The Truth About Tyler Florence's Wife

Tyler Florence is one of Food Network's most recognizable faces. The celebrity chef has appeared on numerous programs from the network, including Iron Chef and Food Network Star. Then there are the shows that he's hosted such as Tyler's Ultimate and The Great Food Truck Race, the latter of which is still going strong. When the celebrity chef isn't bouncing around the country, he spends his time at home in California with his wife Tolan Clark Florence. 

The pair married in 2006 after meeting in 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival. Tolan Florence might not be a celebrity chef, but it was the food world that brought them together (via San Francisco Gate). She had been working in marketing and public relations at the time, for Rocco DiSpirito, when the New York chef introduced the couple. Even if Tyler Florence is the more famous of the two, his wife has a pretty interesting background herself that touches on Hollywood celebrity and the NBA. 

Before working in public relations for celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck and producing Ryan Seacrest's radio show, Tolan Florence was a contestant in the 1994 Miss USA pageant as Miss Wyoming (via YouTube). 

Tolan, who is two years younger than Tyler, spent her time growing up between Wyoming and northern California. As she tells it, she came from a pretty different background than her husband. "I was raised with this gigantic circle around me, and he didn't have that," she told the San Francisco Gate. "He was a latchkey kid. He came and went when he wanted, cooked his own meals. He raised himself."

Not only did Tolan grow up in a much larger family than her Greenville, South Carolina-raised husband, but her parents had connections to both Hollywood and the NBA. Both of her parents worked in the entertainment industry and were actually introduced by Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola. Her stepfather is also credited with coming up with the "It's a great time out" slogan for the Golden State Warriors. 

In addition to raising several children together in Marin County, California, the couple is in business together as well. Sarah Esterling, a business associate of the pair, credits Tolan as the one who helps push Tyler's creative ideas into action. "She takes his germ of an idea and gets to the reality of it, whether it's getting an awning designed or ordering dishes for a restaurant," Esterling said. 

There's no doubt that Tolan's drive has been a part of everything from helping Tyler with the family's Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco to the renovation of an expansive 1890s farm known as Meadowsweet. As Tyler joked way back in 2008, it's his wife who is the "vice president of everything" and "holds down the fort and makes sure that our professional and family lives are balanced."