Cooking Show Advisor Lenzy Ruffin
Photo credit: Park Road Studios
Understanding the power of food, D.C.-based photographer and health advocate Lenzy Ruffin was inspired to help chefs create their own cooking show to not only showcase their skills, but connect and make a difference with audiences.
Watching a cooking show one day on PBS, Lenzy thought to himself, “I can do a cooking show as good or better than this,” and launched a personal project to create one with a local chef. The simple yet effective setup took place right in her own apartment and together he says they produced close to 100 shows for YouTube audiences.
When the country was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic, Lenzy saw video and a cooking show as a way to help businesses keep their doors open by showing people firsthand what they do and why. He reached out to one chef specifically who was creating meals for first responders and says by creating a show so that people could connect with what she was doing extended a lifeline and the business is still around today.
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Ready, Set, Cook!
For most, overthinking when is a good time to start, where to shoot the show and what to cook often delays making it happen. “The first huddle is just getting them started. Because people try to make it into this huge complicated thing it’s really not,” he says in the episode. “To get started, it is really as simple as you standing in front of your camera and cooking.”
As he works with clients, YouTube is his platform of choice to house the cooking shows because of its nature of being a platform for learning and also its popularity over Netflix. As a leading platform for learning, he also advocates for using cooking shows to share knowledge and information about health and wellness through food as a way to empower audiences.
From low equipment costs, a natural setting and marketing savviness, Lenzy is sharing how he advises clients step by step on how to bring their cooking show dreams to reality with full creative control.
Got a show idea and ready to bring it to audiences in 2025? Connect with Lenzy via his website, Park Road Studios, and get ready to cook and create.
Watch the teaser below and the full conversation on YouTube.