Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Frezza.
Hi Chris, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story probably starts way back in 1993 when I started the Internet’s first Camaro website (before it was even graphical). From the time my dad brought home the first computer to play with and a modem (a Radio Shack TRS-80), I’d always been curious and loved tech! I taught myself how to go online – first BBS’s (Bulletin Board Systems), then eventually the Internet in it’s infancy. I then started building a huge community online with the world’s first automotive thread message board in 1997 – CamaroZ28.COM. That site is still online today, however my partner and I sold it to a bigger company back in 2012.
In 2015 my son who was 7 years old at the time was watching YouTube and liked seeing people do food challenges – in particular LA Beast. So one day he asked if he could try doing Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for a challenge and I filmed it, put it on YouTube and shared it with his favorite YouTuber at the time LA Beast. He shared it and our YouTube journey began. In Oct 2015 we recorded a video of him trying a spicy ghost pepper gum ball and it went viral. We were in sooo many news outlets and tv programs for it – including appearing live via satellite on Australia’s #1 Morning show, Sunrise.
Through the years we started doing fast food, snacks, and soda reviews on YouTube together as a Father and son duo. I then started doing social media on my own from my Camaro days (I did a Podcast for 16 years as well called the CamaroZ28.com Podcast) and it turned into me doing my own fast food, snacks, soda, news, and reviews.
Today, I still do YouTube with my son Vito – but I also created my own brand as @ChrisFrez on my TikTok and Instragram giving news updates on what’s coming in fast food, snacks, soda. I’ve had my videos in the last year show on Good Morning America and the Today Show. I do this all as a fun side-gig as I work a full-time job as Head of Systems for a Cooperative of Public Libraries for the last 37 years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s an ever changing landscape in the online world. Social media is turning into interest based media. Algorithms are always changing on platforms as well.
The biggest struggle is keeping up with those ever changing algorithms and trends online and learning how to adapt.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My professional life is really made up of two very different worlds that have somehow always revolved around technology, information and connecting people.
For the past 37 years, I’ve worked for the Suburban Library Cooperative, where I currently serve as Head of Systems. The Cooperative supports public libraries throughout the Metro Detroit area, and my career there has allowed me to watch—and be part of—an incredible transformation in technology. When I started, the internet wasn’t part of everyday life. Today, technology touches virtually everything libraries do. I’ve had the opportunity to grow with that change and help the libraries we serve adapt along the way.
At the same time, I’ve spent more than three decades building things online.
I founded CamaroZ28.com in 1993, during the very early days of the internet, and built a community around something I was passionate about. That eventually led me into podcasting in 2005, years before podcasts became mainstream, and later into YouTube and social media.
Today, a large part of my work outside of my career is content creation. I specialize in fast-food, snack and beverage news and reviews, with a particular emphasis on finding out what’s coming next. I’m constantly looking for new menu items, limited-time releases, test-market products, new sodas and energy drinks, and other products people haven’t heard about yet.
I’ve become known for getting that information out early. One of the best compliments I can receive is when someone tells me, “I heard about this from you first.” I don’t just want to tell people whether a new burger or drink tastes good. I want my channels to be somewhere people go because they want to know what’s coming next.
Reviews are also still an important part of what I do, especially the ones I do with my son, Vito. The father-and-son aspect of our content goes back years. As he’s gotten older, what we do has naturally evolved from primarily reviews into more of a news-and-reviews platform, but that relationship and history are still a big part of it.
I’m extremely proud of the audience we’ve built organically across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. I’ve had videos reach millions of people, and the content has led to opportunities I never would have imagined, including appearances on Good Morning America and the Today Show. Those experiences are incredible, but I’m just as proud when someone recognizes me and tells me they watch our videos all the time.
If there’s something that sets me apart, I think it’s longevity and the fact that I’ve never stopped adapting. I’ve been working professionally in technology for 37 years. I’ve been building communities on the internet since 1993. I was podcasting in 2005. Then came YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. I’ve watched platforms appear, disappear and completely reinvent the way we communicate.
Through all of it, I’ve continued learning and adapting.
I’m proud that at this point in my life I’m still experimenting with new technology, learning new platforms, building an audience and trying things I’ve never done before. I think it’s easy to become comfortable doing what you’ve always done. I’ve tried very hard not to do that.
Whether I’m working with technology for libraries, researching the next fast-food release, making a video with my son or talking to an audience online, there’s actually a common thread through all of it: I enjoy discovering things, figuring out how they work and sharing what I’ve learned with other people.
That’s probably the best description of what I’ve been doing for the last 37 years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck has definitely played a role in my life, but I believe you have to put yourself in a position where luck can find you.
I’ve been fortunate with timing throughout my career. I got involved with computers early, started CamaroZ28.com in 1993 during the early days of the internet, got into podcasting before it was mainstream, and eventually found an entirely new audience creating content with my son.
Social media involves plenty of luck. You can make 100 videos and then suddenly one reaches millions of people. But that lucky video doesn’t happen if you didn’t make the other 100 first. The same goes for opportunities like appearing on Good Morning America and the Today Show. I couldn’t have planned those moments, but years of consistently creating content put me in a position for them to happen.
I’ve had plenty of things not work out too, but I’ve always tried to adapt rather than dwell on them. You can’t control luck, but you can control whether you’re still showing up and ready when an opportunity comes along.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chrisfrezza.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisfrez
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vitothekid
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chrisfrez
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisfrezza
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisfrez
