Katie Quinn will be the first person to tell you that she loves food. Like really loves food. She believes that food provides a unique perspective into any culture and connects communities and people.
This New York City based food enthusiast loves food so much that she has made a thriving career out of it. Every week she shares her passion for food on her YouTube channel, where she shares recipes, adventures and explorations of new cultures. So far, she’s garnered nearly a half million views.
This top video journalist, and Miami University alum, cut her chops producing, filming and editing videos for NBC’s TODAY.com and as a correspondent with NowThis News. When she’s not recording videos, exploring new restaurants or experimenting with new recipes, you might catch her talking about food on NBC’s Today Show or The Meredith Vieira Show.
We sat down with Katie to learn more about her love of food, her story and how to produce great content for YouTube.
- When did you fall in love with food?
My love of food evolved into a passion as I saw more of the world and began to understand the correlation between the delicious meal on my plate and the community in which I was eating it. Trips to China, South Africa and Peru had a huge impact on me in this way.
- What goes into producing one of your food videos? How much preparation, shopping, filming, cooking and editing goes into a finished piece?
Each video is a little different, based on how complicated the recipe itself is, my production vision, and where I shoot it. Shoots in the field take significantly longer to produce, shoot and edit. When I shoot in my apartment, I have a routine down so it’s pretty darn efficient. It usually takes a handful of days to complete a video, but that’s because I’m rarely able to shop, shoot and edit in the same day due to other scheduling demands.
This video shows and explains my workflow.
- Many people can be intimidated in the kitchen with recipes. Yet, your videos make food and cooking extremely accessible and straightforward like anyone can do it. What’s your secret?
Haha…no secret here! Cooking feels intimidating, but once you actually starting putting the ingredients together in the kitchen, the illusion that it’s something only some people have a knack for is proven false. Then once you get comfortable with cooking, you actually start having FUN cooking! And that’s the best.
- Not only do you appear on camera in your videos. but you also produce, film and edit them. Where did you learn how to do this?
I’ve been making videos since I was in middle school–I’ve always been interested in capturing life with a video camera. That led to me taking a lot of production classes in college, which set me up with those skills when I entered the media industry. I started in the media industry at NBC, as an NBC Page, and ended up staying in the company for 4 years, producing and shooting digital videos for NBC News and TODAY.com.
- You have nearly half a million views on YouTube. For those looking to start their own channel, what recommendations would you make for getting views and building community?
Consistency is key. Decide when you’ll publish (will it be bi-weekly? weekly? twice a week?), and stick to that. Life is busy and when you start a YouTube channel money is not a motivator, so it’s easy to forgo a video here or there. That’s why you have to want to do it for yourself. That’s the only way you’ll stick to your publish plan without fail. It’s a lot of work–but once you’re committed, you’ll see others respond to your passion.
Bonus: Is there a special video or recipe you’d like to share with the worldwide about.me community?
Here’s a fun video I did recently that got a lot of interaction on social media: Black bean brownies.
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Antonio Neves is the Director of Higher Education for about.me. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. You can find him on Twitter at @TheAntonioNeves.
