Carrie Smith

Carrie Smith teaches at the Institute of Culinary Education in Los Angeles, where her approach to baking is rooted in fundamentals, kitchen discipline, and clear instruction. She focuses on making technical work usable, helping students understand why a result happens rather than simply copying a process. Her teaching is direct and practical, with an emphasis on repeatable practice, dependable method, and the details that shape consistent results. Before teaching, Carrie Smith built a career in operations-heavy roles that centered on pace, coordination, and accountability. Her education at Parkersburg Catholic High School, West Virginia University at Parkersburg, and Marshall University underlies a work history shaped first by retail leadership and then by broader management. She served as District Manager at Bath & Body Works, then as General Manager at Bath & Body Works, before moving to manager of shops and operations at C.O. Bigelow Chemists, Inc. and Market Talent Manager at Bath & Body Works in Chicago. She later returned as District Manager at Bath & Body Works in Baltimore, spent a decade as Regional Manager at Sunglass Hut, and then became Executive Director at Kanawha Valley Tourism. Across these roles, the common thread is operational control, including teams, systems, and pace. Today, Carrie Smith works across instruction and ownership. She is owner and CFO of 1010 Bridge Restaurant & Catering, owner and CFO of Paulie’s Fine Italian, and chef-instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education. That combination places her at the point where food service, business structure, and teaching meet. Her work reflects both the discipline of management and the practical demands of food education. In the classroom, she teaches baking fundamentals with attention to the exact variables that shape a dependable result. Temperature is part of that method, as is flavor pairing handled with restraint and balance. She has said, “Temperature plays into a big factor in our cookies,” and the statement reflects the kind of detail she emphasizes. She also says, “I love pairing cherries with chocolate,” a pairing that captures her preference for simple contrasts that sharpen each other. Her emphasis on shared, family-centered cooking keeps the work grounded, while the focus on fundamentals gives students a structure they can trust. Carrie Smith’s career combines food, instruction, and management, with each part reinforcing the others. She brings operational experience into the classroom and a teaching mindset into ownership, creating a profile defined by practicality, consistency, and the overlap of service and method.