Today we’d like to introduce you to Kareem Pinkston.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m the owner of EATING OCEANSIDE LLC.; a social media company that was established to support & promote local food establishments in Oceanside, CA.
I created this brand back in 2019, just before the pandemic hit America. During the quarantines, I witnessed the economic struggle & hardships of the local businesses in Oceanside and I wanted to help in any way possible.
In 2020, I used @eatingoceanside on Instagram as a food vlog account, one that would bring awareness to the community that many businesses were still opened and were trying to adapt to the new economy.
It appeared that many businesses were accustomed to having tourists, along with local patrons, visit their establishments and weren’t acclimated to food-delivery services or the true value of social media marketing.
I saw this and acted as a liaison between the businesses and the community.
With the quarantine in effect and people spending more time online, I would spend numerous hours marketing and promoting local businesses to the city of Oceanside. I would assist small business owners online in creating their brand and establishing their online presence on social media.
Although I am not new to food vlogging or promoting businesses online, the sense of desperation made this a very strenuous task; to me, our cities livelihood was at risk.
So I spent countless hours learning all about branding, social media marketing and the infamous Instagram algorithm; all the better to serve local food establishments.
I created my own online content by ordering food, taking photos & videos, documenting reviews and then editing all of the content.
I would then spend endless hours promoting this content while reaching out & building relationships with others online; in essence, building my own local foodie community. I have also become a social media marketing specialist in this process.
In 2021, @eatingoceanside and its food community has organically grown to over 5000 members and still serve to support local vendors and small businesses in Oceanside.
It’s 2022 and I hope to continue serving local businesses, the community and tourists by promoting Oceanside and the plethora of food experiences that it has to offer.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
By far, the biggest challenge was the dire circumstances that our community was enduring during the 2020 pandemic. Not only was there political conflicts, but people were suffering from depression, anxiety and many other social stresses; myself included.
It was difficult to not get immersed into the divisive negativity that was amidst us all.
Financial burdens was also an extreme reality for me. My main occupation is educating kids with disabilities in school and I wasn’t working and was late to receive my unemployment payments.
Lastly, one of my biggest challenges was self-teaching myself how to be a social media specialist and promotion strategist.
I spent hours learning this craft, along with growing my foodie community organically.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am known as a social media marketing specialist. I am also an online content creator. But before all of this, I am a photographer.
I’ve been sharing my love of food through photography since 2009. I started on the island of St. Croix, where I would showcase all of my dining experiences online.
I also enjoy capturing the magnificent sunsets of Oceanside. Basically, I love to capture the essence & beauty of nature.
My food community enjoys my expressive nature and my candid facial expressions while food vlogging. I’m very animated in nature, but this is probably due to my inner-childlike energy and my working with kids at school (my main occupation).
Fun fact, I originally posted only photos of food, nature & inspiring quotes and I never intended to record myself eating food.
But there was this one time that I did a shout-out video to a business while eating online and I received an overwhelming response to continue recording myself while eating.
After some thought, it made sense.
I get it! I’m literally “Eating Oceanside”!
I think what sets me apart from other food vloggers is that I’m honestly expressive and I try my best to cover every business, especially small mom & pops shops.
Many vloggers will take photos of food, but few will get in front of the camera and eat.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I spent my childhood as an only child. I was raised on the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. As a youth, one could always find me out in the island’s natural paradise; if I wasn’t climbing a tree for some fruit, I was running through grassy fields or swimming at the beach. Growing up in the islands was a blessing; especially having a small community where “it takes a village”.
I was shy, reclusive and only had a handful of friends. But I also had an active imagination and loved my cartoons & toys. Spending most of my time alone, I was by myself and didn’t have a social life.
After ten years, my brother was born and I had to help my single mother raise my brother. I learned about responsibility quickly and some aspects of parenting.
Growing up with modest means, my mother was able to always keep is clothed, fed and our education was always paramount.
She did her best to keep a roof over our heads, albeit we moved all around the island and consequently, I’ve been to at least seven schools growing up.
Not to mention the devastating hurricanes that caused me to evacuate the island.
It was a surreal childhood, filled with abundant happiness and much grief.
In relation to food, my mother taught us to ‘eat for sustenance’. We didn’t have the means to ‘eat for flavor’ and sometimes we would have leftovers several times a week.
I grew up on a staple of oatmeal or cereal in the morning with pancakes on the weekend. Dinner would typically be rice & beans.
It was the best that my single mom could do on her limited budget while raising us and I’m forever grateful that she raised me to appreciate the value of food & its nutrition; not just to enjoy its flavors.
Contact Info:
- Email: eatingoceanside@gmail.com
- Website: www.EatingOceanside.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/eatingoceanside
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatingoceanside
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/eatingoceanside
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=586rlQBA2BKRuWvFNBS_Lg&utm_source=ishare
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=32327830
