I’m Hannah Hart, Creator Of My Drunk Kitchen, And This Is How I Work

Hannah Hart created My Drunk Kitchen, the internet’s most famous cooking show, but Hart’s channel also includes travelogues, life advice, LGBTQ activism, and more. Over eight years, Hart has become a kind of Oprah or Ellen of vlogging, hosting regular celebrity guests and developing a large and adoring fandom. She’s also hosted the Food Network show I Hart Food and co-starred in the film Camp Takota. Her third book, My Drunk Kitchen Holidays, came out this October. We talked to Hannah about her attitude toward projects, how she replaced email with a calendar, and a surprisingly ascetic choice of beverage.


Name: Hannah Hart

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Current gig: 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: Constantly

What are your job responsibilities?

I oversee all talent and production for Harto Media.

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

I can’t live without the Clue, the period app. I love my Google Home hub. It’s a little clock, but it’s really nice to not have to use your phone as your alarm, and it plays music and all that good stuff.

I am obsessed with Google Calendar, don’t really check my email, I use my calendar as my email. I have just now started using Airtable, I have heard good things about it.

What’s your workspace setup like?

When I am at a desk, I have my iMac on a standing desk. When I am on the road, it is my phone.

What’s your favourite shortcut or hack?

My team organizes my calendar like a priority inbox. For me, having all of the pertinent information in the calendar is better than having it in my email. Sometimes when I open my email I feel like I am climbing up a hill that never ends, but with my calendar, I feel a small semblance of accomplishment after something is done, and it’s colour coordinated to keep morale high!

Take us through an interesting, unusual, or finicky process you have in place at work.

Hmmm, I like lemon water. Sets can be really cold. A cup of warm water when I feel overwhelmed, or nervous. Holding on to a warm cup can be grounding and safe—and it tastes good AND it’s good for ye’ ol throat!

Who are the people who help you get things done, and how do you rely on them?

For me, I am a big believer that no man is an island. I am so grateful to all of the people that help me get things done. My management, my PR team, and above all my partner. Without Ella’s involvement I wouldn’t be able to get anything done, because I wouldn’t have as much of a reason to want to.

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

Probably early on in my career, learning how to produce and edit video. I had no idea what I was doing because I didn’t go to school for it. I lost audio, I lost footage, I recorded videos with mic off. But, in true Hannah fashion, I turned it into something funny and it kind of worked out. Try to make the best of a bad situation.

How do you recharge or take a break?

Hmm. I hang out with my cats, and I love my garden. I wish I had something sexier to say!

What’s your favourite side project?

I don’t really have a side project. I just have a hexagon of projects, you know. A Lazy Susan of projects. Each are uniquely important to me. I love them all.

What are you currently reading, or what do you recommend?

I am a really big fan of the podcast My Dad wrote a Porno. It is quite rated X, but it is really funny to me as a writer because the writing is so uniquely funny—from a word nerd perspective. I mean, they used the word ‘Anciently’ the other day and it just made me laugh really hard. It makes driving across the city very entertaining. It’s three British friends, but they are all BBC correspondents so they all know how to talk. It turns into this insane erotic spy novel—it comes out of nowhere.

Can you share a music playlist you’ve made, whether for working or elsewhere?

We are big fans of jazz in our household. Most recent work song that I am LOVING is “Chup Chup I Got Away,” because it just makes me feel really happy.

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

Well, advice is only as good as what you do with it. I get great advice from people all the time, I am truly lucky to have some gems in my life.

But I think a piece of standout advice was from my partner, who said I should focus on taking small bites instead of chomping down the whole meal.

What’s a problem you’re still trying to solve?

I don’t want to call it a “problem,” but living with chronic depression is something I constantly need to “manage,” and I am still trying to figure that out. I know I have too much on my plate, but I am not sure what to pull back on, you know? Tips, tricks and love are greatly appreciated.

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