The Mississippi native has used her Southern roots and Greek heritage to establish herself as a personality on the Food Network, co-hosting its kitchen makeover show "Kitchen Accomplished," and appearing on NBC's "Today" show.

Now, the 37-year-old chef has headed to Kitchen Stadium as the first woman Iron Chef.

Cora has joined the cast of "Iron Chef: America," a Food Network takeoff on the original Japanese competitive cooking show. A master chef, known as the Iron Chef, faces off against a challenger chef to create the tastiest dishes from a mystery ingredient revealed at the beginning of each show. While there have been female challengers before, Food Network says Cora is the first woman Iron Chef.

In Cora's first episode she took on challenger Alex Lee, a former executive chef of the New York restaurant Daniel. She has taped additional episodes for showing later in the year.

Cora, who grew up in Jackson, has deep roots in Mississippi. Her grandfather, Pete Cora, owned a cafe in Greenville and later bought interest in another cafe in Lexington — both in the Mississippi Delta. Her father, Spiro, said he used to stand on boxes to reach the stove so he could flip hamburgers on the grill. Peter Jay Costas, her godfather, owned two restaurants in Jackson, one of which introduced pizza to the city.

A chance meeting with cooking icon Julia Child during a book signing in Natchez led Cora to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. Child recommended the school.