Last week our CEO Laurie Buckle headed off to Chicago for the Tastemaker Conference and the Inspired Home Show. She spent five days in the Windy City connecting with food bloggers, chatting with brands, learning about new trends, and speaking on a panel! Here are her biggest takeaways from both events.
The top trade show for home and housewares brands returned to Chicago the first week in March, hot on the heels of the Tastemaker Conference. Here’s a quick look at the insights and trends she came away with.
The Tastemaker Conference was started up in 2017 by Abbey Rodgriguez (herself a food blogger, freelancer, and mom) as a place for influencers in the food space to connect and learn how to grow their businesses. Laurie was invited to speak on a panel about brand partnerships – the how’s, why’s, the in’s and out’s.
Her two biggest takeaways from the two days of panels, meetups, and meals:
From coffeemakers to cookware, rice cookers to bread makers, home design to tabletop, this show is North America’s largest housewares trade show. Their goal is to connect buyers to sellers; for Laurie, the goal was to catch up with the brands we know and connect with those we don’t. She also got a good look at some of the trends we’ll be seeing in the near future.
Check back soon to see what CookIt discovers next at Expo West!
Happy Birthday to us! 🎉 CookIt is celebrating 10 years in business. Join us as we take a trip down memory lane and look back at some highlights from the past decade! 📖
From NYC to LA, @creatoriq’s coast-to-coast events gave us a front-row seat to where influencer marketing is headed.
In New York, the message was clear: influencer marketing is maturing. It’s no longer about one-off posts or quick conversions. Brands are building full-funnel strategies — awareness at the top, education in the middle, and conversion at the bottom — and creators are being brought in at every step to make it all feel seamless.
But maybe the most important takeaway? Don’t forget the brand story. In a world chasing ROI, it was a much-needed reminder that marketing isn’t a math problem. It’s about people, connection, and choosing the right voice to tell your story.
In LA, we heard echoes of the same. Creators aren’t just content machines — they’re collaborators. Co-strategists. And platforms like TikTok are leaning into that, building tools to make it easier for brands and creators to build something together, moving beyond even the sponsored post.
Across both cities, one thing was clear: influencer marketing is evolving — from transactional posts to long-term, strategic partnerships. It’s no longer just part of the plan — for many brands, it’s the foundation of how they tell their story, build trust, and drive real results.
And that’s exactly the kind of shift we’re here for!
The other week, Carly and Molly were in Chicago for the @nationalrestaurantshow — their first time attending, but definitely not their last! 🙌 They connected with incredible chefs and brands leading the way in restaurant innovation, exploring everything from front-of-house experiences to back-of-house operations. Days full of learning, inspiring conversations, and big takeaways they’ll be able to carry into any future talent convos! 💛
Our friends at @odysseyentertainmentgroup recently hosted an incredible team + creator retreat in Los Angeles and brought together several industry friends for a night out in West Hollywood. 🌴 Our VP of Partnerships @molls.benton joined Jess of @shinetalentgroup, Molly of @vraiofficial, and Paige from Odyssey to celebrate the amazing work each team is doing and the growth still to come!
In a space that can often feel competitive, this night was a reminder that collaboration is where the real magic happens. There’s so much to gain when we come together to learn from one another, support each other, and share what we’ve built. 🤝
We are incredibly proud of @grillin_with_dad, who was invited to speak at a corporate conference for a legacy media agency with Fortune 500 clients. Hosted by @google at their Chicago office, @lauriebuck had the good fortune to join him and watch as he entertained the crowd (ask him about the grilled alligator incident!) and enlightened them about what it’s really like to be a creator, from his early days in social media to now, with more than 3.5M followers across all platforms! 🙌
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