We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Patrick LeFils. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Patrick below.

Patrick, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I know “being chosen” sounds like a loaded phrase, but I do feel that way about my mission. I started this for myself, but it’s much more now. Southern Fellow is a family of music artists, industry professionals, music lovers, and foodies. The artists challenge me to be a better chef and the recipes I create introduces them to a new audience. Our mission, in short, we bring food and music together in a uniquely delicious way! If I knew where this road was going to take me, I would have chosen a less singular name. lol

Patrick, 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?

I started Southern Fellow after I had my first seizure about four years ago. A condition I still deal with today. I was a chef and rancher at the time. My world changed pretty quickly and I could no longer do many of the things I once was good at. A few friends and family members suggested I start using my culinary knowledge to create recipes to share. My only mission up to that point was to keep my mind occupied to avoid a major depression that I knew was headed my way. I built a website and started creating recipes. This went on for about six months. Then I received a question one day about one of my recipes that changed everything.

Erinn Peet Lukes, a bluegrass artist in Colorado at the time, reached out about pasta. In a few short minutes, that conversation went from cooking to the struggles of independent music artists. That topic was far from anything I felt I could speak intelligently about, but she persisted. I got the feeling that she wanted something from me. An interview perhaps, but I quickly dismissed the idea because I was a chef, and music was far from my wheelhouse. However, a few days later, I felt bad for dismissing the idea and developed a thought that would fill both our needs. We would do an interview and I would create a recipe around Erinn. What I thought was going to be a one-off event. Lead to calls out of Nashville from publicists and artists asking me to repeat what I had done for Erinn. Our series Feed the Band was born.

Today, Southern Fellow is more than a website. Family is no buzzword for us. I still have seizures about twice a month. Artists, publicists, and friends pick up the torch on days I can not. This fact is Southern Fellow’s greatest strength and makes us unique as a media outlet. We wouldn’t exist without the help of Caroline and Mike Walker, Jordan Mohr, Taylor Teasley, Nicole Zeller, and so many more people. This has allowed us to do more including concerts and other big events.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Be yourself! I had so many people tell me to buy followers and pay for verification, but I didn’t. My numbers may look lower than some, but I have much more interactions with real people. Faking any numbers either followers or dollars can be detrimental to your goals.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Treating them like people. It’s that simple.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://southernfellow.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southernfellow_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southernfellowofficial
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@southernfellow_ https://www.pinterest.com/southernfellow_/