Episode 218: A Cookbook Changed Her Life | Christina Minutillo | Author, Host & Creator of What Lights Us Up
What happens when you follow the spark, even if you don’t know where it will lead? In this episode, Kara talks with Christina Minutillo, an Italian-American host, author, and podcaster whose self-published cookbook launched a whole new chapter in her life. They talk about how Christina went from corporate fashion to building her own brand rooted in joy, creativity, and community. You’ll hear how her cookbook came to life during COVID, how it helped her discover her voice, and how it opened the door to her podcast "What Lights Us Up," where she now highlights stories of personal development and creativity.
“Chase after your light and what matters to you. It can give you access to everything.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
00:00 Creating space for joy and creativity
01:20 A cookbook born from community and tradition
03:10 Building chosen family through hosting
05:45 Turning a dinner party into a published book
08:00 Teaching herself book design, production, and launch
11:25 The evolution of a creative project
13:00 How making the book changed her mindset and energy
15:00 Launching "What Lights Us Up" podcast
17:00 Why more people need to hear stories of starting
19:00 Following purpose, even if you don’t know the end goal
21:00 Growing up an only child in an entrepreneurial family
23:30 Listening to your inner voice and acting on it
25:00 From fear of visibility to hosting with confidence
27:00 Redefining what powerful means
29:15 Finding your purpose by noticing what lights you up
31:00 Daily routines that support clarity and creativity
34:00 Choosing connection, presence, and community
I got this feeling as I was working on the book that this is what I was supposed to be doing and I didn't know what that meant at the time. That book was a door opening to a path that LED has led me to. So many different things.
That's Christina Minutillo. I'm Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
I'm really excited to have you on The Powerful Ladies Podcast today. Let's jump right in and tell everyone who you are. Where you are in the world and what you're up to.
Thanks for having me, Kara. I'm so honored to be here. I self-published a cookbook back in 2021, and. I literally put on a list that I wanted to be on the Powerful Ladies Podcast.
So I know we worked together a really long time ago in corporate and I still work in corporate. And I like to describe the cookbook as a passion project. And I'm on this journey right now of discovering what lights me up and what lights others up. The cookbook was a accidental journey of.
Taking what I was really good at, which was hosting friends and family and creating an experience. And the cookbook highlights the experience that I create around the table and the holidays that my Italian American family celebrated through the years. And I have no experience in writing, in editing, and putting together a book, and I just.
Created it. It was during COVID. I had a ton of space to do that, and it was this project that I put out in the world that I was initially so scared to be seen, to put out videos on social media, and it has been an amazingly expansive journey, not only for myself, but also the community that I've built around me, and I'm so excited to see.
What I'm up to next and how, what else, this life path takes me on.
I think it's so interesting that you say you're on this journey of discovering what lights you up and doing that through other people because it's, everyone doesn't just say I'm bored, it's COVID. I'll make a cookbook.
Was it something that was brewing in your mind for a long time, or was it really you pushed, was it realizing what you couldn't celebrate at the time? What made you say yep, I'm gonna make a book and I should do it now?
So when I'm first moved to la I've lived here about 14 years. I'm originally from back east, grew up in a really close knit Italian American family where every holiday was celebrated with.
30 plus cousins literally every Sunday, every holiday throughout the year. And so I moved to LA and I would host an Easter every year because one of the reasons I wanted to really connect with people and really make my friends my family, because I didn't have any family out here. And my friends would get really excited about this annual event.
They get dressed up. Oh my gosh. Did you get an invite to the Easter dinner? Did I get an invite? Oh, who got kicked out this year? So it became this sort of Friendsgiving event and in 2019 a cousin had suggested, we were over just doing a pre Thanksgiving thing and I had. Put themed Thanksgiving fall type flowers on the table.
And I made a whole fall themed meal. And she said, why don't you just put a cookbook together of all tips, like hosting tips and recipes and things that you would recommend because you host these huge dinners, and I don't know how you do it out of this tiny little kitchen. So initially I thought, I joked around and I said, I have zero idea how to do that.
I never even thought of doing that. And also, I don't have the time, but I would love to find an avenue out of my corporate career that I didn't love, that I didn't feel lit me up. And so then COVID hit this happened in November of 2019, and then COVID hit in early 2020. I was supposed to go to Hong Kong for work for my corporate career, and that all got canceled and I thought.
Okay, I have all this time. I'm home by myself. Can't go anywhere, so I might as well do something with this time. And so I started one by one remaking recipes. I made a list of all the recipes I remembered. Growing up with my family, making with my grandmother. And then I started to make them one by one, taking photos, rewriting them, fixing little notes, and then I would write a story about every recipe of what I remembered about the recipe, why it's in our family, how I learned to make it with my grandmother.
And then I just started organizing it. And then I said, okay, these could be organized into holidays. The holidays are family celebrated through the year, and then I just started putting this book together. I had no idea that it would've even come together, that I would've sold it. I thought maybe initially I would get it out there, but, and just give it to family or friends or anyone that was interested.
But I am a little bit of a perfectionist and I come from. I work in fashion, we worked in fashion together. I went to fashion school, so I have an art and a creative background and mindset, and if I was going to put something out there, it was going to look pretty. So I curated it into a photo book.
So the cookbook, every recipe has a photo, every recipe has a story, and it's really a visual book. And I had a cookbook. That I was inspired by. It's called I Love California, and it's organized into every chapter is a region of California, and the opening page of the chapter is a Tablescape set out in a beautiful California landscape with the table all decorated beautiful tableware.
And I thought that's how I wanna curate my book. I want every chapter to have this tablescape and this experience created of how people should feel. Around the table. And so every chapter is a family holiday of mine as well as appetizers de deserved a full meal that anyone can go in and create and host at their table.
So I love that. Yeah. And then I just. I put it together. I started, curating it and planning the bleeds and planning the pages and the layout and asking friends and how to take photos. I shot a lot of it on the iPhone. I had some friends help me that had a newer iPhone than me. We shot everything in portrait mode, which is amazing what you can do with an iPhone.
Then I just put it out there in the world. I started exploring printers and how I can actually get an actual book printed and on. I taught myself coding on WordPress and built a website and, got a seller's permit and tried to learn how he was gonna take orders and how I was going to put it out there, how I was gonna sell it.
I had no idea that I would sell. Nearly 500 copies. No idea.
It's, it's, I love that you just kept going step by step, one step at a time. Because I see so many clients and so many people get overwhelmed thinking about step 20 when they haven't taken step one yet, and feeling oh, I can't even start 'cause I don't know what I'm gonna do. Like I don't know how to figure out a bleed.
And you're like, no one cares if you don't have content yet. You're gonna need photos first, and you're gonna need the words first, and you're gonna need the plan first. And so I really love seeing your methodical approach to just one step at a time and that we keep figuring out the next step as we go.
It's, I think it's one of the secrets to getting things done that allow you to surprise yourself. 'Cause none of us know how to do half the things that we start doing. Even you mentioned going to Hong Kong. We both spent plenty of time in Asia throughout our career, and you often just get on the airplane and be like we'll figure it out when we get there.
No, I don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese or, I don't know the, I haven't looked at a map of Hong I don't know yet. We'll figure it out once we land.
That's the thing is it's so easy to get overwhelmed. By, okay, I wanna put this in the world. I don't know how to do this. I don't know where to start.
Just start. And as I was creating the book, and as I was putting the pages together, the layout changed three times. I would ask friends, how does this look? I had a friend who worked in magazines and she came over and she said, okay, add the ch the table chapter at the bottom, foot of the, of every page, like small things.
And what I imagined it starting and how it ended up became this beautiful work of art. And you just have to start now. As I was working, an important thing to highlight for anyone thinking, I wanna put a book out there, I wanna do something. I don't know where to start. I got this feeling as I was working on the book that this is what I was supposed to be doing, and I didn't know what that meant at the time.
That book was an. A door opening to a path that led has led me to so many different things, reconnections with people. Self-awareness, getting over fears and anxieties, expansiveness. It has opened up a whole new world to me that I never would've even imagined. If I hadn't done this one thing. Yeah, it's so important just to, staying organized does help. And my, it took a year and a half from start to finish to create the book. But I, I just was so engrossed in the project and I worked full time on top of this, so it is possible. I spent every weekend working on the book. I just wanted to sit down and work on it, and work on it, and work on it.
So it just. When you know something is right, it lights you up. And that's how we know you just follow a feeling inside that says, okay. Might be a little whisper, it might be a little whatever that says, okay, this is what you're supposed to be doing, and you may not know why. We may find out later.
And getting obsessed with something gets a really bad. Rap often where we're not supposed to get obsessed, we're not supposed to. Put all of our time and energy into something and I think we are like we are when it feels so good and it fills us back up and sometimes we have to be obsessed to push something across the finish line in the right way.
It was. There's no reason why you can't be obsessed with something for a while, I'm sure you were being like, no, I don't wanna go out. I actually wanna work on this cookbook. Or, no, I don't wanna go there. I wanna keep working on the cookbook. And it's, I think it's interesting the things that we start to say no to when we're so excited about what we are creating and.
It's really rare that when people are working a traditional day job, they're like, no, I'll work instead. That doesn't happen. But when you're working on something that you love and that gives you so much back, then of course you wanna do it more.
And again, it changes your mindset. So when I launched the book, I had my launch party and I remember thinking.
The energy around me shifted. Everything in my immediate circle changed. I felt the energy, I felt different. I no longer wanted to waste energy being in someone's presence that did not respect me and did not appreciate my presence. No one has time for that, especially when you're busy and you're, launching in.
Launching a book and trying to get a project out in the world. Also, your mindset changes. You start to, you're into different things. Your circle of friends may change. The things you like to do may change. You push yourself to do things that you normally wouldn't do. And if I think of how I was three years ago to who I am today, I've definitely changed.
My whole mindset is different. I do different things. And I wanna continue on that journey and working on the book really opened that door.
It's also a great reminder to remember to be, to listen to what our intuition is telling us to do. To follow the things that feel good, to follow the things that we want to be a yes to.
I do think it changes and also I imagine how your entire community, your family, your friends, your every, how people view you is different now because of you've created this and it's not because you've created something, it's because you've chosen to invest in something that. Fueled you and gave back to you.
And when you're doing something you love you. We are each different beings like we're lighter, we're brighter, like all those things. So when you're creating that really positive space for yourself, it shifts how the entire world responds to you. The people in it also. Absolutely. Exactly. So doing the book and seeing that, oh wow, this is amazing.
I need more of this in my life. You're now on this journey of launching your own podcast called What Lights You Up? Correct? What lights us up? What lights us up? Excuse me. And you're talking to people and asking them what lights them up and what made you wanna do a podcast, and what made you want to share those specific stories?
So after
launching the book. I started going to markets and just repping the book and seeing how I can connect with people and sell my book. And I started, posting on social media. I have a social media account that focuses on the book and the book journey, and I started, getting back into regular life.
My, my free time was no longer consumed by working on this project of the book. My light started to dim. My energy started to dim and I thought, okay, how can I continue on this energy? And what was it about the book that really lit me up? And so it was a journey of self-discovery. And I had this feeling.
I wanted to have conversations with others on what lights them up and about what they're creating because maybe by having that conversation I could re extinguish my light. That I had and also discover what it is that helped us continue that journey of our light and our energy and really continue on inspiring others because what a powerful conversation that could be between myself who has created this passion project with someone else that's also created a passion project because more people need to hear.
About regular people creating things that light them up because we all need to be lit up. We all need to walk around with a little bit more light. Lighting up our path. So I initially thought I would have Instagram lives, and then I thought who's gonna, it's really hard to just jump on Instagram live and also keep it going.
And then where do I what do what, where does the conversation go after that? So I thought, okay I guess a podcast, podcasts have really changed my life. I started listening to podcasts when I was commuting, a long drive to work to my corporate career, and I would commute about two hours each way in the car.
And I started listening to podcasts and it literally changed my mindset. And I listened to mark Groves Create the Love podcast, or it's not called Mark Groves. I listened to Kathy Heller's podcast. I listen to Mel Robbins and Gabby Bernstein and their podcasts about manifesting. I listen to the expanded TBM to be a magnetic podcast, and they're about manifesting, they're about positivity, optimism, hearing other people's views, and I thought, okay, I can do this.
I let's do podcast. Everyone's getting into podcasting. Why not? And so that's where the idea of what lights us up came from. And I just launched my first solo episode and the official in first interview will launch me first.
So exciting.
Yeah. I'm really excited because it's reconnecting me with people that, I'm obviously starting with people in my extended people that I know that have ha that have created passion projects.
There's actually not. It's not common that I'm finding, it's an entrepreneurial mindset and it takes a certain person to go out there and create something and put something out there in the world. Like I said, we all have ideas, but where do you start and how do you get there? And more people need to hear that so that they can take that leap and take that jump.
And I hope to inspire others, and I'm really excited for this. Wherever this journey will take me and wherever I end up.
If you look back on your journey to, where you are today, did you grow up in a household where following your purpose or your passion or finding your light was like valued or honored?
Did people in your family do it or is this really something that you've come to yourself through listening to their podcasts and who you chose to surround yourself with?
Obviously the cookbook was really something that was inspired from my family. I came up with a very, I was brought up in a very strong family upbringing.
I grew up an only child, so I didn't have a lot of social activity. I had neighbors that I hung out with. I had a best friend. I lived down the street that we would bike to each other's houses. But my parents both worked. My dad was a teacher. And then he always had a business on the side. So he was, he did have an entrepreneurial mindset.
He actually owned a limo company and he would take me to school in a limo and I would get so embarrassed. But I also grew up shy because I was an only child. My mom was a nurse and then later became a teacher. And so my family, my extended family is who I grew up with. We always went on vacations with other families.
So I was never really alone, but I also was alone a lot because, I didn't have siblings. To share things. I was very creative, so I would be home a lot drawing and creating things. And I remember one time I drew all over my walls and my parents came in and said, oh my gosh, what did you just do? I literally took a marker and drew all over my walls.
I must just been so bored. So I think I had the mindset entrepreneurial, but I think it was, later. Just, your life path is your life path. I went to fashion school, I used to live in New York City and I moved to LA on a whim. I quit my job one day and thought, said, I really wanna move to la and I've been here 14 years and it's worked out and I've, I have a wonderful group of friends and it's changed my life.
So I think. Your life is what you make of it. It's not always your upbringing. But we take experiences with us along the way and we're constantly evolving. I think I like to think of myself as constantly evolving. I'm not perfect and I'm constantly thinking, how can I do better? How can I be better? How can I be a better human?
What, there were so many things I've done in my past that I wish I had more compassion and presence. And you work on those things. And so I I think I'm, I've grown into more of an entrepreneurial mindset, but I think I've always had that risk factor that I have to push myself to do it. It's an instinct that you follow that you don't always follow, and I don't follow it enough.
It's been a big conversation with a lot of my clients lately about listening to ourselves. Because we always know something before we tend to act on it or respond to it, and sometimes we. We're, heard the whispers of what we're supposed to do for a long time before we took action. Sometimes we hesitate 'cause there's actions that we don't wanna take 'cause there could be consequences.
But we always seem to know, and I think it's so important to always be looking and exploring practices that will allow us to tap into that knowing more. It just makes life easier. To be able to choose things in five seconds is. So less stressful than agonizing over days, weeks, months, years about something.
And I've also been listening a lot to the podcast featuring Rick Rubin. He released a really great book for living a creative lifestyle. He's one of the top producers in the music industry, and it's been so interesting to hear how. Tapped into his personal choices. He is so that he is able to say no, it's not finished yet.
We need to keep working on it. Or, no, that's perfect. Like we're done. And just that confidence to know for yourself. I really do think it shifts how you feel about things. It's so easy to give up what we know to be true because we don't wanna be a burden on someone, or we don't wanna be, a pain in the ass.
We don't wanna be the. The complicated or the diva, or the one making it harder for everyone else, and every time we don't listen to that voice. I really do think that there's bigger consequences than we know. Not that they're detrimental, but it's. Part of that mindset of how we're talking to ourselves about should we listen to ourselves?
Is our opinion valid? What are boundaries? Not boundaries about collaboration with people versus always sacrificing ourselves or tolerating things that we sometimes just don't even I think it's a really interesting exercise to just look around your space and be like the kaari way.
Do I actually like this cup? I have. Like, how many things in your house actually irritate you? For me, I have to remove books. I don't, I'm gonna quit. I really I, it was a big breakthrough for me being like, I'm gonna quit this book 'cause this book sucks so bad. And I used to have 'em in a stack somewhere and they would haunt me and I'm like, no, all those books gotta leave.
'cause they're literally draining my energy every time I walk by. They're making me feel guilty. And just that practice alone of, I only, like you said, I only want people around me who are going to be operating at this higher energy, higher vibration. Thinking bigger, playing bigger games. And I totally agree.
So it's like the people, the things around you, the places we have to be so much more selfish than I think we are taught or allow ourselves to be.
And going back to your question of, thinking about my upbringing, I was only child and I was shy. I was so afraid to be seen and heard.
And to think about, or to just picture myself today. Literally on a podcast or hosting a podcast, being on your podcast, posting videos on Instagram, hearing my voice, doing cooking videos or other videos. I used to cringe. I used to have so much anxiety and now it's, so I got over that and now I'm loving it.
I'm absolutely loving it. So it just, it's pushing yourself. And then sitting with that feeling of, okay, that wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be or thought it would be, and you, the results are so much better on the other side.
And we get that. I think when it's oh, I'm gonna climb a mountain, or, oh, I'm gonna go run a race.
'cause we're already present to what the reward is at the end. And we're like, okay, we're gonna have to suffer a little bit, but it'll be okay. And most of the time it's not that painful. Like of course there's moments when we're pushing ourselves where it's uncomfortable and you can get injured literally in those types of activities, but the majority of the time we make it so much bigger in our head than it ever is in reality.
And then you get scared. I am so scared to put this out in the world. What if someone judges it? What if there's, a typo in the book? What if there's something? What if someone notices it or they send a comment or a review or whatever? Who cares at the end of the day if you're okay with it? And it's, everything's a learning experience.
So it's put
it out there and see what happens. When you think of the words powerful and ladies, do they mean the same thing when they're next to each other versus when they're com separated?
I think they have different meanings and they could mean different things when they're together or separated.
So I think powerful to me means doing things that turn heads that cause people to think, wow, that was different. That was something that was either inspiring or that was something that I really thought Wow. That was, that's crazy. That's, that creates a ripple effect in the world and the community. To me, that's powerful.
Powerful ladies are females who empower and inspire others. You could have a female in a role, in a leadership role that is not necessarily inspiring and I think. Just to be female is, does not empower someone to be powerful.
Definitely not. When you look at the people who you've surrounded yourself with, how much have other powerful women influenced where you've gotten today?
So I think, we obviously need a strong community around us to keep us centered, to keep us humble. I think men and women, I've worked in corporate for both. I actually grew up in, a. Having a lot of men around in my space, I had male doctors. I had, I've always had male doctors.
I have had male bosses, I've had female bosses. So I can't speak to one gender or the other being more influential. But I will say that I do listen, I look up to inspirational people on Instagram. Like I mentioned, Kathy Heller is one that I really, I listen to her podcast and I hear her voice, and it's just her energy exudes out of the microphone.
For anyone out there that listens to her, she's amazing. And I, she helps. I think a lot of people get outside of their comfort zone and do something. Everyone's meant to do something in this world. What? And we all have to find what that purpose is. And I think, again, going back to the point like you're surrounding yourself with people that want to be in your presence.
Big believer of that. Again, like moving to LA it was like finding, you find your circle, you find your people and people that support you, that maybe see you in a different light, that you may not see yourself. You might discover things. That you're good at and you wanna be around people that are always supporting you, that have your back.
And yeah, I do think that I have a community. I'm very lucky and I have a great family community as well. My family would do anything for me, and so I'm very fortunate in that, that I've grown up in that sort of environment.
You mentioned everyone needs to find their purpose and I think people get really stuck there.
I don't know what it is. I don't know how to find it. What actions can people take to figure out what their purpose actually is?
I'm definitely still trying to figure that out as well. And what I'm finding on that journey is we have to find what lights us up and what makes us up. So what are we naturally good at?
What do our friends ask us to help with? What comes easy to us and what literally brings us joy, I think, will help us all find more purpose and more alignment. And I think when we know we're on the right path, things start to work out. We get signs from the universe that say, you are going down the right path.
I'm gonna keep throwing this in your path and let's see how you respond. And I know I've had things happen where, huh, that's really funny. But I'm enjoying, and then I think about, okay, what did I just do before that just happened? And, oh, I was doing something in alignment. I was hosting a big dinner.
I was, having a conversation for a podcast. And so you notice, okay, maybe I am in alignment. Maybe this is my purpose and maybe I hope. That your purpose helps others and inspires others.
What are you doing to set the foundation for you to be able to be in that great mindset?
Do you have, for example, a sleep routine? Do you stick to a certain type of food lifestyle? Do you are, is it there a workout involved? What are you doing to make sure that you are, at least neutral, if not stronger, so that you can be present to those things? 'cause it's so easy, I think if you're.
Not eating well or drinking too much, not working out, not sleeping. There's not even room to tune in to what's working or not working. So what? How are you taking care of yourself and laying a foundation so that you can notice those things?
Yoga has changed my life. I do yoga once a week and prior to, I remember when I got into yoga, we actually had a free class at my corporate job and that's how I really got into it.
And everyone would laugh at me and say, you gotta loosen up. You have to, and I would think, oh my gosh, what? I'm not into this, what? This is not totally not me. And it's taught me to pause a little bit and slow down. And stretch and release the energy out of my joints. I use it more for flow, but I do it once a week.
And then at night before I go to bed, I read inspirational quotes on Instagram and I just go through the people that I follow and I read about things that they, just inspirational quotes or videos. And then in the morning before I, when I, before I get up, I read my horoscope. I love the account s.
She has great stuff. I love it. And I read my daily horoscope and whatever, is happening in the week or whatever's happening in, in the universe that's gonna cause disruptions or whatever. I like to be in tune with that. And then when I, on my drive to work, I listen to a podcast, I listen to the same podcast every morning.
So in the shower I listen to the Upside podcast, which is all about finding positivity. And then on my ride of work, I'll either listen to Kathy Heller and it'll just get me pumped up and in a different mindset. And then, I make some time to, to enjoy life with friends and I make sure I try to go out for a drink or my word for the year this year was connection.
And for me, connection is hosting dinners and creating experiences and being with friends. And so I'm really trying to do things around that word and. To me it's, I'm satisfied when I've had, I've made a connection with someone and had a conversation that has been expansive.
I love that.
For everybody who wants your energy in their life and wants to get your cookbook, wants to listen to or be on your podcast and just wants to figure out ways they can collaborate with you, where can they find you, follow you by the book, all the things.
So you can find me on my website@christinaminlow.com.
That's C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N-A-M-I-N-U-T-I-L-L-O. From there, it links to the podcast, but the podcast is called What Lights Us Up. It's available on any platform. Podcasts are available, and you can follow me on Instagram at CM Design books, and that's also linked from my website.
Amazing. It has been so nice to connect with you.
When we ran into each other at the holiday party that I host, it was just so nice and such a reminder to be like, yes. That is a great person. They're up to cool things. I need them closer into my circle. And I'm really glad that you connection word for the year is including us connecting again.
But yeah, I just, this mindset matters so much and chasing after. You're light in what matters? I wish more people would do it because it can change the world in really big ways by taking very small actions. So I'm glad that you're on that path. I'm excited to see where it takes you. And just thank you for being a yes to me and enhancing all the powerful ladies who are listening.
Thank you for having me on. It's been an honor.
All the ways to connect with Christina. Her book and podcast are in our show notes@thepowerfulladies.com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening, and leave us a rating and review. Come join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and if you're looking to connect directly with me, visit kara duffy.com or Kara Duffy on Instagram.
I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
Related Episodes
Instagram: cm_design_books
YouTube: What Light’s Us Up
Facebook: cmdesignbooks
Website: christinaminutillo.com
LinkedIn: chrismin
Email: cmdesignbooks@gmail.com
Other: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-lights-us-up
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud