Even for four-time U.S. Olympic star Lindsey Vonn, making a living from downhill skiing has been an uphill battle.

Vonn decided early on that she would follow in the steps of her idol, Picabo Street.

"She was the first person to make good money off of ski racing," she said.

But despite her success, it hasn't been easy.

"Getting paid through ski racing is very, very difficult, " she said in a conversation with Maverick Carter in an episode of "Kneading Dough," a series by Chase and digital media company Uninterrupted.

"If you are not in the top five or 10 in the world, you are struggling to not have to get a second job," she added.

Although the prize money is roughly the same, Vonn said men in her field make significantly more than women — "it's a pretty severe gap."

Of course, the same is true outside of ski racing. Even when comparing the sexes with the same job title at the same company and using similar education and experience, the gender pay gap persists across the board: Men earned 2.4 percent more than women on average, down slightly from last year, according to a study by salary-tracking website PayScale.