Western student turns passion into success

What started out as a Facebook album quickly transformed into a whirlwind of success for one Western student.

Thasneen Nazeema, better known as Thas, doubles as a student and full-time food blogger. A simple passion for food paired with a desire to share that passion has lead this second year chemistry graduate student to start her own blog, Cooking with Thas.

“I got tired of emailing the same recipe over and over to my friends who asked for it. Some of [them] even suggested that I start a blog,” Nazeema says. “The success of [it] was purely accidental.”

With support from her husband, friends and family, Nazeema has attracted a large following to the project she started in April 2009. She has won contests and awards including Royal Foodie Joust and the Ginger People Contest. Her recipes have also been featured on Foodbuzz, the web’s largest food community.

Although she is in grad school, Nazeema doesn’t find balancing her studies with her blog difficult. Blogging about your passion is something anyone can be successful with, according to Nazeema. “Keeping it original is the key. Do it with all your heart and be consistent in whatever you do. You’ll find it easier to climb the ladder.”

After a long day at the chemistry lab, Nazeema hits the kitchen to unwind. She posts about three new recipes a week, mostly her own creations.

As a featured blogger on Foodbuzz, she has been able to promote herself and share her recipes with fellow foodies. As a side project, she created a website called Dinner365.com where she posts pictures of her creative suppers every night.

Her long-term goal is to publish a cookbook.  In the meantime, her website continues to grow.

“Cooking is my passion and I do it with all my heart,” she says. “Keeping it original, following my passion and having a wonderful husband who is always supportive are some of the reasons which have helped me a lot in growing my website to where it is now.”

See Nazeema’s blog at thasneen.com/cooking.