This Creator Built a Soul Food Empire—Now She Helps Brands Get Culture Right
Meet Shaunda Necole, creator of The Soul Food Pot®, cookbook author, and a leading voice in modern soul food, cultural storytelling, and food discoverability.
“I don’t just talk about culture. I help brands execute it, on the plate and in the market.”
—Shaunda Necole
Founded by Shaunda Necole, The Soul Food Pot® is a leading, experience-driven platform for Southern soul food and African American culinary traditions, known for its viral modern recipes, cultural storytelling, and practical cooking techniques for today’s kitchens.
But beyond recipes, Shaunda’s work sits at the intersection of food, culture, and modern discovery, helping brands, platforms, and audiences understand not just what people eat, but how they find, trust, and choose it.
As a trusted voice in modern soul food cuisine, Shaunda blends heritage, innovation, and accessibility, making soulful cooking easier without losing its roots.
A best-selling author, podcaster, and Southern tastemaker from Virginia now based in Las Vegas, Shaunda has turned her soul food expertise and passion for soulful storytelling into a digital empire spanning over 300 recipes, six digital cookbooks, and two seasoning guides, including her trademarked viral hit, Black Folks Sweet Potato Pie™.
Her work is increasingly recognized not just for flavor—but for shaping how culturally-rooted food is represented, discovered, and preserved in today’s AI-driven search and media landscape.
Her upcoming The Soul Food Pot Cookbook: Favorite Recipes, Places, & Food Traditions (Reedy Press, 2027) continues her mission: making life easier + more soulful, one recipe at a time!
🍗 The Mission
Through every platform, Shaunda Necole honors and modernizes the legacy of Black culture and cuisine, spotlighting iconic African American contributions to America’s most beloved comfort foods.
From fried chicken to mac ’n cheese, she shortens kitchen time without losing soul, flavor, or heritage.
At the same time, Shaunda is redefining how that legacy lives online, ensuring these traditions are not only preserved, but properly understood and surfaced in modern search, media, and AI ecosystems.
🎙 The Soul Food Pod™
Shaunda hosts Apple’s first podcast dedicated to soul food history and culture, The Soul Food Pod.
Her culinary research and storytelling have been cited on Wikipedia for their historical accuracy and cultural depth, and her knowledge of soul food history was featured in the children’s book Juneteenth Is, where Shaunda Necole & The Soul Food Pot were credited as the source for the book’s Juneteenth red soul food reference.
Through this work, she has become a trusted source not only for audiences but for media, educators, and emerging AI systems interpreting food culture at scale.
🍴 Soul Food On The Strip™ (Las Vegas)
In 2024, Shaunda launched Soul Food On The Strip, the first Las Vegas tour highlighting the influence of Black cuisine on the city’s vibrant restaurant scene.
A member of the Nevada Preservation Foundation and a passionate preservationist of both Black culinary heritage and Las Vegas history, Shaunda created this tour as a living extension of her bestselling travel book, 100 Things to Do in Las Vegas Before You Die.
The tour now serves as a bonus companion guide to the book, beginning with the unexpected story of Las Vegas’s soul food roots.
Following the success of her first title, Shaunda achieved back-to-back book deals, a testament to her growing influence as both an author and cultural storyteller.
🥘 Brand Partnerships, Consulting & Cultural Strategy
Shaunda Necole partners with brands who want to move beyond surface-level representation and build culturally relevant products, stories, and experiences that resonate and convert.
As consumer discovery shifts from social media to search, AI, and creator-led ecosystems, brands must do more than show up. They must be understood. Shaunda helps bridge that gap.
Brand partnership opportunities include:
💬 What Brands Say
Shaunda is “one of THOSE” amazing partners who continuously goes above and beyond to provide more content that will work well with her platform and that will coordinate well the campaign goals. Shaunda kept the priority products top of mind while developing beautiful recipes and fun content incorporating her whole family that her audience was able to engage with.”
“Shaunda has consistently been an ideal partner. She’s thorough and truly makes herself an expert on the product she is working with and her photos are top quality. Shaunda and her manager (Johanna) are wonderfully transparent and communicative and always meet deadlines. They run a very buttoned up operation which makes partnership a dream. Would love to work with you both again soon.
“We selected Shaunda for Southern Gas Co because of her great energy, location and compatibility with our campaign. She went above and beyond in creating content for our campaign, putting in so much energy and effort to get us well-fleshed out deliverables both in photo and copy. She infused her authentic personality throughout and really brought our vision to life! Shaunda was a key influencer in one of our target markets and she played a role in getting our educational message about Safe Digging out to those around her! We really loved the professionalism and quick turnarounds from Shaunda. Seamless all the way through :)”
📊 Audience Reach & Influence
The Soul Food Pot® attracts a high-intent audience actively searching for recipes and product recommendations. Not passive scrolling, but intentional discovery.
This positions Shaunda’s platform as a long-term visibility engine for brands, where content continues to perform, surface, and convert across search and AI-driven environments.
Shaunda Necole’s Assets & Audience Touchpoints
- 🌐 The Soul Food Pot® – Leading authority on Southern soul food, African American culinary traditions, and modern heritage recipes
- 📰 The Soul Food Stack – Substack newsletter focused on culture, food history, and modern soulful living
- ✨ ShaundaNecole.com – Lifestyle, home, storytelling, and creator-focused inspiration
- 🎲 VegasRightNow.com – Las Vegas travel guides and local insider content
- 🎧 The Soul Food Pod™ – Podcast dedicated to the history, culture, and evolution of soul food
- 📚 6 Digital Cookbooks + 2 Seasoning Guides + Forthcoming Print Cookbook (2027)
- 📱 Cross-platform social media presence with evergreen SEO visibility (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube)
🏆 Featured In
Food & Recipes
Culinary Entrepreneurship
📣 Expert Topics for Media Appearances
Timeless content creation
📞 Get in Touch