Joanne Lee Molinaro is an open book.
If you go back far enough through her social media feeds, you’ll learn what her millions of fans already know: In 2016 Molinaro followed her boyfriend, now her husband, into veganism for health reasons, posting cooking content about the conversion to YouTube and Facebook. She did this while holding down a full-time job as a litigation attorney at Foley & Lardner, the law firm in River North. After branching out to Instagram, she added left-leaning political commentary and personal stories about being the child of immigrants in response to the election of Donald Trump.
Fast forward to 2020 when Molinaro, her first cookbook deal already in hand, discovered TikTok, roughly around the time Trump threatened to ban the Chinese social media platform. A post, in which Molinaro responded directly to a negative comment from another lawyer, went viral, and the Korean Vegan’s account gained 35,000 followers overnight. Today, Molinaro leads an army of some 5 million followers.
These threads — biographical tidbits, family lore, deeply personal struggles, an outspoken opposition to Trump and the evolution of her veganism — have spooled out over a decade’s worth of speaking to her audience across every media platform that matters today.
Molinaro’s second cookbook, “The Korean Vegan: Homemade” ($40; Avery), came out earlier this month. But to call the 46-year-old a “cookbook author” — or even a vegan food influencer — misses the point: In the age of celebrity fueled by the rise of social media, the photogenic Chicago native who grew up in Skokie is a leading example of how to single-handedly turn your life story into a multidimensional brand.
A gift for storytelling
Molinaro really did plan to be a practicing lawyer her whole life. The University of Illinois graduate went to law school at the University of Chicago and landed her first job as a barred attorney at Foley & Lardner. The social media thing wasn’t even a side hustle at the beginning, rather just a way to document her journey into veganism. The turning point, she says, is when she began telling stories about herself instead of simply making cooking procedurals.
In a recent interview, she said of that moment: “I was trying to figure out, how do I use my platform to make a difference in this country. I had, like 10,000 followers on Instagram. So, I started sharing little vignettes about my family — what it’s like being Korean American, what it’s like being an immigrant family in the United States.”
Turns out Molinaro had a gift for storytelling. In voice-overs and videos where she addressed the camera directly, intimacy and authenticity came pouring out. She documented her dramatic weight loss over the years (“This is Joanne. She is what some might call ‘obese.’”). She answered questions about becoming a lawyer. She recounted painful childhood memories, like being dumped by a best friend in grade school and rejected by boys. She frequently referenced the shame she felt over getting a divorce from her first husband.
In a 2020 TikTok titled “Budae Chigae & My Father’s Reminder,” she told the story of her father as a teenager running from police who violently suppressed a student-led protest against South Korean President Syngman Rhee, who engineered four terms in office. Her dad’s reminder? “Don’t forget to vote.” It is a cooking video, but one with bite.
Her new cookbook, very much like her first, is shot through with stories from her life. The recipes range from vegan takes on classic Korean dishes, such as maeuntang, a spicy stew with tofu in place of fish, to inventions that blend cuisines. “My kimchi queso will knock your freaking socks off,” she said about her appetizer dip made with ground cashews.
To the vegan skeptics out there, she recommends her Rainbow Jeon recipe. The dish is a pan-fried vegetable pancake that binds together a tangle of shredded cabbage, potato, carrot and scallions with egg substitute. Another recipe called “Fishy Sauce” is her answer to fish sauce, the ubiquitous salty ingredient in Asian cuisine. Molinaro says she developed the recipe, with mushrooms as its base, by just feeling her way toward it.
“I was trying to figure out how to create the same sensation right here,” she said, tapping her finger across the bridge of her nose. “I remember when I smelled balsamic for the first time. I was like, this reminds me of this feeling when I smelled fish sauce for the first time.” In this way, balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar and dried kelp became part of the final equation.
From lawyer to self-actualization guru
A recent book tour appearance at the Book Stall in Winnetka drew more than 100 people, including Molinaro’s 82-year-old father, who lives in Wilmette; her husband, Anthony; her aunt; three cousins; and her brother, Jaesun, who lives in Buffalo Grove with his family (fans will enjoy hearing that nephew Liam was there). Molinaro’s mom, Sun Bee, was out of town, in New Zealand at a reunion of nurses, her former profession. “She’s living her best life right now,” Molinaro said.
Juliet Brown traveled from Hyde Park via Metra and two buses to attend. The 33-year-old nurse said that she has followed Molinaro for many years — “I remember when she was a lawyer” — and was thrilled to discover a source of vegan recipes for Korean dishes. “Even though I’m Black, I grew up eating at Korean restaurants,” said Brown, originally from Detroit. She said her parents became obsessed with the cuisine after a trip to Seoul for the 1988 Olympics.
Molinaro says she always learns something fascinating about her audience at these events. At the stop in Washington, D.C., she asked the crowd who was vegan by show of hands. “Less than half,” she said. “So, I think that less than half of my social media audience is vegan.”
“A lot of them are following me either because they relate very heavily to the immigration story. Or, they’re very politically engaged. A lot of them are attorneys, or recovering attorneys,” Molinaro said. “A lot of them also follow me for women-centric content. I talk a lot about women’s bodies, perimenopause, the male gaze, the white male gaze, all of those things.”
These days, the Korean Vegan is more self-actualization guru than a lawyer-turned-cookbook-writer. She maintains her TikTok and Instagram accounts, as well as a concurrent podcast/newsletter. In 2022, she decamped to Los Angeles for the natural light and more space; when they moved, husband Anthony retired from his role at Loyola University, where he was the director of the music program and a professor, and became an employee of the Korean Vegan enterprise.
Although she stopped full-time lawyering in 2021, Molinaro makes occasional appearances on KCAL, her local news station, as a legal correspondent who unpacks celebrity cases, including the recent Sean “Diddy” Combs trial.
“Oh! I started a Korean Vegan beauty brand three months ago,” she said about what’s coming next. The two-product line consists of shampoo and face cream, manufactured in Korea. “We ship everywhere, but our warehouse is here [in the United States]. And by warehouse, I mean my business partner’s garage.”
There actually is another project in the works that Molinaro declined to make public just yet. Note to fans: You’re going to love it.