Lifestyle

Tim Cheung Builds a Food Blogger Community

Published

5 years ago

August 5, 2020

In the era of technology, social media has allowed people to connect with those who share the same interests and passions. Some share tweets or posts they know their followers will enjoy. Others review products or restaurants to let their followers in on the hottest trends. But there is a special group of people who have connected and created friendships and professional relationships to help each other design the appropriate content to fit their brand’s aesthetic. These people have created an extremely supportive community.

When Tim Cheung began his food blogging journey five years ago, he realized not a lot of people were talking about the local food scene. As he started sharing his experiences and visiting minority-owned spots, he gained more Instagram followers on his Bay Area Foodies account and received messages thanking him for the inspiration to become food bloggers themselves. Because of this, he was able to connect with people who were as passionate as him about food. Therefore, building a collaborative and strong food blogger community in the Bay Area.

For Cheung, it is important to create consistent yet fun content in order to make his work fun. If he starts seeing food blogging as a chore, he knows he is more than likely to stop enjoying it. He says “the best way to be consistent is to constantly find ways to make this hobby fun for yourself. I have met a lot of people that have eventually given up because they started seeing food blogging like a chore.” This is why he has surrounded himself with a community that motivates him to continue outdoing himself. It was by connecting with these other food bloggers that he realized food tastes better when it is being shared.

How did this foodie who is crazy for all the newest food hypes connect with people like him? Social media was the key. Once he established a connection with other food bloggers who were interested in helping get the word out on all the amazing mom and pop restaurants in the Bay Area, Tim organized collaborative food crawls once or twice a week. Before COVID-19 hit and lockdown was set in place, these food bloggers would visit several spots together in one day. Thus, allowing to motivate each other and help create captivating content for their respective accounts.

“Following a posting schedule is important in keeping your audience interested and definitely helps in growing your following,” says Cheung. Creating this special community helps hold one another accountable. It is easier and more enjoyable for food bloggers to drive everywhere together to try the most exciting and newest foods to later blog about them and keep their followers interested. This support group also serves as a great source of inspiration when it comes to editing photos or videos in a more appealing manner and thinking of catchy captions for every post.

Tim Cheung has always been passionate about food and was able to successfully turn that into a career by utilizing his digital marketing and social media marketing experience. Since the beginning, his goal has been to bring attention to minority-owned businesses that were not getting the recognition they deserved. As he embarked in this delicious venture, he connected with other professional food photographers who shared his interests. It was then Cheung was able to build a food blogger community in the Bay Area that inspired him to keep his journey fun and his content consistently captivating.

Lifestyle

Derik Fay: The Strategist Who Built Empires Where Others Saw Limits

Published

2 days ago

June 22, 2025

Michelle Langton

In the ever-changing landscape of entrepreneurship, few names carry the weight of strategic precision like Derik Fay. Behind the scenes of some of the most dynamic, growth-driven companies in America, Fay has become a master at the art of scaling businesses without sacrificing soul.

What makes his journey all the more compelling isn’t just what he’s done — it’s how quietly and deliberately he’s done it. Born in Westerly, Rhode Island, on a cold November day in 1978, Fay didn’t come from connections or capital. He came from resilience. Raised in modest circumstances, he developed a mindset early on that would come to define his success: if a door doesn’t open, build the damn frame yourself.

At 6’1″, Fay’s physical presence is matched only by the magnitude of his vision. Over the past two decades, he’s grown from a solo operator into a force that touches nearly every major sector in American business. He is best known as the founder of 3F Management, a multi-sector venture and private equity firm that acts less like a bank and more like a command center — diagnosing broken business structures, overhauling teams, and rebuilding revenue engines from the inside out.

But 3F is only the beginning. Fay holds active leadership or board roles across a broad range of ventures, including Around the Clock Fitness, SalonPlex, Results Roofing, BIGG Pharma, Tycoon Payments, Eratyc Entertainment, FayMs Films, and even the combat sports disruptor Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships (BKFC). Each of these businesses reflects a different side of his philosophy: high-functioning systems, vertical integration, and zero tolerance for mediocrity.

And while his public persona is often understated, the reach is massive. His online presence alone has generated billions of views, with over 1.4 million followers engaging with his strategic insights, mentorship content, and thought leadership across platforms. He’s not an influencer — he’s an executor with influence.

Yet behind the numbers and headlines is a family man. Since 2021, Fay has shared his life with his partner, Shandra Phillips, whose presence he often credits as grounding his often chaotic, deal-driven world. Together, they raise two daughters, Sophia Elena Fay and Isabella Roslyn Fay — the true north to his professional compass.

Despite his vast portfolio, Fay is not driven by applause. He’s driven by the ripple effect. Every deal, every venture, every mentorship session carries the same intention: to leave people, companies, and communities better than he found them.

He’s also begun exploring a new frontier — film and entertainment. Through FayMs Films and strategic partnerships with entertainment studios, Fay is merging business with storytelling, stepping occasionally into the spotlight as an actor and executive producer. It’s a logical evolution for a man who’s spent his life crafting narratives — only now, some of them play out on screen.

And while many entrepreneurs spend their careers chasing validation, Fay has been repeatedly recognized in major outlets like Forbes, Yahoo Finance, and Maxim, not for buzz but for results. He’s been cited alongside legacy names in global business and continues to operate with the same laser-focus that got him through his first startup, his first failure, and his first million-dollar win.

In a time when founders obsess over being seen, Derik Fay has built something far rarer — he’s become essential. Not just to his companies, but to the evolving definition of what modern leadership looks like: measured, disciplined, people-first, and unapologetically ambitious.

He doesn’t just build businesses.
He builds systems that build people.

Derikfay.com