Digital Social Hour
How Chef Rush Built a Billion-View Social Media Empire I Chef Rush DSH #1216
Mon, 03 Mar 2025
🔥 How did Chef Andre Rush go from military leadership to creating a billion-view social media empire? Tune in now to hear his incredible journey! 🌟 In this episode of the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly, Chef Rush shares how his passion for cooking, mental health advocacy, and relentless work ethic turned him into a global icon. From cooking for four U.S. presidents to breaking barriers in the culinary world, Chef Rush is redefining success. 💪🍽️ Discover how he manages to do 2,222 push-ups daily, connects with millions of fans worldwide, and inspires change around mental health and veteran support. ❤️🩹 Plus, hear his thoughts on overcoming challenges, building resilience, and staying authentic in today’s fast-paced world. Packed with valuable insights, this conversation is a must-watch! 🚀 Don’t miss out—watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and join the conversation for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🎙️✨ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 00:26 - Chef Rush at SHOT Show 01:34 - Mental Health Awareness 03:55 - Dealing with Haters 05:52 - Creating Viral Videos 06:46 - Impact of Social Media 10:41 - Overcoming Victim Mentality 12:00 - Transitioning from Military to Civilian Life 17:00 - Medication Withdrawal Challenges 20:40 - Keys to Success 23:54 - Korean Etiquette Tips 28:20 - Lessons from Gordon Ramsay 32:50 - Understanding Entitlement 33:20 - Confronting Family Issues 36:00 - Coping with Loneliness 40:54 - Football Insights 42:33 - Managing Injuries 45:44 - Future Plans for Chef Rush 46:10 - Finding Chef Rush Online APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Chef Rush https://www.instagram.com/realchefrush/ LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ #socialmediamarketing #creatorburnout #socialmediamanagement #wellnessstrategies #mentalhealth #suicideprevention #contentcreation #socialmediamarketing #wellnessstrategies #mentalhealthadvocate
Chapter 1: Who is Chef Andre Rush and why is he at the SHOT Show?
All right, guys, we got Chef Rush here today. He's in town for Shaw Show, man. Thanks for coming on.
Yep, yep. Love Shaw Show.
Yeah, how was it? It was my first one, actually.
Was it really? Yeah. You're a virgin. I'm a virgin. No, Shaw Show was amazing. I've been there a few years. They showed so much love. Me being in the military, doing what I do with the veterans, with the suicide awareness, with the mental health.
Chapter 2: How does Chef Rush advocate for mental health awareness?
So it was just like the whole time I've been there, I don't even remember because I took like a thousand, 10,000 pictures and hugged people and cried with people and just amazing, man.
2222.
I don't know weekends though.
Okay. Yeah. That's impressive, man. Do you just bang them out as soon as you get up or you space them out throughout the day?
Space them out throughout the day doesn't work for me. That's too much time. They're too busy. I get up at 3 o'clock in the morning. I'll bang them out all at once. Get them an hour and a half. I'm good. 125 at a time. I think it was 1776. So everything has a meaning, rhyme, or reason. It's not a workout. It's about mental health. 22 vets unfortunately commit suicide a day.
And I do the rest just because of their families. The kids and the families who are unrecognized.
Yeah. Yeah, mental health hits deep for me, man. I struggled with it. My father lost his life to it. So it definitely hits deep. Yeah, man. So shout out to you for doing that. That's incredible.
Yeah, it goes really deep. I have a I don't know. He's been taking care of me. I've had a big, big thing with it, which things you don't know about a year ago. Unfortunately, I lost my daughter to it. and her five and six year old brother, and she was 11. And another command sergeant major and another, her stepfather. That's insane.
And you yourself dealt with it, leaving the military, right?
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Chapter 3: What are the challenges Chef Rush faced with social media and haters?
I still deal with it. I mean, this is a product of who I am, PTSD, but it's all about who you are and what you're doing and what you're going to do into this world and what energy you're going to give out. I mean, you can get hate, you can get love, you can have difficulties, you can fail and fail and fail, but That's just part of it. I mean, who cares?
I mean, you got to look at yourself in the mirror or look at yourself and self reflect and just say, you know, it's you against you.
Right. You got to know yourself, right? Because a lot of people, those comments will get to them.
comments drive me i think they're pretty funny because they're most time they're irrelevant you know they'll do something that's past a narrative that has nothing to do with you you know whether it be oh chef you're taking steroids and which i laugh at which that just means i look really good or they'll say something of the sort which i kind of laugh at and and sometimes i'll get a little freaky and and i'll come in back and troll them a little myself and then i block them and keep on living
Oh, you block them, the haters? Of course, I don't deal with that time. I've blocked some too. Yeah, if you in my world, I want my world, this is a safe place, right? By all means, do your comments and say what you say, be respectful for it, right? I did a video, if you saw the food video I just did. Which one? The last one I did, what I would do for Fox, it went on Fox everywhere.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I also did another video, and it wasn't about what I'll cook for the first president, per se. It was about what this country was built off of, you know, with the tomahawk steak, with big bold, like this flag on my shoulder, like, you know, our nation, about the people, about everything we've been through, which was America on a plate, right?
100%.
I was surprised you got hate on that because you've cooked for four presidents, both Democrat and Republican. So I don't get why people would hate on that.
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Chapter 4: How did Chef Rush transition from military life to a civilian career?
Everything. Not on my own now, still. I went from 250,000 in a year after my daughter actually was taken by her father, her stepfather, and both her brothers. I lost it. I didn't know what to do because I had lost another best friend a year prior in LA. And then I lost one of my soldiers to the same. And I was just like, man, why me? Why me?
So I was just, I was going, I'm not going to lie to you. And then when I finally said, okay, USA came to me to do a campaign. They didn't know anything about this, but they came to me literally that week and said, we want you to do this campaign to hit it up called face to fight.org. And it's about suicide awareness, you know, from Elizabeth Doe and whatever. And I was like, okay. It was a sign.
It was a sign because it happened the same thing with my brother who passed away from cancer, which they came to me. And then I just, I dove into it and went to the White House, Chamber of Congress, National Press Club, did a media tour. And then I got on social media and I looked at it because I wasn't familiar with it. I got millions and billions and billions of views, but it wasn't for me.
It was just me supporting and helping other people. Long story short was I'm a strategist. I'm a logistician. So cooking is actually a hobby of mine. People, I just became extremely great at it, right? But my other real job was different stuff. And when I dove into it, I looked at all the social media at once.
And in the first month, I'm sorry, the first week, I had a million views on everything, subscribers rather.
wow on everything in a week in a week that's crazy youtube now youtube instagram uh tick tock i went to facebook got a million literally and then the first three weeks it was at four million five million six million ten million and it was just so much but everybody was so much love the great thing about it was
Every time I went out, even just to the day, they were all kids, like little kids, like six years old, seven years old. Their parents like, wait, my son knows you. My daughter knows you. Can I take a picture? And yada, yada, yada. And it just, it made me heart. Well, it was what I needed. You know, when I say I'll give back because we all have things we have to cope with.
That was my coping tool was being able to give back. And also kids, the veteran was one side of it, but kids was a lifeline to me.
I didn't know your audience was a lot of kids. A lot of kids. That's interesting. So they love the food stuff.
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Chapter 5: What are Chef Rush's insights on medication withdrawal and mental health?
Yeah, yeah. It could be the person that smiled to you. It could be your friend. It could be your family. It could be anyone. And you know what? Now being Chef Rush, it is absolutely true. I've had it so much in my life, joining the military, doing this. And I was very transparent in the military in my book and saying, hey, it's not all what it is. You know, I was sent to do a job.
It's like if you were a garbage man, if you were this, they said, you know, the military gave you so many opportunities. No, you have to give your own self opportunities. It's a job. You have to make that thing happen. Right. They didn't say put Private Rush over here so he can be the greatest leader in the world. They didn't say that. I did that. That was me. I did that.
Now, granted, I was in a position to say, okay, it's going to happen or it's not going to happen. But I'm as real as you can possibly be with that part. And I support the military a million percent. And that's what all the love I got at the SHOT Show the whole time. Thank you for what you do for the veterans.
Because me doing this was, I said, working for all these leaders, I said, if I ever got the opportunity, I know what I want to do. And it's not what a lot of them are doing. Because once they get that paycheck or get that monetary value, bam. They gone. They out. They out. Right.
I think all my veterans, I think, thank you for your service, what you did, but it's what you're doing, but also what you did. I'm not going to take anything away from you. What I'm doing is what I'm doing. Right. You don't have to do anything. You know, I'm going to support you regardless.
Yeah, that's why you see a lot of them struggle after they retire, right? It's true. They lose that sense of purpose.
It's sense of purpose. And that's where I go speaking about transitions, especially in civilian forces. So it's like bridging the gap between the military and civilians. And it's a big gap because a lot of civilians don't know what to say or how to act around military. And a lot of military can look at it. You think about them. I had 100 people that I was taking care of.
that I was in charge of, that I was in leadership. And now I'm behind a cubicle and I'm listening to this kid right here telling me what to do.
It doesn't work that way. Huge. That take you a while to kind of find yourself after you transitioned?
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Chapter 6: How does Chef Rush maintain success and authenticity?
The black pig is something just like phenomenal. It's something that you eat and it's just like, what is this meat? Right. tender, juicy, succulent, you know, no pork, nothing, nothing, nothing. But like me, I eat the Khabitang, which is, they do great with their stews.
I call them stews, they're not called stews, but you know, where they just have all these flavors that have been cooking for weeks and months and just replenished over and over and over. I've seen those videos. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Khabitang or Jajayam, which is, they call, we call black spaghetti, right? Which is just,
filled with flavor profiles and everything is so diverse you know i uh i i i i honestly when i go there i'll eat about five times a day holy crap and nothing's the same nothing the same and i'll be there for sometimes for you know four or five six weeks wow right and i'll just eat every day because i do i have a channel over there on the careers yeah right so i eat every day all the time what a living
Oh, my God. It's amazing.
It's amazing. That's so cool. So you get to review the food and make a video about it.
I get to review the food. I don't even get to review it. I just eat the hell out of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's so cool, man. Is that your favorite cuisine, Korean food?
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Chapter 7: What are Chef Rush's future plans and how can you connect with him?
Yeah, yeah. I've done three Korean shows. Zombieverse just came out. Black and White came out. Kitchen Commando comes out next month on TV One. It's number one out of 47,000 shows on TV. Yeah. And that was made up.
yeah you said you got no script right no strip it was just that and like i said it was something that i want to see for myself and do and i have another surprise show that's getting ready to come out that everybody's gonna go crazy over with some people people like that authenticity these days you know it's the only way to be you know i i i can smell fake people right i i they make me they make me nauseous i serious you know it's like being in politics it's like ah
I'm like, okay, okay. This is making me sick. Let me go get some air. You know, nothing's wrong with that. If that's who you are, that's who you are. But I can't be that way. And I'm very forward and I'm very direct and I'm very transparent. Right. Yeah. And it's no harm or foul.
Yeah. Other than McDonald's, what does Trump like eating? He loves that Mickey D's.
I mean, you know, I say this, I say this, you know, if you saw what I made him with the tomahawk steak. Right. And I cooked it the way I would like it. You know how if he goes back and says, let's make it well done or whatever. The one thing I'll say, I say to people is, you know, you kind of reflected this right here.
when people say oh chef man you know you too big you just i'm worried about your health and i was like man shut the hell up you don't even know me why are you worried about my health why would you even say that and then everybody oh you just worry about you you don't care about me because you're trolling me i don't care with him you know he has everything you know like with his tacos you know he brought the button back for you know the the taco button
He likes the bowls and whatnot that he does and so forth, which is cool. But at the same time, he is just implicit. You can't do anything with respect if a person just grinds like that. Me, I forget to eat all the time. And I'm a big guy. And I'm a greedy guy. I eat a lot. And I can eat from 1,000 calories to 7,000 calories.
It all depends on what, but if I'm doing something and I'm locked in, I am locked in. I know you are also.
Yeah, I skip breakfast.
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