Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chef Jay Pittman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chef Jay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

I would say being a business owner isn’t easy, but has been the best decision I’ve made. Before I became I chef I was a network engineer for telecommunications companies for 12 years. The last time I thought about just going back to the regular corporate world was during Covid. Due to the world shutting down I was left wondering where does my catering business fit into this. 2020 was the year that made me see my actual worth and put faith into my talents and not someone else’s value of me from a paycheck. Due to Covid businesses were at a stand still, so that left me to figure out how was I going to feed myself. During those moments of downtime Chef Jay, and Synful Pleasures was created. I wanted my clients to be able to have a great, and safe fine dining experience. Starting my own business wasn’t easy but I’m definitely happy. The challenges and obstacles I’ overcame I wouldn’t have never experienced working under someone. I find a huge sense of value knowing that I created something out of chaos.

Chef Jay, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Chef Jay Fuego, certified chef and owner of Synful Pleasures private dining! I’ve always had a passion for arts but I’ve always had a specific eye on food. My services are here for the individuals who love the experience of private dining. From private in home dates to private cooking classes I travel the country to share my culinary experiences. I’m also an up and coming streaming influencer on social media. I think what sets me apart from most chefs is my technical background in digital arts. It gives me the edge of knowing how to use digital editing software because not only am I the chef but I control how you see my company from branding, to visual promotions.

I’m proud of where my brand has gone and is going from the actual clients I service, to now starting my own food stream on various apps, to also my own food radio broadcast and in the future podcast. I want clients, fans, and future clients to know that I’m bringing my flavor in every element, cookbooks, videos, podcast, to actual pop events soon around the country. I’m glad I’m able to embrace my culture and represent my African American heritage in the culinary arts movement.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I started creating promotions videos using social media platforms such as Instagram and taking advantages of any applications that would let me reach a broad spectrum of people at one time. Whether it was live stream from MeetMe or live streams to TikTok I promoted and used those services to reach and engage others. My advice for anyone whose wanting to use social media for business is stay consistent with your content, find who “You” are brand it and let the world know who you are.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My side hustle was my streaming. I started streaming spring of 22. I was only there getting to know people and network. A month of streaming I started exploring deeper into the stream and noticed that people weren’t just getting on there phones and just talking some people actually created content. From games, to how to streams you can find someone streaming about a particular interest. Me being a chef I wanted to highlight food! 2 months into the stream I was contacted by a representative from the app and was asked if I would like to run for Top Badge “Promotional Streamers paid by the app”. I took the opportunity and I’ve been a few months in and I’m one of the top trending chefs on the app and also closing in the promotional job. One of the milestones they use is diamonds or a scale they use to how much you’ve earned through gifts. Within my first 2 months I was 500k invested and over 700 fans. Today I have over 1100 fans and have been invested over 1.3 million in Diamond gifts.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dopechef_jay
• Facebook: Jay Augustine Fuego
• Twitter: @Jay_Syncere
• Youtube: Synful Pleasures