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Chef Jeff Henderson might be on top of the world now, but the California native suffered bitter lows before rising to stardom as an award-winning chef and best-selling author.

An audience of about 80 people ate up Henderson's story, which he shared Friday night at Rockville Library.

Growing up in Los Angeles and San Diego, Henderson said he was desperate to escape a life of poverty and few options. He started by stealing and selling marijuana, and by 19 was running a $35,000-a-week cocaine operation.

Although he never used drugs himself, Henderson said was hooked on the lavish lifestyle his illegal business afforded him.

But it all came crashing down when Henderson, at 24, was indicted on federal drug-trafficking charges and sent to prison for the next 10 years.

He said it was while he was incarcerated at Terminal Island in San Pedro, Calif., that he discovered a passion for cooking and the will to turn his life around.

"I kind of fell into the kitchen," he said. "I never wanted to be a chef before; I got fired from my prison job and they put me on pot and pan detail and, you know, where other inmates saw punishment I saw an opportunity."

Henderson said he became fascinated watching fellow prisoners whip up food for the thousands of inmates and prison officials.

"It was the head inmate cooks in there who taught me how to cook, and I eventually became the head inmate cook and for the first time in my life people were praising me for the food that I was cooking," he said. "And that's how the whole culinary inspiration to become a chef came from."

Once released, Henderson said he struggled to find work because few chefs were eager to hire an ex-convict. But through hard work and some creative cuisine, he eventually became the executive chef at Café Bellagio in Las Vegas, where he worked until 2006.

His best-selling autobiography, "Cooked," and a cookbook followed, and now Henderson speaks all over the country, urging teenagers to avoid making the same mistakes he did.

"I'm truly sorry for the things I did in my past," the 43-year-old said.

He said he is also looking to giving back through his new reality television series on the Food Network, "The Chef Jeff Project," of which he showed a clip to the audience.

On the show, which premiered Sunday night, Henderson takes six at-risk young adults, including some of whom have been to jail, and commits to turning their lives around by employing them in his Los Angeles catering company, Posh Urban Cuisine.

No one on the show is eliminated and they are rewarded with a scholarship to a culinary institute.

"I believe in saving lives through food," he said.

Ari Brooks, executive director of the Montgomery County Friends of the Library, said the organization invited Henderson after hearing his story and learning actor Will Smith had purchased the rights to produce his life story.

"So I just thought it'd be a wonderful idea to have this up-and-coming chef come here to Montgomery County," she said.

Proceeds from Friday's program, entitled "Read, Eat and Give," will benefit the creation of Teen Spot, a project to make Montgomery County libraries more inviting to young people.

Brooks said the organization also partnered with the county's Department of Correction and Rehabilitation to draw attention to its award-winning culinary arts program.

The department has operated the program for three years and it has produced 75 graduates to date, said Arthur Wallenstein, director of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.

"The inmates who complete a rigorous eight-week program receive a certified food service manager's certificate and license from Montgomery County," he said.

Wallenstein added its participants are talented and had even baked a sampling of desserts for the event.

He said Henderson's tale serves as an inspiration to all.

"He told young people in the audience to work hard; they're going to have to experiment, they're not going to get hired for every job, there has to be a passion and you have to seek perfection and work as hard as you can," he said.

Dave Daniel Ortega, a first-year culinary student at the Thomas Edison High School of Technology in Wheaton who attended Friday evening's program, was also impressed.

"Chef Jeff is very inspirational and I'm very inspired by his work," he said.

After listening to Henderson speak about his approach to food, the 16-year-old Germantown resident said he felt encouraged to take more risks with his cooking.

"I'm going to try and do more original cuisines instead of just using the cookbook," he said. "I'm going to try and alter it and make it my own."