From home cook to ‘Next Level Chef’: Social media influencer Omi Hopper’s love of cooking changed her world

By May 2020, Hopper had been invited to host a cooking segment on Univision’s morning show, “Despierta America.”

It’s “like ‘Good Morning America’ for Latinos,” Hopper said. “The moment that aired, everything changed. My world changed.”

Three years later, more than half a million TikTokers, 344,000 Instagrammers and 185,000 Facebookers follow “Cooking Con Omi,” where Hopper invites people “to share with me my culture, my phrases and the joy of Puerto Rican cuisine.”

The self-taught cook recently finished as a semi-finalist in season two of “Next Level Chef,” FOX’s reality TV cooking competition with Gordon Ramsay. The notoriously picky Ramsay even asked for Hopper’s buñuelos recipe.

In 2022, Hopper shared her story in a powerful Instagram video, looking back at her pre-pandemic days working two makeup jobs: “Burning the candle on both ends… Missing out on life. …Sad all the time. I still gave the best of me… I never wanted my kids to feel what I was going through… A pandemic shut down the world… So I started to share my recipes… And you all responded… I started to dream again.”

This social media influencer is literally going places. She’s been invited to Puerto Rican Festival Chicago’s People’s Parade on June 10, and will be honored as a “trailblazer” at the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York on June 11.

“I’m gonna live my best Marc Anthony-and-JLo moment,” Hopper said with a laugh.

Her bubbly personality, she says, might be one reason her following has grown by leaps and bounds. Watching her dance, her smile is contagious.

A native of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, Hopper and her husband Kradin live in East Providence with their four sons, who range in age from 11 to 25.

We called Hopper to ask about her journey from hobby cook to “Next Level Chef” and beyond.

You started out alone in your kitchen, and just became a semi-finalist on “Next Level Chef.” Tell me about that journey.

Hopper: I’ve always been the Puerto Rican Martha Stewart. I love cooking, entertaining. During the pandemic — as an extrovert in the house all day — I was going crazy. I decided to show what I was cooking at home. I have four boys, my husband makes five. I was sharing everything I was making, and [the following] just kept getting bigger and bigger.

You started this in Providence and have since moved to East Providence.

Right. And I came to the US at 11 from Puerto Rico. I went to Roger Williams Middle School, Central High School and the University of Rhode Island for a while, but I didn’t finish. I left in 2001.

The cooking passion came from my grandmother. My mom is also an amazing cook, so are my aunts. In every Latino household, there’s that one person who cooks — in my house, there were six women: my grandmother and five daughters. They’d have mini-competitions in the kitchen: “Mine’s better.” “No, mine’s better. Try this one.”

I had so much fun watching them that it drew me into the kitchen. I came here at 11, and every summer after that, my mom sent me back to Puerto Rico to spend time with my grandmother. We’d cook all the time.

What did you like about cooking?

I was a professional makeup artist before I started “Cooking Con Omi.” The satisfaction I got with makeup is the same satisfaction I get cooking — just making someone else feel better. You’re not just tasting the food — you’re tasting the love put into it.

Your grandmother was a major influence. What are some favorite dishes you made with her?

Oh my gosh. My favorite was guanimes con bacalao. She’d often make that for lunchtime. And vianda con bacalao — root vegetables in a vinaigrette with garlic and onions, with bacalao [salted cod]. With extra-virgin olive oil, it emulsifies. It tastes amazing.

There was a powerful moment on “Next Level Chef” where Gordon Ramsay liked a dish you made that reminded you of your grandmother. He called it halibut-three-ways.

Yes, Caldo’e Pezcáo. My grandfather used to fish. Whenever he’d come home with fish, my grandmother would make un revive muerto. It was like a potent broth.

The challenge that episode was fish; I used it three ways. I pan-seared the filet. Then I made broth — I boiled the fish-head and the tail with vegetables. Then I took the skin and made chicharron. Then I made fritters, bacalaitos.

Ramsay also asked for your buñuelos recipe.

He loved that recipe. They’re like little donut holes. I made them for a baking challenge — they’re typically fried, but I figured if I [baked] the dough long enough [it might work.] When those things came out of the oven, I could cry. I couldn’t believe how perfect they came out. It was a moment.

Going back a bit in your journey — you left URI in 2001. What did you do next?

So my mom moved back to Puerto Rico when I was 18. I’d already established a whole new life here. I was living by myself, working two jobs, going to school. I ended up sacrificing school to keep working and continue to live, really.

When I had my third son, instead of handing my paycheck to the babysitter, my husband and I agreed it was better for me to stay home. Then a friend of mine was getting married. I’d always done makeup for fun. Out of that wedding came my first paying client. I kept working the craft. I joined Sephora. I also had my own studio.

I did that for 10 years, then the pandemic happened. So I’m home, trying to find a way to entertain myself. March 2020 was the very first video I ever made. I literally said, “Does anybody want to cook with me? I’m home. I’m bored. Here’s what I’m making!”

I never thought: “I’ll be a social media influencer now.” But in the process, I found purpose, because people all over the world were telling me: “Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My grandmother passed away when I was young and never got to teach me that.” Or “Your videos have made me and my daughter closer.”

I love that. So in that first video, what did you make?

The first video to go viral was my sofrito. Sofrito is the base of every Puerto Rican dish. It’s our flavor profile. It went viral because everyone makes sofrito, but I made a marinade out of it. And people were like, “What?! That’s never been heard of.”

From there, I just kept recreating every dish I made with my grandmother.

She died before you got to cook with her one last time.

In 2020, I’d call her, FaceTime. She’d say, “I can’t wait to cook with you again.” In August 2021, I got to Puerto Rico and got a call from my aunt. She said, “Omi, I need you to come to the house. But don’t come with the kids. Your grandmother has passed.” What she said did not compute. The whole car ride, all I can remember was: “But I was supposed to cook with her.”

That’s when I decided: Life is too short. I’m gonna do what I love. It makes me feel closer to her. It makes me feel connected to my people.

What are fan-favorite meals?

My mofongo with shrimp. Everyone loves that.

Pasteles, which is a very Puerto Rican tradition at Christmastime. It’s very tedious and repetitive — a lot of people have lost the art. But my grandmother, that’s what she did for a living: She made and sold pasteles. It’s a family recipe I passed down on my platform. That video went so viral. That video was almost six minutes long — people watched the entire six minutes of it. It was insane.

Do you come up with a lot of recipes, or are most passed down?

A lot are passed down. I have about 15 or 17 that I’ve fully created on my own.

What’s a favorite you’ve created?

We have this green banana fritter called alcapurrias. Normally, it’s enclosed with meat and deep-fried. I put the meat inside and it was like appetizers. When that video came out, I thought: Oh my god, my Instagram is gonna crash. People went nuts.

I recently made a bacon jam with guava paste. And when I tell you, this thing was incredible.

Would you ever do another cooking competition show?

God no.

That was challenging. When I tell you my nerves were shot. But you know what? It helped me kick into a gear I didn’t know existed inside of me.

Would you go back to makeup?

Cooking is one part of me; makeup is one part of me. Every now and again I’ll do a tutorial on my hair. People have been asking: “What was your makeup routine on the show?”

Wait — you did your own makeup for TV?

I did. I was the only one. Everyone else used the makeup artists on-set. I was very proud of that.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurendaley1.