This month we’re shining the spotlight on Kasim Hardaway, one of CookIt’s talented influencers! Kasim uses his rapidly growing platform – over 61.5k cumulative followers and counting! – to share innovative recipes and highlight unique restaurants in the Kansas City area. We sat down with Kasim to learn more about his passion for cooking, his life as a full time influencer, and his expert advice for newbies in the food media industry.
Kasim: Sure! I like to start with my name since it gets butchered a lot. I’m Kasim, pronounced like “awesome” but with a K. I consider myself a culinary storyteller, photographer, and foodie.
Kasim: I love food. It’s my biggest passion. I’m really into developing unique recipes. I like taking basic things and adding interesting flavors or trying new techniques that I think are cool just to give it a little bit of a different angle.I feel like sometimes it’s really hard to be original when people are always after the most trending recipe, but I like to put a little Kasim flair into everything I do.
Kasim: This is hard! I’ve been cooking since I was like, five! If I had to guess, it would probably be a baked good. Maybe an apple pie or a pound cake. I used to bake a lot, but I’m not that good at baking anymore. I’ve been trying to teach myself though.
Kasim: This is super basic, but I put garlic and onion powder in everything. I was actually just talking to a friend who is allergic to both and I’m like, girl, I don’t understand how you are living and enjoying food! So yeah, garlic and onion powder goes in everything. I’m really into Aleppo pepper right now too. It’s a Turkish spice. It has a very mild, almost bell peppery flavor. I use it as a garnish a lot just to add some color. Also tumeric! I put tumeric in everything. I put it in my tea, in my savory food, in my sweet food. I love tumeric and my fingers are usually stained yellow.
Kasim: This is wild, but I went to school for environmental science and then I got an advanced certification in geographic information systems. Basically what that means is that I made maps. So my first job out of college, which was my only real job before making a shift into influencer marketing, was working for Google fiber. I plotted the maps for Google fiber in Texas.
The most important thing I’ve learned in the transition is to really believe in myself. A lot of people told me that I was crazy because I left this cushy job and was sleeping on my parents’ couch. But I believed in myself. I knew that one day I would be successful. So yeah. Believe in yourself and you know, don’t compare where you are to where other people are. Focus on yourself and what you bring to the table.
Kasim: I love this job because every day is different. I love the freedom it provides since I’m able to make my own schedule. I’m very entrepreneurial, so I love being my own boss and figuring out what I want to do and how I want to do it. But most importantly, it’s getting to be creative. I really love creating things and this role allows me to create all the time. Even if I’m just cooking, I’m experimenting with different variations in the recipe, or different types of photography.
Kasim: Like I said, I love creating, but creating can be overwhelming and tiresome, especially when you’re constantly trying to produce unique things. It takes a lot of thought and energy. When you have a larger audience, there’s just so much community engagement and management that goes into it that people don’t see. I’ve always been very intentional about creating a community and responding to every comment and responding to every DM, which takes a lot of time.
And honestly, this is why I love CookIt because you all provided me with so much more time for life! Before CookIt, I was doing everything and I felt like I never had any time. But now that I’m working with CookIt, I just have so much more time to workout, take guitar lessons, go on vacation, and just live my life.
Kasim: That’s tough! Probably my first sponsored opportunity. I remember thinking wow, they want me to come to this restaurant for a $25 gift card! This is so awesome. It’s not much but it encouraged me to keep going. Other people saw worth in working with me. It was nice to get that first feeling of like, oh, maybe I’m onto something here.
Kasim: Consistency is key! You have to work at it and work at it for a while. Nothing happens overnight. I would also say remember that you are you and that’s the best thing you can bring to the table. We’re all so unique and we all have our own perspectives. Comparing yourself to others gets you nowhere. Find your voice. If you’re authentic and genuine, people will pick up on that even if they don’t know you.
Kasim: I was thinking about this last night! One of my best friends gave me this very short piece of advice. I think about it all the time. She said, “do good work and be a good person”. It’s so simple, but if you do good work, not just baseline or average, but really do a good job, and if you’re a kind person, you will go far.
Kasim: @foodmymuse and @lindseyeats. They both have a similar style of content. Lots of natural light, snippets of hands and pans recipes from start to finish. I love that type of content. I also really love @atasteofkoko. She’s a Texas blogger.
Kasim: Oh my god. That’s like asking me to pick my favorite child! Okay, right now I would say my Thai tea french toast bites with cardamom cinnamon sugar and sweetened condensed milk for dipping. Literally life changing.
Favorite book:
High on the Hog by Jessica B Harris.
Favorite podcast:
How I Built This with Guy Raz.
Favorite social media platform:
Instagram!
Favorite restaurant:
The Town Company in Kansas City.
Favorite pizza topping:
It’s gotta be beef pepperoni.
Favorite type of cuisine:
Pan-Asian.
Favorite kitchen tool/appliance:
Definitely my air fryer.
Favorite thing to cook:
Seafood.
Favorite thing to eat:
Also seafood, ha!
Favorite drink:
Gin & tonic.
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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