By Rebecca Wilbert
Ivy Odom was working as an intern in Time Inc’s test kitchen in September 2016 when her career took a major turn. With permission from her manager, she made a recipe from her childhood, an 18-layer chocolate cake. The cake, which her great-grandmother made for special occasions including Odom’s birthdays, requires patience, perfection and endless pans. As she worked, Odom talked about “little layer cakes,” which are well-known in certain pockets of South Georgia and South Alabama but not as much in other parts of the South. People from every floor came to listen and watch as she flipped thin hot cake layers on top of thin layers of chocolate icing, again and again.
Southern Living’s editor-in-chief Sid Evans stopped in, and the pressure for success rose. Odom was “starstruck” by his presence. Despite the pressure, she proved she knew how to make a delicious and beautiful cake. More importantly she showed off her charm, enthusiasm and humor. Evans would later call her a “born storyteller.”
Odom was asked to create a video about her chocolate cake, which went viral. Fast forward nine years, she now writes her own Southern Living column, does cooking demonstrations, appears on national television shows and has just published her first cookbook.
Odom, a Homewood resident, has been traveling the South promoting her new book “my southern kitchen,” which features recipes for drinks, desserts, salad dressings, and dishes like marinated shrimp pasta salad and weeknight fried chicken. On one of her stops in November, she visited Alpharetta, Ga., where hundreds of people lined up at Dillard’s to meet Odom and have her sign their books. The brightly lit store was full of happy, excited people discussing recipes they wanted to try. Odom, in a bright green dress, greeted fans with a friendly smile, hugs and a pen, ready to sign books. She also posed for pictures. During a hug, one fan exclaimed to Odom that “your book is like therapy,” to which Odom responded, “that makes me happy.”
Raised in Moultrie, Ga., Odom grew up cooking with her mother and grandmother. She attended the University of Georgia and during her junior year Odom interned for Rebecca Lang, a cookbook writer and TV personality. She quickly fell in love with Lang’s work and switched her major from Family & Consumer Sciences (original plan was to become a home ec teacher) to Consumer Journalism. After graduating she enrolled in a culinary school in Maryland where she learned a lot more about food. Her second half of culinary school was based in Atlanta, where she worked at fine dining restaurant Empire State South. She then applied and was accepted to work in the test kitchen of Southern Living. She tested and developed recipes, helped with video shoots, and maintained the kitchen pantry. Eventually, and in large part due to that 18-layer chocolate cake, her job became full-time content creator. Now Odom is the Senior Lifestyle Editor for Southern Living, as well as a brand-new author.
Odom said she has enjoyed every city she has visited on her fall book tour and has learned that the Southern Living brand means a lot to people across the South.
Odom had a great time at a book signing in Dallas, Texas, a city she’d never been to before. As it was the farthest from home, she was pleasantly surprised by the large crowd. She enjoyed getting to know so many new people.
In her hometown of Moultrie, more than 500 people showed up. She saw familiar faces and also met new people who had driven in specifically to experience her hometown after hearing her talk about it in social media videos.
In Athens, her mentor Rebecca Lang was among the book buyers in the crowd. “It felt like a full-circle moment,” Odom said of seeing Lang during the tour. “In the years that I was working for her, I did not think this would ever be possible for me.”
Back in Alabama, at the home she now shares with her husband, Odom talked about why she loves her adopted hometown of Birmingham. “It is a great food city,” she said. She likes that she gets the benefits of a city, with the small town feel of her Homewood community.
“Coming from a legitimate small town, I love that you can make Birmingham feel like that, especially with all the Over the Mountain communities,” she said. “We spend more time in Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills and Homewood than we do in Birmingham.”
Odom and her husband, whose wedding photos are featured in “my southern kitchen,” are expecting their first child in 2026. She said her biggest priority will be figuring out how to be good at her current job, while also taking on the important role of parenthood.
She’s said she’s hoping for a long career at Southern Living that includes more videos, potentially a show with Netflix or another streaming service and maybe a second cookbook down the road.
As she wrapped up the interview, it was time to pack for more book signings, including one in Charleston.
“Each book tour stop has been so different, which has been so surprising and so fun,” she said. “I thought it might get boring, doing the same thing over and over again, but each time, I meet someone really cool or have a cool conversation. I don’t want it to be over.” Her many fans feel exactly the same way.
