Move Over, Martha

Remember Marie Hejl, BBA ’00? Hejl and her cooking show, “It’s Easier than You Think,” were featured in the Fall/Winter 2005 issue of Texas magazine. The last time we met, she was cooking up a bowl of hearty chili and jalapeño cornbread on the set of her Austin public access show. Now, the licensed attorney is celebrating the release of her first cookbook, “Cooking with Marie: On Any Occasion” published by Bright Sky Press. She was also invited to appear on “The Martha Stewart Show” last July—but not for her cooking acumen; this was a craft-making segment. She taught Martha how to customize Dr. Scholl’s sandals, which she sold on eBay to earn extra money during law school. “It was a profitable business—and equally important—a creative outlet from the rigors of school,” Hejl said.

To her surprise, Dr. Scholl’s loved the sandals and featured them on its Web site and in customer newsletters. Shoes.com, which is owned by the same company, also purchased a bulk order of her sandals and is selling them on its site. In addition, Hejl and her cooking and craft-making ventures will be featured in Food & Wine magazine in December 2007 and in Lucky magazine in January 2008.

With the side gigs demanding more of her time, Hejl decided to leave her law firm to pursue her cooking show, new Web site, book release, line of handmade aprons, sandals and other projects full time. She is still a solo practitioner.

“It wasn’t easy to leave a career that I worked hard to get into,” said Hejl. “But in the paraphrased words of Robert Frost: The two roads diverged, and sorry I could not travel both…I took the one less traveled by.” You can learn more -about Hejl’s endeavors at www.cookingwithmarie.com.