--- description: Barbara Lynch is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Padma Lakshmi wrote about the chef. title: Barbara Lynch by Padma Lakshmi: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dc1d2a9e6029fe4/6988c3300b72e359bb6ed607/time-100-2017-barbara-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 20, 2017 # Barbara Lynch by Padma Lakshmi  Photograph by Adam Glanzman for TIME A few years ago, while I was shooting _Top Chef_ in Boston, Barbara Lynch threw a 12-person dinner party for me. It was such a warm gesture—I was new in the city and didn’t really know anyone—so I got to her home an hour early to help her cook. She had barely started prepping. I thought, Oh my God!, and told her I would be fine if we ordered food instead. “Absolutely not,” she said. Forty-five minutes later, an entire feast appeared. That’s the kind of person Barbara is: she gets things done, even when they seem impossible. Barbara grew up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Boston, and decided to enter one of the most male-dominated fields in the world. Now she has seven restaurants, two James Beard Awards and a memoir. She creates opportunities for herself, even when it seems like they do not exist. And she is creating opportunities for others as well, particularly young women. Barbara has mentored _Top Chef_ contestants, including Season 10 winner Kristen Kish. That season she continued to open her home and take me under her wing too. She is a great teacher and a true provider—not just of glorious foods but of different spaces for people to flourish and grow in. _Lakshmi is the host of_ Top Chef _and author of_ The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742669/barbara-lynch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742669/barbara-lynch/"},"headline":"Barbara Lynch","datePublished":"2017-04-20T04:22:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:21:15.891Z","description":"Barbara Lynch is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Padma Lakshmi wrote about the chef.","url":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742669/barbara-lynch/","keywords":["time 100 pioneers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dc1d2a9e6029fe4/6988c3300b72e359bb6ed607/time-100-2017-barbara-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6dc1d2a9e6029fe4/6988c3300b72e359bb6ed607/time-100-2017-barbara-lynch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742669/barbara-lynch/","name":"Barbara Lynch"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See All the TIME 100 Honorees in One Minute","description":"The TIME 100 honorees include actors, musicians, politicians, business leaders, activists and scientists, and together make a portrait of influence in 2017.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zZCdrcRA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-20T10:30:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZCdrcRA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742669/barbara-lynch/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4742669/barbara-lynch/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```