At 78, cookbook author and Food Network host Ina Garten knows what she likes and isn’t stopping anytime soon. Her laid-back kitchen style, warm personality, and staying power have made her both a household name and cult figure, with fans parodying her trademark denim shirt and cocktail glass. A bride in the Hamptons recently asked bridesmaids to dress like Garten, which she found flattering but "a little crazy."

Garten grew up in a home filled with negativity from her cold mother and judgmental father, where nothing she did was ever good enough. Meeting her husband Jeffrey, now married 57 years, helped her believe in herself. Those instincts led to buying the Barefoot Contessa food shop in the Hamptons, which spawned best-selling cookbooks and Food Network fame starting in 2002.

Now launching the podcast "Happy Hour With Ina Garten" and releasing her 14th cookbook "Simply Ina," Garten says she surrounds herself with people "on the Ina train" and tells others who aren't to "get off and get out of my way." She admits she "likes working scared" and asks herself: "Is it going to be fun?"