 Child grew up in a family with a cook, but she did not observe or learn cooking from this servant, and never learned until she met her husband to be, Paul, who grew up in a family very interested in food.Following her graduation from college, Child moved to New York City, where she worked as a copywriter for the advertising department of W. & J. Sloane.Child joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) after finding that she was too tall to enlist in the Women's Army Corps (WACs) or in the U.S. Navy's WAVES.