Converting a hobby...

“That made me never have the desire to go out back to work, because if I am making all that money sitting at home, why go and slave myself out at the job? I can work at home in my own time, “she said.

“Candy

Tha Glam Cook”

Initially, Richeson’s YouTube channel started out under another name, “Guyanese Cooking with Candy.” However, she noted that the name seemed too “common”, and she also considered the foods she cooked. “I realise I don’t only cook Guyanese foods; I can cook everything and anything. So, I don’t want to limit myself or seem as if it is only Guyanese food I can cook,” she explained.

Richeson said, too, that she observed several per- sons using names like hers at the time. “I noticed everyone was like: ‘Cooking with that’, ‘Cooking with this’, so I thought it was too common; so, I decided to rebrand myself,” she added.

She said she loves fashion, and dressing up is among her favourite pastimes. “I love to look good, and my name on Instagram was ‘Glambitious’, meaning glamourous and ambitious. I said I would name my channel ‘Candy the Glam Cook’ because I am all about glam and fashion and I want my food to look glamorous. My food must reflect me. I searched around and I realized nobody has the name, and the rest is history,” she explained.

Richeson said the entire process started out as a hobby, and it still is. “I love what

I do, and if I were to stop being paid, I would still do it,” Richeson said. However, she said she has decided to make a schedule in which she cooks a set number of meals, and she would post videos consistently to YouTube. “I ensure I post around 3 videos per week,” she said.

In addition, she noted that it is better to cook every day, since it is cheaper than purchasing meals on the road. “Now it is more like a job. I treat it like a job, where I have my schedule when it comes to posting,” she added.

The entrepreneur said she records and edits her own videos. She explained that she decided to carry out research on how to shoot the videos, how to edit them, and add voiceovers as well. “I am very efficient…by simply looking at it on video and learn,” she said.

She describes herself as a jack of all trades, noting that she performs her own hairdressing role in styling her hair. “I don’t go to the salon, I can sew, I can cook, I didn’t attend a school to learn these things,” she said. “Like a phone…simply go into an app, get a sketch video where you can play around with the editing, and that is how you learn,” she said.

For her videos, Richeson said, she would ensure her kitchen is spotless prior to videoing her cooking. “I don’t do live cooking videos. I would shoot every step of the process, I would cut the video at specific times, and then, when editing, I put together all the videos and then add the voiceover, and that’s it,” she explained.

Getting monetised

Richeson said that, in order to make money via YouTube, or ‘monetise’, one must attain 1000 subscribers as well as 400,000 watch hours. “Then you would be invited to the YouTube partnership, where your channel can be monetised,” she ex- plained. Richeson also has Facebook and Instagram accounts under the same name: ‘Candy Tha Glam Cook’. These both have growing numbers of subscribers.

She said that in Virginia, where she and her family reside, there are no Guyanese restaurants; the foods closest to home are those at the Jamaican restaurants. As such, Richeson cooks her favourite Guyanese foods regularly, and she plans to continue showcasing her skills cooking those foods as well as foods from other countries.

In terms of advice, she says that if one has a skill, one should utilise it to the best of one’s ability. And people should utilise the opportunities which the internet brings.

“I would advise anyone to start a YouTube channel. This social media is ideal for any generation. Pretty soon this is where everything will be. The first step is to simply start. Post anything! Everyone starts off rocky, but you would become good as time progresses,” Richeson has said.

Rommel DeSouza has been fixated on the strings and sounds of the guitar since he was approximately 12 years old, and today his love for the instrument has evolved, through a musical journey that has been filled with joy, excitement and memorable moments, to one in which he has established himself as a musician with a hunger to expand his musical horizons.

“At the age of 12, I started attending guitar les-