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B. Smith

November 4, 1999
Web posted at: 4:11 p.m. EST (2111 GMT)

By Jamie Allen
CNN Interactive Senior Writer

In this story: 'My personality and my style' 'Appreciate the beautiful things' 'I enjoy my life' RELATED STORIES, SITES

(CNN) -- When B. Smith is reached in Manhattan, she is busy.

But then, when you're a restaurateur, author, and host of a television show, and when you're promoting your new magazine and hardcover cookbook, busy is a relative word.

Busy is fun. Busy is money. Busy is B.

"I feel like I'm on roller skates and I'm really trying to keep up," Smith says.

She seems to be doing a good job; in fact, most of the competition is chasing her these days. Most, except for one notable.

Smith watched recently as style doyenne Martha Stewart's many business offerings went public earlier this month, rocketing Stewart's holdings over the $1 billion mark. It interested Smith, because she has been called a multi-cultural Martha.

"I couldn't possibly be competition to the major-domo Martha," laughs Smith. "But I'll tell you what I do feel -- I feel with her going where she's going, it only verifies that what I'm doing is valid.

"And when people compare us -- and I'm a little bored with the comparison, but hey -- she is successful, and if I'm going to be compared to someone, I enjoy being compared to somebody successful."

B. Smith Style was launched for the holiday season. It will be followed by four new issues in 2000

'My personality and my style'

Smith's most recent success is the launch of her new magazine, "B. Smith Style," a holiday preview which will be followed up with four issues in 2000. The magazine is a reflection of her popular weekly television show, "B. Smith, With Style," which can be seen in over 200 U.S. markets.

Smith started her empire with a Manhattan restaurant, which blossomed into four restaurants, cookbooks, and the TV show. She uses her media offerings to show fans how to live a stylish, and well-fed, life.

"The magazine is driven by my personality and my style," says Smith. "It really does reach out to a multi-ethnic reader. It focuses on encouraging people to develop their own style, as opposed to Martha, who I think is like a professor and what she is preaching is, you've got to do it her way. I'm just giving people a map and a direction and from there they can veer off to whatever they want to do.

"I try to be inclusive, I try to be affordable, even with luxury," she says. "I try to let my readers and my viewers understand that there's a whole world out there and we all have to go to those 9-5 jobs, but there are choices we can make in our private life when we're entertaining anyone from our boss to our minister to our mom.

"Everyone doesn't have a large bank account," Smith says. "But that doesn't mean you can't have a part of the good life."

Smith says she's long harbored the idea for a magazine covering the gamut from fashion to food, but "stood on a mountain of Nos" before finding a yes in American Express Publishing. The current issue is buoyed by recipes for a holiday feast, including double-herbed turkey.

"I'm proud of the way the magazine looks, that it doesn't look like anybody else's magazine," Smith says. "That's not such an easy thing to do with 800 magazines that come out a year."

Smith's Thanksgiving table, featured in "B. Smith: Rituals & Celebrations," is centered by a bouquet of wheat, surrounded by fruits and nuts, rustic napkins and dishes.

'Appreciate the beautiful things'

Smith, raised Barbara Smith, grew up in the small western Pennsylvanian town of Scottdale. She says her parents helped plant the seeds of her current empire.

Her mother taught her to be proficient in the kitchen: Smith's first cooking memory is serving up a version of her mom's pineapple upside-down cake. Her father, meanwhile, made homemade root beer.

"It was a time when you did the most with what you had," Smith says. "They taught me how to appreciate the beautiful things."

Smith also had an early interest in business.

"My first job was as a paper girl, selling newspapers, many years before there were little girls selling newspapers," she says. "And one of the things I excelled at in high school was fundraising. But my entire being is creative, so I've had to try to balance those two things."

Smith eventually moved to New York and became a fashion model, using the shortened first name "B." to attract attention. Her striking looks are still evident, and marketable, today at age 50.

Following her modeling career, Smith considered acting, tried singing, and eventually found her calling in the restaurant business. With a partner, she opened B. Smith in the mid-'80s on Eighth Avenue in New York's theater district.

'I enjoy my life'

Today, her business continues to grow.

Along with the magazine, Smith is releasing "Rituals & Celebrations," one of four books she has scheduled with Random House.

The book features recipes for different occasions through the year. It starts with New Year's Day foods to kick off 2000 on a positive note.

"Everybody has foods of good luck, whether you're Greek or Jewish or African," Smith says. "All nationalities have something, a traditional way to celebrate the new year. Everyone has a ritual or a way to celebrate, and I'm just opening up and letting people understand that here is a year of celebrations."

"Rituals & Celebrations" includes cooking instructions for a range of palettes: "A Mardi Gras Buffet for 12" (featuring Chicken, Sausage and Okra Gumbo), "A Spring Hooky Day Luncheon for Six" (with Kedjenou Chicken), "A July Fourth Crab Boil for Eight," and "A Dessert-Dance Party for 10" (including Pear tart with Warm Brandy-Caramel Sauce).

Smith is obviously passionate about food and entertaining. She's also busy. And that's a good thing.

"I enjoy my life," says Smith. "I enjoy what I do and I just try to balance it as much as I can."