATED FROM LE CORDON BLEU — NOW SHE’S WRITTEN HER FIRST COOKBOOK

A professional musician since the age of 17, Kelis made her mark with hits including “Milkshake” and “Bossy” before she enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in 2008. She had helped her mother with a catering business since childhood, and collected recipes from around the world while on tour, so the career change wasn’t as random as it might appear. And her desire to formalize her innate culinary skills coincided with a need to separate her identity from her musician self.

The book captures Kelis’ essence: colorful, straightforward and brimming with personal stories. Her page of kitchen essentials, both equipment and food, is simple and manageable. It takes the intimidation out of the cooking process for any novice, and returns the experienced culinarian back to basics.

“I wanted to make a book for living,” she says. “People don’t know what’s healthy. They expect me to be grilling chicken breast and steaming. That sucks. Why eat?“

Black Girl Magic

Naomi Campbell photographed by Steven Klein for W Magazine December 2016