Angie French has never posted on Instagram, doesn’t have a TikTok account, and admits she “wouldn’t know how to upload a picture” if somebody asked her.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Arkansas, Angie never intended to become a content creator in the modern sense of the term. “I’ve been influencing my family and my friends. I’ve been doing it before there was a word ‘influencer,'” Angie explains with characteristic Southern warmth. “It was just that gift of gab and wanting to share what I know.”

A stay-at-home mom for over 30 years, she learned to cook by necessity when her husband, Michael French, joined the military and they were stationed in Germany. “My mom didn’t cook. We ate out for almost every meal. So I didn’t know how to cook when I got married,” Angie recalls. 

With nothing but cookbooks and VHS tapes sent by her mother, she taught herself to prepare practical meals that brought her family together around the table every night.

Through Michael, who serves as President of Family Features—a 51-year-old content marketing company specializing in food and lifestyle content distribution—Angie entered the digital world of content creation.

“It wasn’t even me bringing it forward,” Michael explains. “When we would do get-togethers and potlucks, employees would always ask, ‘What’s Angie bringing?’ Then, when we had a client with an out-of-sorts recipe, they said, ‘Can Angie help us out?'”

United with Family Features, the self-taught home cook and creator behind Cookin’ Savvy shares practical, family-focused recipes. This informal assistance became a structured partnership about two years ago. 

This January, Family Features officially partnered Angie’s Cookin’ Savvy brand with Culinary.net, their food-focused distribution platform that reaches over 320,000 followers across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

The partnership has a clearly defined division of responsibilities: Angie creates recipes and content, while Family Features handles all technical aspects, from photography and video production to platform management and distribution strategy.

Inside the Partnership: A Strategic Division of Labor

The Cookin’ Savvy/Culinary.net partnership operates under a formal business structure that solves a persistent problem in influencer marketing: maintaining both authentic expertise and professional production quality.

“What made this partnership a perfect fit for me is that I get to do what I love,” Angie explains. “I can do the cooking part. I can do the creative part. I can make it look pretty, and I can make it taste good.”

Family Features, meanwhile, provides technical services across multiple dimensions of digital content creation. Their team handles all professional photography and videography, ensuring consistent quality visual assets. They manage social media distribution across all platforms and oversee content scheduling and platform management. 

The company also conducts analytics and performance tracking while developing audience growth strategies that Angie wouldn’t have the technical knowledge to implement herself.

“I wouldn’t know how to upload a picture if you asked me to,” Angie admits candidly. “I don’t have to think about that part. I can just do what I do.”

This arrangement addresses a common challenge for brands working with influencers: inconsistent quality in recipes, photography, or production values.

Michael describes their value proposition to clients as follows: “We are providing that corporate structure for her to help with photos and videos. That’s the area our clients have been concerned with when they work with influencers—recipes that maybe weren’t easy to do or were overly complicated. The photos may not be the best.”

Partnership Results: Metrics and Growth Trajectory

The partnership between Cookin’ Savvy and Culinary.net has established specific performance metrics and growth targets:

• YouTube growth from 7,000 to 20,000+ subscribers in four months
• Consistent 30% like-to-view ratios on video content
• Goal of 25,000-30,000 YouTube subscribers by year-end 2025
• Target of 300,000 Facebook followers for Culinary.net (currently at 260,000)
• Instagram growth from 4,000 followers toward a higher target
• Pinterest audience expansion from current 28,000 followers

With 5,000 new YouTube subscribers added in January and February 2025 alone, the partnership is exceeding initial growth projections.

For Angie, however, success isn’t measured primarily through digital metrics. “If I can help somebody else make it easier, I’ll do it,” she says simply. “If it brings families together—I think that’s what we’re supposed to be anyway, grouped together, helping one another, doing this thing called life together.”

Angie’s Content Strategy: Practical Simplicity

Angie’s approach to content centers on a foundation of extreme brevity in written content, which starkly contrasts with most food blogs. 

“My blogs are very short, very to the point. I never want to have a ‘jump to the recipe’ button on my blog,” she explains, referring to the navigation element commonly found on recipe blogs with lengthy introductions. “I want people to be able to find that recipe, get the job done, see if they like it, pass it if they don’t.”

This brevity extends to her practical recipe development process, where Angie focuses on one-pot meals, simple ingredients, and techniques accessible to novice cooks. Her goal isn’t to create impressive, complex dishes but meals that bring families together without stress. 

“It doesn’t have to be complicated. Take back your time. You don’t have to spend all day in the kitchen cooking and cleaning that night. It can be a one-pot deal, and everybody loves it,” she emphasizes.

Perhaps most distinctive in Angie’s strategy is her emphasis on adaptability over precision. Unlike many recipe developers who insist on exact measurements and techniques, Angie encourages experimentation and personalization. 

“If your family doesn’t like a spice, leave it out. Say I don’t have mustard in some—add mustard. I’m not a spicy kind of gal—add the spice, see what happens,” she advises, believing that cooking should adapt to individual tastes rather than force rigid adherence to instructions.

For upcoming content, Angie plans themed series rather than standalone recipes. “In April and May, my topics are going to be soups and sandwiches, then salads for May,” she explains.

Michael believes this straightforward approach drives their high engagement rates. “People want authenticity, and they’re just not getting much of that,” he observes. “There’s just so much on social media and online that is more staged or derived. It’s not something that just naturally flows and is very organic.”

The “Off-Platform Influencer”: A New Talent Model

Angie’s self-described position as an “off-platform influencer” identifies a potentially untapped talent pool for creator economy professionals. 

Her natural tendency to share cooking tips in everyday settings translates well to digital content, despite her lack of social media experience.

“I can’t not help somebody if I know the answer,” she explains, describing interactions at grocery stores. “Usually it’s because I’m hearing conversations of, ‘Is that supposed to be this frosting or that frosting with carrot cake?’ And I answer the question. Or, ‘Where can I find such and such?’ ‘Oh, that is over there on aisle two.'”

Unlike creators who developed their voice through social media, Angie brings an already-formed, authentic communication style honed through decades of real-world interactions.

Angie’s Second Act

For Angie, this partnership represents an unexpected second career after decades as a stay-at-home mother. “What excites me the most is that this is my second act,” she explains. “I can broaden because I’m not just limited to what my family’s going to eat.”

As she prepares themed content series on spring soups and sandwiches for April and salads for May, Angie approaches her digital journey with a mixture of humility and excitement.

“Not knowing where this is gonna go… if it ended tomorrow, it would be OK, but boy, if it skyrocketed, what a ride,” she reflects. “It’s an adventure because I’ve only just been a mom.”

Angie’s case study demonstrates that sometimes the most compelling content creators aren’t found on social media but in grocery store aisles, community gatherings, or family kitchens.

“I’m just getting started,” Angie says. “Y’all just hold on. It’s going to be a ride.”