Hi Fiverr Pro Team!

I’m grateful for the invite to apply for pro within the UGC category. I’ve been working to build my technical skillset and client management experience to be an easy YES for acceptance into this very selective category on the platform.

While I’ve only been active on Fiverr for about 16 months, I have been a content creator since 2015 and a professional commercial actress/spokesperson and hand model since 2003. Before that, I was Miss Florida and represented the state at both Miss America 2004 and Miss USA 2007 - so my experience with presenting and being in the spotlight goes back many, many years.

In my professional career, I’ve starred in commercials for VISA, Florida tourism, Colgate toothpaste, ZEST soap, Just for Men, Blue Buffalo Dog Food, Arby’s, Carl’s Jr, and Eggland’s Best. Hand modeling has been my favorite part of my professional journey and I’ve niched myself in the food category as a hand model who’s not afraid of knives, heat, and splattering oil.

I’m also a Fi-Core union member of the Screen Actors’ Guild and have professional representation in NYC (3 agents, in fact).

I’ve since established a mentorship with one of the top directors in NYC for tabletop productions. He has made himself available to me for troubleshooting creative angles, composition, lighting, and camera equipment, shortening my learning curve to making top quality content and exposing me to NYC’s best in each professional’s industry.

About Cooking Companion TV

In 2007, I thought I wanted to be a TV host. I was told to move to Los Angeles and start pounding the pavement; and was also advised “if you want to be a tv host, start hosting.” It made no sense at the time, but quickly after that, consumer access to filming equipment and editing software increased. So, in 2015, I produced my own channel, on YouTube, doing what I loved: showing others how to cook and recommending recipes to them from all around the world.

It has served as a living portfolio for hand modeling and now UGC work, while building an extensive creative skillset for planning, filming, and editing.

At nearly 11,000 subscribers, I have slowly built a niche audience for people who enjoy aesthetic food videos that entertain while getting right to the point: the cooking!

I’m now focusing on building audience engagement to offer paid promotions on the channel as a trusted influencer and educator.

Part of this brand-building strategy includes published courses on private platforms like SkillShare and Udemy in my ‘Cook the Best’ Series for cooking the best eggs (and eventually chicken). I’m part of Skillshare’s invite-only community of ‘Rising Teachers’ where we receive one-on-one attention from SkillShare staff to improve our course material and presentation, evening winning a coveted ‘Staff Pick’ designation for my first published course.

My Workflow: UGC

Leaning heavily on my commercial production experience, I implement the valuable approach of pre-production planning like storyboarding. If a client does not provide scripting and scene direction, they can add this service as a gig extra. Not only do I write a script, but I meticulously plan each scene so the client has a clear vision of what the final product will look like. This gives us a solid communication tool to discuss what elements of their product they want shown and/or talked about, and how much time they want spent on each element. It helps to sharpen their goals for the video and what the video has time to focus on, creating a more impactful end result. I include 2-3 hooks in the script they can choose from or upgrade their package to test all of them. This allows the client to feel like they participated in the project and have more of an investment in the process, leading to greater satisfaction.

Once the client has communicated that the storyboard features everything they want to see and they approve the script, I begin filming. This process, though it seems to constrict creativity, has created even more space for impromptu creative inspiration. Because I’m not spending my filming time deciding what to film and experimenting with angles and content, I film what I planned to and THEN, I play! Then, I try a new angle or a new tone - I add a new movement or I just do what feels natural.

Sometimes this results in a learning experience for myself (maybe a new setup doesn’t work how I expected); sometimes it’s a leveled up visual for the client; sometimes it’s unexpected additional content for them. And sometimes, the process simply makes me more efficient in my work flow and the product is delivered early.

My Workflow: Cooking Videos

I’ve always loved food and what it represents to each of us - and how it can bring us together. So when a client hires me for a recipe video, I want their audience to be completely captivated by the experience this product/recipe can give them. My style doesn’t rely on a lot of props to fill the scene. I prefer to let the viewer feel like it’s just them and this delicious plate of food in front of them and nothing else exists.

I’ve studied food photography through the Foodtography School program and use SkillShare to learn how to better use my editing programs.

In my selection of surfaces, backdrops, and props, I think about the colors the final dish will have - and the texture. I create visually appealing scenes using basic color theory and composition techniques. My experience as a hand model keeps me in close proximity to highly successful and experienced food stylists and creative directors, and I closely watch how they make creative decisions to implement the same techniques in my own productions.

I have also learned how food behaves for the camera and more importantly, how to make it behave to meet my creative vision. For delectable drizzles, sprinkles, pours, and pokes, timing is everything. Well, and editing.

With my Fuji XS-20, I can capture up to 240fps for the ultimate slow motion movement; I can capture 4K resolution which gives significant more flexibility when editing, to punch in on just the right part of the scene without losing resolution. I can use a DJI gimbal to follow a specific movement or I can use a turntable to rotate the scene for a 360 effect.

Equipment

Cooking videos are primarily filmed on a Fuji XS-20 with 35mm, 50mm, and sometimes a 24mm lens. I film in a studio environment to control constant light from a Nanlite on a c-stand, sometimes with a diffuser, but lately I’ve leaned into hard light and even creating fake window grids to create shadows.

Spokesperson and green screen videos are filmed with the Fuji with a teleprompter setup.

UGC videos are mostly filmed with an iPhone15 Pro, on 60fps and sometimes 4K.

Audio is always on DJI mics, slightly denoised to remove room noise and slight treble increase to increase clarity from denoising.

Lighting is my favorite prop, so I’ll always reflect light onto my shadowed side, as I film around the apartment.

Editing

Using Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Lightroom for photography and videos, I regularly study high performing videos to incorporate new editing elements like animated text to add movement to static product scenes and masking for multiple simultaneous movements or fixing background mistakes (including Photoshop’s Generative AI to create realistic shadows).

Incorporating scaled movement to zoom in or out of scenes in post-production, enhanced by custom bezier settings, has improved the overall look and feel of my videos, keeping users engaged with even slight movement.

White balance and color correction bring out vibrant colors in my skin and wardrobe, ensuring visually aesthetic footage.

Using greenscreen to extend filming during the winter: I will use background photos of scenes in my own home to extend filming hours for talking head scenes during the winter time, when sunlight is sparse.

Studying and incorporating direct-to-consumer market trends in editing (i.e., captions vs no captions vs phrase highlight captions vs dynamic captions).

Studying D2C Trends and Performance

What types of hooks are performing well for which type of audience; are we still holding a mic in the scene or are we stirring ice in a glass for visual hooks; regardless of trends, we know that genuine connection with the audience converts the most and I use my professional acting background to break that fourth wall and speak directly to a person on the other side of the camera.

Specifically with scripts for cooking videos, it’s easy to fall into the basic recipe instructional narrative. But that doesn’t keep viewers around. STORYTELLING does. I specialize in using the recipe or something unique about the recipe, to tell a story or educate the audience so they receive some value in watching the video in addition to enjoying the aesthetic I create. For instance, this video for Oklahoma Beef Council received the highest views in their recent videos (including other videos by other Fiverr sellers) because I used a trending hook (“I don’t know who needs to hear this”) and I used the recipe to tell a story about not spending all your time in the kitchen to create a show-stopping holiday meal.

Communication with clients

If one thing sets me apart from a lot of other creators, it’s how I negotiate usage for videos and photos. Again, pulling from my experience in broadcast commercials, I comfortably articulate and negotiate rates based on 12 months of paid media usage or usage in perpetuity, allowing for organic usage like social media channels, websites, and even Amazon listing content archival usage.

I know that 12 months is a lifetime in digital marketing; I also know that agencies request perpetual usage because they can’t control a client if the client leaves the agency; and some clients just want the peace of mind of perpetual usage.

I am STOKED that Fiverr has incorporated this into their UGC gigs, as it helps set a standard of expectation that buyers will have to articulate usage and be ready to negotiate usage. I hope, as an early adapter of these new features, that I can encourage other creators to follow my lead.

And that’s just for videos - that’s not including all the ways to negotiate for STILL photos, especially within food photography! This is an area I would like to develop more, as it allows me to truly scale my earning potential with food photograpy/videography.

Beyond usage, I have grown considerably in my communication skills with clients, learning the right balance of keeping them updated, when to give them options for participation, and how to anticipate potential misunderstandings. But if there is a misunderstanding, I work to position options with positive psychology and managing up (“I can do this, or that. I recommend this because….”) so it’s an easy yes.

I’m learning to describe my script/storyboard process so clients can feel more secure in choosing me as a creator and look forward to hearing from me.

And, I’m open with my gratitude for the project. There are SO MANY options on the platform and I am truly grateful that they found and chose me to work with.