I’m Hannah Hart, the Creator of My Drunken Kitchen, and This Is How I Work

Hannah Hart created My Drunk Kitchen , the most famous cooking show on the internet, but Hart’s channel also includes travel stories, life advice, LGBTQ activism, and more. Over the course of eight years, Hart has become something of Oprah or Ellen on blogs, hosting regular celebrities and building a huge fan following. She also hosted Food Network I Hart Food and starred in Camp Takota . Her third book, My Drunken Kitchen Holidays, came out in October this year. We spoke to Hannah about her attitude towards projects, how she replaced email with a calendar, and her surprisingly ascetic drink choices.

Name: Hannah Hart Location: Los Angeles, CA Current performance: Promoting my third book, My Drunk Kitchen Holidays Current computer: 2011 iMac Current mobile device: Google Pixel One word that best describes how you work: all the time

What are your job responsibilities?

I oversee all the talent and production for Harto Media.

What apps, gadgets or tools can’t you live without?

I can’t live without Clue , a period app. I love my Google Home hub. It’s a small clock, but it’s really nice that the phone is not used as an alarm clock, it plays music and all that.

I’m a Google Calendar freak, I don’t really check my email, I use my calendar as my email. I’ve just started using Airtable and have heard good reviews about it.

How is your workplace arranged?

When I’m at a table, my iMac is on the table. When I’m on the road, this is my phone.

What’s your favorite shortcut or hack?

My team organizes my calendar as a priority mailbox. It’s better for me to have all the information I need in my calendar than in my email. Sometimes when I open a letter I feel like I’m climbing a hill that never ends, but with my calendar I feel a slight semblance of achievement after something is done and its color is matched to keep the morale high!

Tell us about an interesting, unusual, or challenging process you have at work.

Hmmm, I love lemon water. The kits can be very cold. A cup of warm water for when I feel depressed or nervous. Holding onto a warm cup is grounding and safe – it tastes good AND is good for the throat!

Who are the people who help you achieve results, and how do you rely on them?

In my opinion, I am firmly convinced that no man is an island. I am so grateful to all the people who help me achieve results. My management, my public relations team and, above all, my partner. Without Ella’s participation, I could not have done anything, because I would have no reason to want to.

What’s the biggest mistake you made at work and how did you deal with it?

Probably at the very beginning of my career I learned to create and edit videos. I had no idea what I was doing because I didn’t go to school for this. I lost audio, I lost footage, I was recording video with the microphone off. But in true Hannah style, I turned it into something fun and it kind of worked. Try to make the most of a bad situation.

How to recharge or relax?

HM. I walk with my cats and love my garden. I wish I could say something more sexy!

What’s your favorite side project?

I don’t really have a side project. I just have a hexagon of projects. Lazy Susan projects. Each of them is important to me in its own way. I love them all.

What are you reading now or what do you recommend?

I’m a really big fan of the My Dad Wrote Porn podcast. He has a high X rating, but as a writer he is really funny to me because his writing is uniquely funny – from a nerd’s point of view. I mean, the other day they used the word “ancient” and it made me laugh a lot. This makes driving around the city very interesting. These are three British friends, but they are all correspondents for the BBC, so they all can speak. It turns into a crazy spy erotic romance – it comes out of nowhere.

Can you share the music playlist you’ve created for work or somewhere else?

We are big fans of jazz in the family. The most recent work song I LOVE is“ Chup ChupI Got Away” because it just makes me feel really happy.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Well, advice is only good when you do it with it. I get great advice from people all the time, I’m really lucky to have gems in my life.

But I think one outstanding piece of advice came from my partner who said that I should focus on small bites and not chewing all of my food.

What problem are you still trying to solve?

I don’t want to call it a “problem,” but living with chronic depression is something I have to “deal with” all the time, and I am still trying to figure it out. I know I have too much to do, but I’m not sure what to do next, you know? We really appreciate advice, tricks and love.