Ree Drummond

Anne Marie "Ree" Drummond (née Smith, born January 6, 1969) is an American blogger, author, food writer, and television personality.

Drummond became known for her blog, The Pioneer Woman, which documented her life in rural Oklahoma.

She graduated from Bartlesville High School in 1987 after which she left Oklahoma to attend college in Los Angeles, California.

She graduated from the University of Southern California in 1991, having first studied journalism before switching to gerontology.

After graduation she hoped to attend law school in Chicago, but her plans changed unexpectedly when she met and married her husband, Ladd Drummond.

Her husband is a member of the wealthy Drummond ranching family.

Drummond was raised Episcopalian.

She is an alumna of Pi Beta Phi sorority.

Drummond began blogging in May 2006, initially using the subdomain pioneerwoman.typepad.com within the Typepad blogging service.

She registered her own domain thepioneerwoman.com on October 18, 2006.

Drummond's blog, The Pioneer Woman, was originally titled Confessions of a Pioneer Woman.

The site is hosted by Rackspace.

Drummond writes about topics such as ranch life and homeschooling.

About a year after launching her blog, she posted her first recipe and a tutorial on "How to Cook a Steak".

In April 2008, Drummond held a giveaway contest in the cooking section of her blog The Pioneer Woman in which she asked readers to share one of their favorite recipes; the response inspired her to create a recipe sharing site.

As of September 2009, Drummond's blog reportedly received 13 million page views per month.

In 2009, Drummond launched TastyKitchen.com – community recipe-sharing site.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl

Drummond's first cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl, was published in October 2009.

A New York Times reviewer described Drummond as "funny, enthusiastic and self-deprecating."

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

The blog became popular and won Weblog of the Year in the 2010 Bloggies.

Capitalizing on the success of her blog, Drummond stars in her own television program, also titled The Pioneer Woman, on The Food Network which began in 2011.

She has also written cookbooks, a children's book, and an autobiography.

On May 9, 2011, the blog's popularity had risen to approximately 23.3 million page views per month and 4.4 million unique visitors.

According to an article in The New Yorker, "This is roughly the same number of people who read The Daily Beast".

An article in the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail described it as "[s]lickly photographed with legions of fans ... arguably the mother of all farm girl blogs."

Estimates for her site's income suggest it earns $1 million or more per year from display (advertisement) income.

Published in February 2011 by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Charlie the Ranch Dog

In April 2011, Drummond published a children's book titled Charlie the Ranch Dog, featuring her family's beloved Basset Hound Charlie.

According to Publishers Weekly, "Adult readers will recognize in Charlie's voice the understated humor that has made Drummond's blog so successful; kids should find it irresistible."

The book was illustrated by Diane deGroat, an illustrator of more than 120 children's books.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier

Drummond's second cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier, released in March 2012.

Charlie and the Christmas Kitty

A children's book about the family's dog.

Released in December 2012.

In 2015, Drummond launched a "homey lifestyle" product line of cookware, cutlery, appliances, clothing and outdoor living products.

Anne Marie, nicknamed Ree, grew up in a home overlooking the grounds of a country club in the oil town of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, with two brothers and a sister.