Caroline Artiss
When talent and beauty pair up in a kitchen, expect a culinary marriage made in heaven. Presenting Caroline Artiss, the latest epicurean poster girl on YouTube who is now making waves in America on the US YouTube. She is a child of the power of social media riding on the internet to build up a brand name and business and the first TV chef to be discovered on YouTube in UK. She is hailed as the “true Global Representative of internet cooking channels” and named as one of the top food vloggers (video blog) of 2014 by MSN UK. YouTube has dubbed her as one of the next “Rising Stars” on their blog. She is also the face of Malaysia Kitchen, the main portal to Malaysian cuisine and culture under the auspice of the Malaysian government. With her good looks inherited from her Malaysian mother and English father, she is very telegenic and engaging in her presentation on the screen. The camera loves her. A star is born!
“Mom-trepreneur” On A Mission Possible
It is not so much Caroline’s success as a chef that is so admirable, although it is very impressive, it is her life journey that is inspiring. As a single mum from a young age, life was a challenge having to juggle being a mother, earning a living and studying for Food and Nutrition diploma. Instead of being defeated by what fate has thrown in her path, she saw opportunity in adversity – the hallmark of winners. She remarks, “My mum has inspired me the most in my life. Ever since I can remember she has worked for herself doing something she is passionate about like looking after oneself naturally and her passion in the beauty world. She then opened her own high-end beauty clinic, which has proved to be a great success, plus she makes a mean laksa!” Her mother’s beauty clinic called Hibiscus is responsible for Caroline’s flawless complexion. She is also the face of the clinic with a beautiful giant picture of her hanging at the reception. Then she added, “JK Rowling, my favourite author who was also a single mum inspires me most. I just loved how she set about on her mission to write and didn’t give up. She’s a real inspiration to other single mums like myself.” Having experienced the difficulties of a single mother and becoming a successful “single mom-trepreneur”, her mission in life now is to help other single mothers to manage their lives and household more efficiently. She hopes her own success will inspire them to fulfill their own ambition to carve a career for themselves. She is currently working on a book, and she announces, “The title is “The Single Mom’s Guide to Cooking” and it’s much more than just a recipe book. It will have tips on saving time, money, fun with the kids, mom time and inspiration from other women, all combined with my best recipes that I have collected over the years. I’m also writing about my personal story, how I fell in love with cooking, to starting my YouTube show and then moving to America. I’m sharing my story as I hope to give other single moms some hope” (note: as the book will be published in America, Caroline uses the American spelling of mom for mum). It will be packed full of quick and easy recipes with a health angle to encourage single mums to cater for the family more efficiently. Quite often busy mothers tend to resort to takeaway fast food or pre-cooked frozen food from supermarkets to feed their children, food that are usually high in fat, salt and sugar. What better way to live healthily than to cook your own meals with healthier fresh ingredients in your own kitchen, not to mention it is more economical. Healthy food creates healthy minds.
From A Kitchen Help To A YouTube Star
Cooking has been in Caroline’s blood since she was fifteen inspired by her mother who was an excellent cook. There is a saying that goes, “ If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”. For Caroline, the kitchen heat is the fuel to fire her passion for food and cooking of which Malaysian and Asian dishes are her favourite. Her first foray in the culinary world started as a kitchen help in a local restaurant near where she lives in Buckinghamshire. It was a brasserie specializing in Pan Asian and French cuisine. Not one to shy away from dirtying her hands, she cherished her work experience by observing and learning from the chefs around her. Determined to pursue a career in cookery seriously, she enrolled in the Thames Valley Cookery School course for two years. After qualifying as a trained chef and nutritionist, her career progresses from a humble kitchen help to working in restaurants and private catering. One of her first proper experiences in the catering industry was running a small yet busy kitchen as a personal chef in central London for an innovation company called What If for five years where she was involved with product development for brands including Waitrose, Pepisco and Kraft. Her expertise is also sought after by large food brands such as Old El Paso, Jus Roll and Green Giant as a food consultant and helping to develop new products.
When she was made redundant in 2008, Caroline was spurred on to start her own catering business. For her, every cloud has a silver lining. The redundancy was a godsend for without the safety net of an employment, she is compelled to venture out on her own. She recalled, “My passion for tasty healthy food led me to team up with several nutritionists to help people with food intolerances. I created healthy, no-fuss recipes to accommodate my clients’ busy lifestyles – including England and Premiership League Footballer Joleon Lescott.” When she finds that people are always asking her for recipes, an idea strikes her to start making cookery video to teach the public to cook via YouTube. “I began filming and producing my own YouTube videos. I started with next to nothing and literally had to pay people with food to teach me how to film and edit”, she revealed. Today her cookery videos attracts over half a million audience worldwide and still counting.
Caroline’s popularity on YouTube leads to her discovery by BBC America and Jamie Oliver’s production company and she was cast as a contestant on a 2012 reality TV cooking show called “Chef Race”. It was a very tough survival show in which the contestants had to cook their way through America without any money, food or accommodation living off their wits and goodwill of other people. Always up for a challenge, she sailed through the competition and was named “Entrepreneur of Team UK”. It was during this escapade that she fell in love with America where she now resides with her 14-year old daughter, Bethany, the sunshine of her life. “Whatever I do, I want to give a better life for my daughter, “ she says with deep affection. She now appears regularly on Tastemade, the YouTube US food network and on daytime television show on Home and Family Hallmark Channel USA. She says of her success in America, “I am blessed to have a mentor like Suzanne dePasse. She is a famous television, music and film producer with Emmy Awards. She was also responsible for discovering the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson.” But not one to rest on her laurels, she declares she has exciting projects coming up in UK, USA and Asia. Watch this space! Fried Chillies, a production and vlogging company in Malaysia also picked up her videos on YouTube. Apparently they googled “chicken satay” and her name came up. They filmed a cookery show with her called “Simply Caroline” which was aired in 2013. Recently, Caroline along with three other female chefs was consultant to a restaurant called Gorgeous Kitchen at the newly revamped Queen’s Terminal at Terminal 2 at Heathrow. It serves international cuisine and British fares and they have written a recipe book in association with the restaurant. The Gorgeous Kitchen was just voted No 1 Airport Restaurant in the world.
Wok on Caroline! No doubt this rising star blessed with beauty and talent is poised to take the culinary world by storm. Move over Nigella Lawson!
Justin Mermella | Jan 15, 2016 at 6:07 pm
Very nice piece! I just ❤️ her and all of her hard work and accomplishments! Go Caroline!!
Michael Oon | Jan 20, 2016 at 11:58 am
I have noticed that in many cases, real life successes have come from adversity. I have just heard the story of the web site “Burbn”. The owners had only 3 months money left and they had to think very hard to survive. From the sinking ship “Burbn” came “Instagram”. I do not have to describe what Instagram is. Virtually everybody knows what it is and does.