Shereen Pavlides did not plan to become a social media star. The Garnet Valley High School Class of 1990 graduate and former Glen Mills resident built her career around food over several years, moving from restaurant work and private mortgage insurance to culinary school, food writing and television. Today, millions of people follow her cooking content online.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
Pavlides is known online as Cooking With Shereen. She has built a following of about 5 million on TikTok, more than 2 million on Facebook, over 1 million on Instagram and roughly 1.45 million YouTube subscribers. Her online audience grew as she shared simple recipes and cooking techniques from her own kitchen.
According to Delco Today, Pavlides' journey into food began early. As a teenager, Pavlides worked in restaurants. She later spent years in private mortgage insurance before enrolling in culinary school in New York City. That decision changed the direction of her career and led her into several food-related roles.
After culinary school, Pavlides worked in food styling, food writing and recipe development. She also worked in test kitchens, including at Good Housekeeping. Her experience eventually took her to QVC, where she became an on-air guest and appeared in more than 186 live broadcasts demonstrating cookware, bakeware and kitchen appliances.
The TikTok video that changed everything
Her television work played an important role in what came next. Viewers regularly asked Pavlides for her recipes, and those requests encouraged her to create content of her own.
She launched her YouTube channel in 2019 and began experimenting with TikTok soon after. One of the videos that helped her gain attention was her fifth TikTok video. It was simple tutorial on making chicken cutlets. The video received millions of views and helped establish her he simple, from-scratch cooking style that became synonymous to Pavlides' online content.
Pavlides continued developing recipes and filming them in her own kitchen. She also remains involved in editing her videos even as her audience grew.
Her work now takes an estimated 60 to 80 hours a week. Even with a large online following, she continues to develop her own recipes and remain involved in the production of her content.
