Grandfluencer Kristen Coffield is the face and the force behind the Active GrandparentingTM movement!
“Grandparenting isn’t a parent redo—that ship has sailed,” Coffield says. “You already had your shot to parent, but grandparenting is an entirely new gig.”
The founder of The Culinary CureTM, Coffield, 66, has been in the women’s culinary wellness space for two decades. A chef since her college days, Coffield had a catering company for many years. She switched her focus to food as medicine when her mom’s cancer came back in 2009. Coffield also developed healthy subscription meal plans for high-performing athletes and executives—this was way before Blue Apron. Most recently, she coached women going through midlife changes to energize their lives.
About a year ago, when she became a grandparent for the second time, Coffield shared a video on Instagram that catapulted her in a new direction.
“I posted a video of me picking up a baby, holding a baby, sitting down on the floor, and standing up without using my hands,” Coffield says. “I talked about the importance of being fit for grandparenting, and the Instagram reel went viral.”
It now has 1.2 million views, one of six or seven of hers in the millions of views category.
“It struck a chord with women who hadn’t been motivated to get fit and be healthy,” she said. “Women tend to put everybody else first, but when you put self-care in the context of being a better grandparent, it’s a different story.”
According to Coffield, active grandparents are more capable—they have more mobility, stability, flexibility, and strength—and are more in-demand as you become a helpful contributor to your children and their families. Being fit—physically, emotionally, and psychologically—will not only help you to grandparent better but also it will help you age better.
It’s a game changer for grandparents and Coffield’s career.
“Parents are overwhelmed and stressed out,” she explains. “When we can show up as a helpful support system, it changes our relationship with our kids and in turn gives us more access to the grandchildren.”
“Your kids don’t want your advice—they can get all the parenting advice they need in two seconds on the internet—they want your help,” she continues. “This is a new job with a new job description and a new boss.”
Coffield created the Active Grandparenting 101 training program, an online course with videos, worksheets, and resources on wellness, exercise, communication, tech, and family activities and recipes. She is, after all, still a chef. She also put together an Active Grandparenting Cookbook, and, twice a year, runs a virtual 21-day active grandparenting wellness reset. Hydration is a huge part of her platform.
“Hydration affects your sleep, your mood, and your energy,” she explains. “If you can’t get hydrated, you’re going to have a hard time because you won’t have the muscle pliability that it takes to get up and down off the floor 50 times a day.”
On Grandfluencing
A year ago, Coffield’s email got a ton of new subscribers. Her Instagram, which went from 20,000 to 215,000 engaged followers, also blew up. Her audience likes that she is a real person, who understands their struggles and challenges.
“There’s a big learning curve for embracing modern grandparenting, but grandparents—especially grandmothers—want this information,” she explains. “What’s really interesting is for this demographic on Instagram, a lot of these accounts are private. Most of these women are on Instagram for information.”
Since the kids of GenXers and Baby Boomers are getting married later and having kids later, her followers are becoming grandparents later.
“Since they’re older when becoming grandparents for the first time, people are highly motivated to get healthy and get in shape,” she says. “That way, they have more years to spend with this new, delightful human that’s just come into their lives.”
For third act-ers who’ve got something to say and want to develop an Instagram following, Coffield suggests starting with a good mindset. Social media can make you feel bad, when you compare yourself—and your follower count—with other people.
“I was on Instagram for a solid decade, working really hard to reach my audience, so I could share incredible value,” Coffield recalls. “I bet I had 3,500 posts on my Instagram, not including my live videos and my stories, so I’m no overnight success. I worked hard for a long time before ever getting noticed.”
If you decide to go on social media, Coffield believes it’s vital to really know who you’re talking to—you can’t talk to everyone—and to understand who will resonate with your message, if you can.
“Before Active Grandparenting, I was using Instagram to talk about how women could use fasting as a tool to live younger, longer, and better,” she recalls. “I had a whole angle with reverse fasting because I don’t think anybody should go through the whole day without eating. I got a little traction with that and then a lot of traction with the grandparenting angle.”
Coffield is a perfect example of niching down.
“When I went from targeting women over 50 to active grandparents, suddenly I was resonating with my demographics,” she says. “Suddenly all those people who I worked so hard to create messaging for could hear me because now I was speaking their language.”
Coffield’s friend, a meditation specialist, had a message too broad for her to get any traction. Once she niched down and focused on how to use meditation to combat the stress of artificial intelligence, she noticed a vast improvement.
“You can’t speak to the masses, you have to speak to your narrow margin of people,” Coffield says. “When you do that, it’s easier for them to find you.”
Then, of course, you need to put yourself out there. For most people, that’s the biggest stumbling block.
“Whether it’s becoming a social media influencer or losing five pounds, the first step is to decide to do it,” Coffield says. “Then, you tell everybody, so you can’t back out … and you figure it out.”
When Coffield first went on Instagram, her children were horrified. “They’re like, ‘Mom, you can’t say that, you can’t do that on Instagram,’” she recalls. “And I’m like, ‘Well, why not?’ I just did it and learned along the way.”
Part of being a social media influencer, at any age, is becoming a brand. Coffield says to take a good photo—even a selfie—and make sure it’s distinctive.
“Pick some colors you like that pop on your little avatar and create a good bio,” she says. “People who want to follow you need to know why and what you are offering.”
For instance, Coffield’s Instagram is @KristenCoffield, and you can tell from her bio what she does and who she serves. She offers a free hydration training, so people can take action right away. And her posts and videos offer value on her expertise.
“The biggest mistake that people make on social media is not educating their followers or people who just find them on who they are,” she says.
“People are on Instagram either to be entertained or to gain knowledge, so decide what it is you’re doing and do it,” Coffield continues. “Don’t be shy about letting people know how you can help them and don’t be shy about self-promotion—that is what Instagram is. It’s truly a marketing tool.”
You Are Never Too Old
Whether it’s a new endeavor or a social media persona, don’t limit yourself. It’s never too late to try something new.
“First of all, every day is a miracle that you get to wake up and have another day,” Coffield says. “You can just wake up tomorrow and decide to be the next Grandma Moses of painting.”
Coffield believes the best time to decide to do something new is first thing in the morning. She has her own powerful, 15-minute routine.
“The first thing I do when I wake up in those first seconds is I acknowledge that I am awake,” she explains. “I take a deep breath and I flip the switch from my subconscious unconscious mind into my conscious mind where the first thoughts that I feed my mind are positive.
“I think about all the exciting opportunities for my day.”
Whatever you feed your mind and body is so powerful. Positive thoughts lead to good things. The opposite is also true.
“Let’s say, your alarm goes off, but you go back to sleep. Now you’re late,” she says. “Next thing, the shampoo bottle drops on your toe, then you run into the kitchen and spill coffee. You get in your car and it seems like you hit every red light,” she says. “That day is not going to get better because you set into motion the negative.”
When you flip the switch and feed your mind positivity—affirmations, positive self-talk—those thoughts become your reality.
“More people smile at you in a store, the person in front of you in line buys you a cup of coffee, you get a parking meter that’s already got money on it, you hit all the green lights,” Coffield says. “That’s how it works.”
You’re never too old. It’s never too late.
“Life is not linear, it’s circular,” Coffield says. “Every day, when you wake up, it’s the beginning of the circle. The mistake we make is thinking it’s linear and we’re running out of time instead of seeing it as circular and that every day is a fresh start.”
Debra Eckerling is a freelance writer, goal-strategist, workshop leader, and award-winning author and podcaster. The creator of The DEB Method for Goal-Setting Simplified, Eckerling hosts the GoalChat and Taste Buds with Deb podcasts and is the author of Your Goal Guide and 52 Secrets for Goal-Setting and Goal-Getting.