What came next is what most people would define as a dream come true; Kristina won the competition and was awarded her own TV show on the OWN network. Being thrust into the spotlight with a half-hour reality show called, The Ambush Cook, was nothing short of miraculous to Kristina and she was overcome with thankfulness. She was so caught up in gratitude, that she forgot herself.
The show’s premise, her hair, makeup and clothing - and even the recipes she was teaching unsuspecting bystanders to cook - felt foreign. She thought she was portraying a character and it was uncomfortable, but she did as producers and her business manager instructed even though she felt like a complete fraud.
“I was so grateful, coming from where I was, that I felt like standing up for myself was complaining,” she said. “Now, I use that experience in my everyday life because I know now that I can be grateful, gracious and respectful and say, ‘No, I can’t do that. That’s not me.’”
Kristina’s cooking show lasted only one season, but gave her a firm foundation of self that she swears she’ll never compromise again. When she finds herself waffling, she remembers the words Oprah said to her that are ingrained in her memory, “You just need to be you!”
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Kristina won the competition and was awarded her own TV show on the OWN network.
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