UPPER DARBY — Shereen Pavlides has cooked for television audiences, demonstrated kitchen appliances and styled food on QVC and appeared on some of the biggest morning and daytime shows in the country.
But it was a simple plate of chicken cutlets that turned the Garnet Valley High School Class of 1990 graduate and former Glen Mills resident into a social-media sensation.
Today, Pavlides — better known to millions as Cooking With Shereen — has built a sprawling digital following, including about 5 million on TikTok.
Her cooking videos also have attracted more than a million followers on Instagram and more than 2 million on Facebook, while her YouTube channel has about 1.45 million subscribers.
Pavlides recently shared the story behind that meteoric rise as a guest of the Broadcast Pioneers, offering an inside look at the business, creativity and sheer amount of work behind the seemingly effortless cooking videos that have made her a major food personality.
Broadcast Pioneers member Mike Monsell, vice president of marketing at 6ABC WPVI-TV Philadelphia, interviewed Cooking With Shereen content creator Shereen Pavlides during a recent Broadcast Pioneers luncheon at McCall Golf Club in Upper Darby. (PEG DEGRASSA/ DAILY TIMES)
Pavlides was interviewed by Broadcast Pioneers member Mike Monsell, vice president of marketing at 6ABC during a luncheon at McCall Golf Club in Upper Darby.
The content creator was the featured guest at the Pioneers’ monthly event. The luncheons are open to members and nonmembers.
The nonprofit Broadcast Pioneers organization is devoted to preserving and honoring the history of radio and television in the Philadelphia area. Its membership includes radio and television personalities, station owners, executives, producers, engineers, public relations professionals and more.
Fans Sharon Conrad and her daughter Kendall, residents of Pottstown, came to meet Pavlides, who they have been following for years.
“I follow her on Instagram and make her recipes a lot,” Sharon said. “She’s very colorful and has so many great ideas. I love the way she keeps her sugar and flour in a kitchen drawer — it’s genius — and we enjoy her personality.”
Getting started
Her path to social media stardom was anything but overnight. Pavlides said she started working in restaurants at 13 years old and later enjoyed a successful career in private mortgage insurance before realizing that food was her true passion.
After becoming a stay-at-home mother, she decided she needed a creative outlet and enrolled in culinary school in New York City, graduating with honors.
She went on to work in food styling, recipe development, food writing and test kitchens, including Good Housekeeping, while developing recipes for major food companies. Then came QVC.
Pavlides became an on-air guest demonstrating cookware, bakeware and kitchen appliances. According to her biography, she appeared in more than 186 live QVC broadcasts reaching more than 100 million homes.
Viewers began asking for the recipes she demonstrated, prompting Pavlides, now a resident of Southern New Jersey, to launch a YouTube channel in 2019.
Later that year, she tried TikTok, which was just starting to take off, especially among a younger demographic, eventually winning over an older audience, as well.
Her first few videos were simple and she was reluctant even to show her face. Then came the chicken cutlets.
“I thought the whole world knew how to make chicken cutlets,” Pavlides told the Broadcast Pioneers audience, many of whom came from hours away to see her. “They do not.”
She explained how the coating will not separate from the chicken in her recipe for chicken cutlets, as it does in many others’ recipes.
The video exploded, receiving millions of views, and Pavlides suddenly found herself with an audience that wanted more. She also found out early on that the ticket for success was just to be yourself.
The timing couldn’t have been better. When the pandemic forced people into their homes, Pavlides leaned into what she loved most: teaching people how to cook from scratch.
The 60-second format of TikTok, she said, actually helped her discover her creative style.
Today, Pavlides remains remarkably hands-on. She writes and develops her own recipes, films in her home kitchen, edits her own videos and personally handles the final edit because she knows her audience so well.
The influencer/content creator estimates that she currently works 60 to 80 hours a week.
And while she has appeared on “Good Morning America,” “Today,” “Live with Kelly and Mark” and 6ABC, among other outlets, Pavlides said she still considers herself essentially a “one-man band.”
Secret to success
She told the Broadcast Pioneers audience that she is now looking to build a team, including management and production help, because her venture has grown so rapidly.
She said one thing will never change: “I never want to stop being creative.”
That creativity and useful content is at the heart of Cooking With Shereen. Her recipes range across cultures and cuisines, but her philosophy is straightforward: Give people something useful.
“Don’t make it about yourself,” she advised aspiring creators. “Give something that can help somebody else and be useful in their lives. Quality of your content really matters, because you’re building trust.”
Pavlides said she is careful to always put quality before quantity and only posts about three or four well-made videos per week.
“Talk to your audience, not at them, and be your authentic self,” she recommended. “Be good at what you’re communicating and let the rest ride.”
For Pavlides, that means helping people cook a meal, stretch their grocery dollars, avoid wasting food or simply feel successful in their own kitchens.
And judging by the millions who keep coming back for another recipe, the formula is working.
Delaware County native Shereen Pavlides, the host/creator of “Cooking With Shereen,” is all smiles as she mingles with guests at the recent Broadcast Pioneers Luncheon at McCall’s.
(PEG DEGRASSA/ DAILY TIMES)
Pavlides has published two bestselling cookbooks and said she is working on a third. She also continues to develop products, work with major food and kitchen brands and expand “Cooking With Shereen” across multiple platforms.
For someone whose fifth TikTok video unexpectedly changed the course of her career, Pavlides isn’t slowing down.
She’s still cooking, still creating, and still teaching millions of people how to make delicious meals from scratch. To find out more, go to @cookingwithshereen on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
Dining and Cooking