Ina Garten had to 'learn very quickly how to be a boss,' she says—here's the best leadership advice she ever received

Ina Garten is an expert on making major career changes: she built a multimillion-dollar culinary empire after she quit her government job to open a food store.

Garten’s husband Jeffrey gave her sage advice when she decided to leave her previous career, she told Amy Poehler in a Nov. 25 episode of her podcast “Good Hang with Amy Poehler.”

“I said to Jeffrey, I really need to find something else to do. And he said, ‘Just pick something fun. Pick something that you think you’d love doing, and if you love it, you’ll be really good at it,’” Garten said.

She purchased her first store, Barefoot Contessa, in Westhampton Beach, New York in 1978.

Managing her own store was difficult at first, Garten said. She had to “learn very quickly how to be a boss,” and she struggled to find her leadership style.