hill then began working on directing and producing her first serial television series, "a chef's life". hill knew chef vivian howard of the restaurant chef & the farmer in kinston, north carolina, from growing up together in eastern north carolina. hill's sister and howard were friends. howard and hill collaborated to create a documentary-style cooking show about vivian's journey to make a modern, upscale restaurant successful using southern ingredients and southern food traditions. each episode of the show focuses on a different ingredient. said hill, “vivian and i grew up together in rural eastern north carolina, and we created a chef’s life to focus on food traditions in our hometowns and her farm-to-table restaurant in kinston, n.c. a lot of it is about her relationship to the local purveyors of the ingredients she uses, so again, the viewer glimpses a world that not many people are privy to, or even think about.” "a chef's life" has aired nationally on pbs from 2013-2016. season 4 began airing in september 2016.