Background

Catherine McCord was born on May 10, 1974, in Louisville, Kentucky, United States but grew up in Indian Hills. She is the daughter of Susan and John McCord. As a kid, she used to go to U-Pick farms with her grandparents and canned fruits and vegetables with them.

Education

Catherine McCord graduated from Kentucky Country Day School.

Career

Catherine McCord began her career as a model at the age of fourteen. She has modeled for Victoria's Secret and L’eggs pantyhose, appeared on the covers of Glamour and ELLE magazines, and done runway modeling for Donna Karan and Calvin Klein. During her career as a model, she also appeared in some movies, such as Stuck on You, Derailed, Gridiron Gang, Raising Helen, Red State, Hotel for Dogs, Two and a Half Men, and others. She also was a longtime host of MTV's now-canceled series Loveline. From 2002 till 2003 she attended the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City and then worked in several high-end restaurants.

Now she is a contributor to Parade and has appeared in People, Parents, Parenting, Lucky, Working Mother, Self and Real Simple Magazine, on the Today Show, The Doctors, The Chew, Access Hollywood Live, Good Morning America and Fox News as well as appearing regularly on the Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games and guest spots on Food Network’s Next Food Network Star and Duff Till Dawn. In 2007 she created Weelicious.com as a platform to show parents around the world how easy and beneficial it is to expose children to wholesome, delicious homemade food.

After personally struggling with what to feed her infant son, Catherine recognized a "new mom" dilemma not being adequately addressed anywhere she searched: nutritious, flavorful recipes for parents using minimal ingredients. As the children of both Catherine and Weelicious users got older, Weelicious expanded from baby food to address the mealtime needs of the entire family. The Weelicious website is currently home to over 1,500 original family-friendly recipes and 400+ how-to videos. In 2012, William Morrow published Catherine’s first book, Weelicious: One Family. One Meal. An inspirational feeding guide, Catherine cleverly weaves together the first-hand experience with fact-based evidence, progressing naturally into 140 of her original fast, fresh, and easy recipes.

Inspired by Catherine’s habit of posting a snapshot of her own kids’ lunches on social media every day of the week, Catherine’s second book, Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunchbox (2013), takes on the daily redundant nature of making school lunch for children. Packed with over 160 recipes, the book provides a variety of realistic solutions to help time-challenged parents think beyond the standard PB&J. In 2015, Catherine launched One Potato, the first organic home meal delivery kit service, focused specifically on the mealtime needs of families. Using Weelicious users' most favorite recipes as well as many new ones, the company’s mission is keeping meals delicious and simple, so that every dinner appeals to both adults and kids. One Potato sends all of the ingredients pre-prepped so that every meal gets on the table in 30 minutes or less and so kids can actually help their parents make the meals.

McCord is nowadays a regular on the NBC show Naturally, Danny Seo as well as Food Network’s #1-rated Guy’s Grocery Games. She also continues writing books. Her recent book is The 28 Day Smoothie Project (2019). The book has over 100 delicious smoothie recipes for all cravings and preferences, tips for quickly preparing them, charts to help decode all of the ingredients.

Achievements

• Catherine McCord has been voted by People Magazine as one of the 50 most influential "Mommy Bloggers." Her website weelicious.com was a 2013 Babble Top 100 Mom Food Blog. Her books are successful among readers and get positive reviews.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Smoothie Project: The 28-Day Plan to Feel Happy and Healthy No Matter Your Age

    (Weelicious founder Catherine McCord is an expert recipe d...)

    2019
  • Weelicious: 140 Fast, Fresh, and Easy Recipes

    (Every parent knows how difficult it is to get kids eating...)

    2012
  • Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More Than 160 Happier Meals

    (Once kids walk out the door for school, all bets are off....)

    2013

Views

Catherine McCord's motto has always been "One Family, One Meal."

Her goals as a founder of weelicious.com are to inspire readers with readily available ingredients, recipes that are fast, fresh and easy, and provide readers with a trove of trusted information.

To her dream dinner party, she would invite Michelle Obama, Jeff Bezos, Sheryl Sandberg, Ree Drummond, Sara Blakely, and Guy Raz because she's obsessed with his podcast How I Built This.

Quotations: "Parents tend to be way too hard on their kids (and themselves) when they reject new foods. Feeding is a lifelong journey and every person is naturally going to have different likes and dislikes, and go through stages, so you have to be patient, never give up and keep trying different approaches."

"When it comes to babies and first foods, it’s helpful to keep in mind that babies have significantly more tastebuds than adults do and so new flavors can be much more intense for them. Also, it can take at least 10 attempts for a little one to get used to a new flavor, so if your baby rejects a food you’re excited to give them, keep trying."

"Starting from an early age, I’ve always found getting my kids involved in both shopping for food and cooking to be the easiest way to inspire them to try new things."

"I don’t think moms should be short-order cooks, catering to the mealtime wants of each family member. We’re all so busy, who has time to make a different meal for each person!?"

"My goal is to get a fruit, vegetable, and protein in each glass, so I always add hemp seeds or chia seeds which have a lot of beneficial elements beyond protein and especially bee pollen so we cut our chances of getting sick, as it’s great for boosting immunity, seasonal allergies as well as being high in protein."

"My husband is my greatest advisor. He’s been with me since the spark for both businesses and sometimes I think he knows my brands better than I do. He loves food, which helps, and he’s incredibly visual and creative, so he gives me a unique perspective."

"It can take at least 10 attempts for a little one to get used to a new flavor, so if your baby rejects a food you’re excited to give them, keep trying."

Personality

Catherine McCord is a major fan of collagen peptides. Her favorite brand is Vital Proteins. She is also a big fan of probiotic foods like kefir, kimchi, yogurt and more for keeping the digestive tract healthy and immune system support. She tries to eat probiotic-rich foods once or twice a day.

Catherine's favorite indulgence is ice cream. The top three items she always has in her kitchen are Maldon salt, yogurt, and fresh produce. She is a pilates and hiking lover and tries to meditate with her kids at night.

Catherine's most-watched movie is Pretty in Pink. Her most life-changing book is To Kill a Mockingbird. Her favorite shops and boutiques are Clare V, Midland Shop and Lunya. The coolest place she ever visited is Kyoto and Cairo.

Her favorite quote is "I’ve been on a diet for 2 weeks and all I’ve lost are 2 weeks" by Totie Fields.

Physical Characteristics: Catherine McCord is tall with a height of 5'11" (1.80 m) and weighs 24 pounds (58 kg).

Quotes from others about the person

• "Catherine is a creative genius when it comes to developing healthy and fun recipes for families. Whether on video or in print, her passion for encouraging nutritious and easy to make recipes grabs the reader from the first word to the last. She is one of the finest food writers online and is a joy to work with. Additionally, her is an expert guest on the national television stage."
  
  "Catherine McCord’s unwavering focus on healthy and nutritious ways to feed her family has inspired a lot of people to look at what they’re putting on the table." - Guy Fieri
  
  "Catherine McCord has a knack for making you not only crave healthy food but also excited to make it!" - Keri Glassman

Connections

Catherine McCord is married to Jonathan Gordon. They have three children.

Father:

John McCord

Mother:

Susan McCord

husband:

Jonathan Gordon

Jonathan Gordon is a producer known for Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, Good Will Hunting, Red State, and others. Prior to becoming a producer, Gordon was president of the production at Universal Pictures under Stacey Snider and previously spent 15 years with Harvey and Bob Weinstein at Miramax Films, where his last position was co-president of production. He was nominated (along with several other producers) for his work as a producer on Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle for Best Picture.

Son:

Kenya Gordon

Kenya Gordon was born on February 26, 2007.

Daughter:

Chloe Gordon

Chloe Gordon was born on March 20, 2009.

Daughter:

Gemma Gordon

Gemma Gordon was born in August 2015.