Women need to have realistic expectations from themselves: 'Top Chef' judge Gail Simmons

"Top Chef" judge and culinary expert Gail Simmons says women have often felt weighed down with the tag of being "multitaskers" but she believes they need to have "realistic expectations" from themselves.

The 42-year-old TV personality, who gave birth to her second child, son Kole in May, said she has toiled to build her career but sometimes she has taken things slow when it got "frustrating".

"I think there's a lot of pressure on women to do everything... I have worked for so long to build my career and be able to still maintain that. But you have to sacrifice and compromise, because you can't definitely do everything all the time and that can be very frustrating. I think it's important for women to be good to themselves and have realistic expectations and understand that you will not be able to do everything all at once," Simmons told PTI in an interview over phone from the US.

"But that doesn't mean you cannot do things over time. You just need to space yourself and take help from your family, your partner, your spouse, your children and your friends. You need to rely on others to get you through it. That's very important," she added.

The Canadian food writer said women still struggle to maintain the work-life balance and they often end up feeling guilty for going to work.

"It's very hard to stay at home and not have an income. I think working full time and being a mother is a very difficult thing. It doesn't matter how much help you have, you still want to be there for your children, you want to be the best mother you could be. But also want to provide for the family outside of being a mother and you still want to work."
"This time we have new contestants and we are also bringing back a handful of our former contestants. The relationships among them were very strong this season. It was wonderful to see in the kitchen. It's amazing to see how they interact with each other in the kitchen. That really makes the season different than ever before."