Page 21 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2023

Around the corner in Bay St. Louis, Caroline Davis accidentally became a social media sensation and now she has one of the largest entertainment platforms on TikTok as a home chef and cookbook author.
FAR LEFT: Davis makes one of her favorites dishes, Cajun Chicken Pasta. LEFT: Davis with her cookbook Alright Y’all Easy Southern Cooking from the Mississippi Kween.
At the end of the day, she said it’s worth all the hustle because she’s her own boss. In 2021, she gave up working in management in the food service and custodial industries after two decades of laboring for other people.
“I spent so many years struggling
to make ends meet and them never meeting,” she said. “I got sick of knowing I could do more and not actually doing it. I took a bet on myself, and quit my job with no real plan.”
In two short years, that move has paid off for herself and her followers.
“Most importantly food brings people together in a way other things cannot,” she said. “So to watch my TikTok community grow and thrive over food
has been a blessing to me. I know a lot
of people say I’m a positive influence on their lives but no one will ever understand how positive it was for me to watch food bring so many people together in one place. It changed how I saw the world
so all the positive influence can’t be fully attributed to me, it’s my community, it’s us together.”
Davis does have a little advice for anyone wanting to follow in her footsteps.
“Be prepared to work,” she said. “Be prepared for sleepless nights. Be prepared to work for free until you get your socials off the ground. Being a social media influencer is not for the faint of heart. It’s work. Constantly and all day long. It can also be expensive when you’re starting. You have to be all in to make it happen but all in is very stressful and nonstop, but it’s so much fun. Just don’t go into
it thinking it’s easy. You have to put the work in and keep putting it in.”
Davis is known as The Mississippi Kween on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, and has more than a million followers on and off social media.
“I joined TikTok to keep an eye on what my teenagers were posting and consuming,” Davis said. “I thought it was a kid’s app and then I saw people my age posting so I decided to start posting.”
The content creator often says her two-year journey has been unreal and surprising, “I made one cooking video as a joke and now here I am 250 recipes later,” she said.
In doing so, she stepped far out of her comfort zone.
“I’m an extroverted introvert,” she said laughing. “I love people and meeting new people and talking with everyone, but I’m very, very introverted, private, and shy.”
Of course, her children teased her in the early social media days, but have since changed their minds about their mom’s TikTok status.
“Before I cooked on TikTok I spent a year making super cringe videos and
they were not shy about letting me know they were cringe,” she added with a big Southern smile. “Now they think it’s amazing and my teenagers always tell me they’re proud of me.”
When she’s not creating and filming classic Gulf Coast dishes such as Cajun Chicken Pasta, Shrimp & Grits, or Crab Cakes, she’s running a cleaning company, manages several Airbnbs, and has written two cookbooks, Alright Y’all Easy Southern Cooking from the Mississippi Kween and
A Sh*t Ton of Garlic & Other Recipes from the Mississippi Kween.
And she’s busy, starting her day before 6 a.m. with loads of coffee.
“I’m not kidding, it takes like three cups to get going,” she said. “After I get my kids to school I start working either from my computer or phone doing stuff for my small business and answering emails and messages from my followers. My day never stops and the majority of my work is from my phone, which might sound easy but it’s a lot to keep up with on a lot of different platforms.”
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net
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