The path from inspiration & brainstorming to completed project could take anywhere from months to years… most things dying a slow death in development purgatory. Food on the other hand, allows for inspiration to take instant (and generally delicious) form with that crowd pleasing result I generally look for in storytelling. There’s no place for pretension in my kitchen, with some of the best ideas coming out of absurd collaborations & conversations, and with the constant rotating cast of comedians in my life, there’s always a witty pun to accompany each and every dish.
So I set out to continue my journey by working on illustrious reality cooking competition shows like MasterChef and Hell's Kitchen on FOX. In my very rare free-time I spent every hour I could in the kitchen working for catering companies, and food-styling for cookbooks and emerging digital media companies...
One such company was POPSUGAR who was on the brink of the digital media revolution. Seeking to expand their lifestyle team, they formally brought me on staff in 2013 to produce their food & e-commerce videos. It was the absolute perfect mix of my jack of all trades talents... write, produce, direct, recipe develop, camera operate, edit, mentor... the list goes on and on. The digital world was the wild west of filmmaking and I was right there and ready to be a part of it's growth.
5 years, several awards, 2 television shows, millions of subscribers, 8 original shows, and billions of views later, I feel confident that we created some truly wonderful things together.
But alas all good things must come to an end, and after becoming the Senior Producer and Creative Director of all lifestyle content and having complete control to create enticing and deliciously enjoyable editorially driven videos - I was ready for a new challenge.
Branded was certainly the next frontier. Digital creators had learned quickly how to attract and grow their audiences organically, but the new trick was to sympatrically monetize content without loosing authenticity. It's a tricky tightrope to walk, but I knew that finding that footing would be an extremely valuable next step. Thankfully Tastemade Studios was on the exact same path and brought me in to continue creating beautiful branded content while expanding into the Travel realm.
I had the opportunity to create educational and engaging content alongside brands like Walt Disney World, AMEX, Capital One, OGX Beauty, Allbirds, JC Penny, Amazon Studios, IHOP, and work with several tourism boards including Las Vegas, Savannah Georgia, and Ise, Japan.
At the tail-end of my Tastemade tenure, we were onto the next new trend - Immersive video content. Think Bandersnatch and pretty much every choose-your-own-adventure book you read as a kid. I'd developed, filmed, edited, and created a fully interactive Road Trip Adventure that we sold as a pilot to Eko Studios. We were weeks away from embarking on our first major shoot when...
A Pandemic Hit.
Life is full of wacky, weird, and wonderful uncertainties and the only path you can follow is one you create yourself. I took a step back into television working on two shows in the midst of a global pandemic (yes we did many many painful nose swab tests) but we created two incredible shows that brought joy to many viewers stuck at home. The first was a dessert competition show called Candy Land, based on the Hasbro game, hosted by the incredible Kristen Chenoweth for the Food Network. I served as the culinary producer.
At the tail-end of my Tastemade tenure, we were onto the next new trend - Immersive video content. Think Bandersnatch and pretty much every choose-your-own-adventure book you read as a kid. I'd developed, filmed, edited, and created a fully interactive Road Trip Adventure that we sold as a pilot to Eko Studios. We were weeks away from embarking on our first major shoot when...
A Pandemic Hit.
Life is full of wacky, weird, and wonderful uncertainties and the only path you can follow is one you create yourself. I took a step back into television working on two shows in the midst of a global pandemic (yes we did many many painful nose swab tests) but we created two incredible shows that brought joy to many viewers stuck at home. The first was a dessert competition show called Candy Land, based on the Hasbro game, hosted by the incredible Kristen Chenoweth for the Food Network. I served as the culinary producer.
The second show was one of the craziest food shows I've ever seen! It was a show called Foodtastic hosted by Keke Palmer for Disney+. This show featured some of the best food artists in the world sculpting larger than life, completely edible displays based on the most popular Disney IP. As the challenge producer, I worked with an incredible creative team who really brought this world to life.
But digital media continued to call my name and I landed at REACT Media (formerly FBE) as an Executive Producer brought in to launch a new YouTube channel People vs. Food. REACT is a storied channel with a long long history that pretty much dates back to the earliest days of digital media, and I inherited a truly incredible legacy but was given the reigns to re-invent it for the current climate.
Three years later I've been promoted to VP of Content overseeing not only the two main channels, REACT and People vs. Food, but we've launched 6 new channels, expanded our content offering to over 300 original pieces of content per month, and quadrupled our creative team. It's been exciting, exhausting, exhilarating, and empowering to be a leader in the next generation of evolving the digital landscape all while still making really engaging content.
While I don't know what the future will hold, I do know that no matter where my life takes me - I want to keep creating. Keep telling stories. Keep inspiring people to live, travel, adventure, and eat to their hearts content.
So I hope that my next journey is with you...
Sincerely,
Nicole