We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Liya Ingraham . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Liya below.
Hi Liya , thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
In my opinion, in order to be successful you have to know exactly what you want to do and how you want to do it. When it comes to the word “success” or being “successful” it’s not as easy as it may appear to some on social media. Social media is the biggest lie in America. If you go to Instagram literally everyone is rich and successful. No one shows what’s going on behind closed doors, the money loss, struggles, unpaid bills, taking out huge loans etc. I feel like if you want to be successful in life you have to move at your own pace and no one else’s pace, especially not because of what you saw on TikTok or Instagram. Success comes within. If you work hard for what you what and tell yourself every single day “I’ve got this, it won’t be easy but it’s going to happen for me” and have the mindset that you will get where you want in life, that’s all that matters. Work hard for what you want.
Liya , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
For those who may have not already read about me before, my name is Liya and I am a traveling chef! I started my business page when I was 17 years old on January 6th, 2021. It was all fun in games for me at first. My biggest plan was to be a food content creator and get paid off of instagram for my food videos. I then started to grown more and more followers, I had locals messaging me about catering, meal preps and food plates. After getting so many messages I knew it was time for me to start making money from locals. I started off by just selling meals every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. My followers just kept growing and growing. I then eventually turned into a “catering” chef. I made menus for catering and I pushed them as much as I could. Fast for to the end of 2022 I end up having my first ever booking and I made $560. It was at that point I knew that this is exactly what I want to do. After I posted the food I cooked for my first catering, I have even more people tuning in trying to hurry and book with me. What I think sets me apart from others in the industry is that I am very negotiable with people. I try to work with one’s budget as much as I can. I make my clients feel like their family, I want every experience and booking to feel as “home” as possible. I only travel to 3 cities as of right now and those are Dallas, TX, Houston, TX and Atlanta, GA. I plan on expanding my cities to Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY and Miami, FL soon! The most I am proud of within myself as of right now is the fact that I did it all by myself. Before I started my food page, I was just selling chocolate covered strawberries out of my kitchen while I was doing virtual school my senior year of High School. It was just to keep a little bit of money in my pockets so my mom wouldn’t force me to get a job. I then stopped with the treats and started my food page. I am very proud of myself because when I first started my page I did not think to travel ANYWHERE with what I do..
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
How I built my audience on social media, I posted a lot of content. Instagram has a “Reels” feature where you can post videos and add music with it. The first ever reels video I post on my food page blew up. I remember I got scared because my phone just kept going off non-stop and it was a lot of people liking my video I has just posted. In order to gain followers through social media, you MUST keep your followers engaged in what you do. From time to time post something funny like memes, a TikTok, trivia on your story, polls, tutorials etc. Keep your followers entertained 24/7! I also gained a lot of my Instagram followers from TikTok because one of my videos on there also blew up. I then had people messaging me saying they had found me through TikTok.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
The most effective strategy for growing my clientele I’ll say is definitely the food lol. Anytime I post anything related to food, random meals I’ve made, or meals I’ve catered, my clientele always sky rockets. My clients love all of the new menus I put out, any type of meals I’m selling for the week and my catering menu. For example, I’ll post something simple like lamb chops, Mac and cheese and potatoes and I’ll have one of my followers instantly slide up and like “Omg how much is this”. That’s basically where all of my clientele comes from, food videos!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realfoodbaddie/
- Other: Titkok: @liyasymone Email: [email protected]