Shereen Pavlides did not plan to become a social media star. The Garnet Valley High School Class of 1990 graduate and former Glen Mills resident built her career around food over several years, moving from restaurant work and private mortgage insurance to culinary school, food writing and television. Today, millions of people follow her cooking content online.Pavlides is known online as Cooking With Shereen. She has built a following of about 5 million on TikTok, more than 2 million on Facebook, over 1 million on Instagram and roughly 1.45 million YouTube subscribers. Her online audience grew as she shared simple recipes and cooking techniques from her own kitchen.According to Delco Today, Pavlides’ journey into food began early. As a teenager, Pavlides worked in restaurants. She later spent years in private mortgage insurance before enrolling in culinary school in New York City. That decision changed the direction of her career and led her into several food-related roles.After culinary school, Pavlides worked in food styling, food writing and recipe development. She also worked in test kitchens, including at Good Housekeeping. Her experience eventually took her to QVC, where she became an on-air guest and appeared in more than 186 live broadcasts demonstrating cookware, bakeware and kitchen appliances.
The TikTok video that changed everything
Her television work played an important role in what came next. Viewers regularly asked Pavlides for her recipes, and those requests encouraged her to create content of her own.She launched her YouTube channel in 2019 and began experimenting with TikTok soon after. One of the videos that helped her gain attention was her fifth TikTok video. It was simple tutorial on making chicken cutlets. The video received millions of views and helped establish her he simple, from-scratch cooking style that became synonymous to Pavlides’ online content.Pavlides continued developing recipes and filming them in her own kitchen. She also remains involved in editing her videos even as her audience grew.Her work now takes an estimated 60 to 80 hours a week. Even with a large online following, she continues to develop her own recipes and remain involved in the production of her content.
Building a career around cooking
The social media career has also taken Pavlides beyond online platforms. She has appeared on major television programmes and published two bestselling cookbooks. She is currently working on a third cookbook. At the same time, Pavlides is planning to expand her production team as her work continues to grow.Her career has moved from working in restaurants and food-related jobs to creating content that reaches millions of people through several platforms. However, the path has not been limited to one type of food media. Her experience in food styling, writing, recipe development, test kitchens and live television has all become part of the career she has built around her online presence.
Her advice to content creators
Pavlides has also shared advice for people who want to build their own careers in content creation. Speaking to aspiring creators at a recent Broadcast Pioneers event, she said creators should focus on providing something useful to their audiences.“Don’t make it about yourself. Give something that can help somebody else and be useful in their lives. Quality of your content really matters, because you are building trust,” Pavlides said.She also stresses on the importance of having a direct relationship with an audience and being genuine in the way content is presented.“Talk to your audience, not at them, and be your authentic self,” she said. “Be good at what you’re communicating and let the rest ride,” Pavlides added.What began with a YouTube channel in 2019 and early experiments on TikTok has since become Cooking With Shereen, with a large audience spread across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
