By Hannah Lau/ USF ZNews
TAMPA – Content creator and food critic Keith Lee encouraged University of South Florida students to “be patient” and work hard for their “moment”.
As the lights dimmed in the Marshall Student Center Ballroom, the air buzzed with excitement from students waiting to see Lee emerge from the curtains.
Lee stands as a prominent Black creator with 17 million followers on TikTok. He is known for his past boxing career and filming food reviews for small or struggling local businesses. Most fans know Lee for saying “I got it, let’s try it and rate it one through 10,” at the beginning of every video.
At the Black History Month University Lecture Series, Lee shared that patience is what brought him to where he is now.
“The road to blowing up overnight was a 10 year-long process,” said Lee. “You have to be patient and allow yourself to go through things that God has put you through in order to get to be who you have to be and get to places you want to go.”
He mentions taking his first steps on social media through Vine and Instagram in 2015 and then moving to TikTok in 2020.
“Anything quick doesn’t last and anything that lasts isn’t quick,” says Lee.
Roughly 350 students and community members attended the lecture.
“Keith Lee was one of the top ranked votes in our student survey,” says Caitlyn Deam, Student Engagement Coordinator and USF alumni. “We think it’s important to bring speakers who students can see themselves in, and who they can relate to and connect with because the words these speakers share tend to be more impactful on students in encouraging them on their journeys, or in seeing themselves represented.”
Andres Cruz-Abad, an attendee and USF student, shares that he found it important that Lee was able to be open about his struggles to meet rent payments during his boxing career, which was something that he and a lot of other people could relate to.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Keith Lee,” says Kayla Thomas, an attendee and USF student. “I saw the opportunity and I thought, ‘when am I gonna have the chance to see Keith Lee again?’”
She also adds that Lee talked about empowerment and remaining humble, which she says aligns well with who he is.
In response to dealing with the pressure of being a role model, Lee said “I get that people view me differently than I view myself and I have to constantly remind myself that if I wasn’t supposed to be here I wouldn’t be here. I’m just Keith y’all.”
“[He is] a man of the people,” says Earl Knighten, Lee’s interviewer and USF student.