California-based food influencer Michael Duarte is no more. He died on November 8, following a gruesome incident. Although details pertaining to the same have not been disclosed yet. He is survived by his wife Jessica and his daughter Oakley. When the incident happened, Duarte was travelling with his family to Texas. What's worse is he passed away three days after his 9th wedding anniversary.
Duarte's talent agency Alooma Media Group announced the news of his passing on his social media. The caption read, "His passion, professionalism, and creativity left a lasting mark not only on our team but on everyone who had the privilege of working with him..... From all of us at Alooma, our hearts go out to Jessica, their daughter, and everyone who is mourning this loss. Michael will be deeply missed but never forgotten." To help Jessica and Oakley, a page called GoFundMe has also been set up. And well, to support the two, a lot of people have contributed their bit also.
Take a look at his post:
Duarte rose to popularity through his cooking videos. He had a fan base of over 2 million across social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. He was popularly known as FoodWithBearHands. Fans would look forward to his recipe videos, BBQ and grilling hacks videos. Duarte was also a generous soul at heart. He would often whip up meals for strangers and those in need.
About his background and how his content creation started
Duarte grew up in a small city called Calipatria, Calif, near the US-Mexico border. Wondering how and when did his love for cooking began? Well, it was when he was just 14 years of age. His uncle owned a Mexican restaurant and this is where Duarted started working and learning cooking.
He was just 21 when his mom, who he was very close to, died of breast cancer. He worked in a lot of restaurants from ground up. From washing dishes to becoming a general manager at a steak house, he grew professionally by leaps and bounds.
His foray into content creation happened during Covid-19 pandemic. He left his job when the pandemic was ongoing and started to post cooking videos online. In fact, around the same time, he also shared with his fans about his mental health condition and how he went to rehab.
Sharing about his journey as a content creator, Duarted had mentioned that the first video was actually with his daughter and at the very onset he had realized how happy he felt after creating content. Over the course of few months, he started seeing making cooking videos as more than just mere hobby.
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