Melissa Cookston was born in Ruleville, Mississippi in 1968 and grew up in Greenville and Pontotoc. She started cooking barbecue competitively in 1996, and by 2007 she and her husband Pete had quit their day jobs entirely to tour contests full-time.
The results were historic. Cookston has won seven world championship titles — including two Grand Champion wins and five Whole Hog Champion victories at Memphis in May, the toughest whole-hog competition in the world. She is universally known as 'The Winningest Woman in Barbecue.'
In 2011 she opened Memphis BBQ Company with locations in Mississippi and Georgia. She has appeared on BBQ Pitmasters, Chopped, CBS This Morning, The Kitchen, and The American Barbecue Showdown. She is the author of Smokin' in the Boy's Room (2014) and Smokin' Hot in the South (2016), and still serves as pitmaster of the Yazoo's Delta Q competition team.
Accolades
- 7x World BBQ Champion (KCBS circuit)
- 2x Grand Champion — Memphis in May World Championship
- 5x Whole Hog Champion — Memphis in May World Championship
- Known as "The Winningest Woman in Barbecue"
- Author — Smokin' in the Boy's Room (2014)
- Author — Smokin' Hot in the South (2016)