Life & Work with Kelsey Deleshaw

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelsey Deleshaw.

Kelsey, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started cooking when I was around three years old and was independent in the kitchen by the age of eight and at the age of 11, I helped teach the Jr chef classes at Williams Sonoma at Lenox. I entered Avocados from Mexico cooking video competition (I was 13), my video did not get enough votes to win but they selected me to be their Mini Chef ambassador, which included to traveling to the kitchen in Texas to film videos and I did live cooking demos at a huge produce conference in New Orleans.

At the age of 13, I was on Food Network’s Kids BBQ Championship, Season 2, I didn’t win but made it to the final round.

I won the National Healthy Kids Cook-off two years in a row (2017 & 2018), from there I became a senior ambassador for the Every Kid Can Cook program, creating healthy cooking videos and traveling around to local schools demoing how to make healthy recipes.

During the pandemic, I started a baking business in my neighborhood, delivering baked goods via no contact, front porch delivery.

A year ago, I started a Tiktok cooking channel and currently have over 55K followers.

I graduated high school in May (a year early) and will be started Georgia State in January.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the only struggles was that I really wanted to be on Chopped, Jr when I was 12. I went through numerous interviews and came very close but did not get on the show.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in cooking and coming up with my own recipes as a teenager. I’m most proud of how far I’ve come in my journey and feel like I have an impressive resume for only being 18 years old.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
My mom has been there supporting me along the way and helping out whenever I need it.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelseydeleshaw/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kdeleshaw/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5doKeh95KloIHFQOwxiv8Q
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kelseylikestocook?

Image Credits
Professional photos by Tracy Page