My boys and I started our business out of our home in 1989, making brown bag lunches for businessmen in the city. We called it The Bag Lady, for which my boys helped deliver home-cooked meals to offices downtown.

The days were long and tiring, but I kept plugging away. We soon added a restaurant called The Lady at the Best Western on Savannah's Southside. We ran that for five years, serving three meals a day, seven days a week. It was much more work than The Bag Lady had been, but I enjoyed working with all the talented women and great cooks there. They taught me some new things in the kitchen, too.

We had many loyal customers on the Southside of Savannah, but I knew we belonged downtown. My style of cooking was reminiscent of the Old South, and it was just what the historic district of downtown Savannah needed. Finding a building was tough, and struggling with payments to renovate the building was even tougher. But we finally opened—just barely. My banker even had to loan me the money to make change on opening day. He was not about to back out now!

That was Jan. 8, 1996, and we've kept growing ever since. Support came from family and friends at first, but word spread until we had built a clientele from all over the world. By 1997, the time seemed right to try a cookbook, so I saved a little money and self-published one to sell in the restaurant. And what do you know! It had only been out for two weeks when an editor from Random House walked in and picked up a copy. Soon after, I got a call and found out that Random House wanted to publish and distribute my cookbook nationwide! It became The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook.

The good fortune just kept coming. USA Today named us the "Most Memorable Meal" for 1999, and it was not too long until TV personality Gordon Elliott from the Food Network came knocking, literally, for his show Gordon Elliott's Door Knock Dinners. Gordon introduced me to the Food Network, and I was a guest on several of its shows.

Soon, many more wonderful things happened! There was the day Oprah called. She was doing a special on women who had started businesses out of the home and wanted me as a guest. Being on stage with Oprah gave me the perfect opportunity to announce that I had gotten my own show on the Food Network. Paula's Home Cooking began airing the following fall.

All this publicity began to have an effect on the restaurant, and The Lady & Sons outgrew its home. We had to move to a bigger location, just down the street, but it was still scary to move the business. Thankfully, though, the lines of customers moved with us.

I guess you can see that I've been pretty blessed. These days, I keep myself busy with my cookbooks, the Food Network, The Lady & Sons, Paula's Cooking School, and now, this magazine. But I know I couldn't have done it without the love and support of my family, friends, loyal customers, and fans. It's been a real team effort!