It’s hard to imagine now — watching him flash his easy grin into the camera, spatula in hand, delivering equal parts wisdom and wit — but Emeus “Bo” Corley once tipped the scales at nearly 500 pounds. A few years ago, the Fort Worth influencer, fitness buff, and cookbook author hadn’t yet discovered that his greatest recipe wouldn’t be found in a frying pan — it’d be in rewriting his own story.
Today, Corley’s not just a familiar face in North Texas kitchens and feeds — he’s also the newly appointed Chairman of the Chef Advisory Board and Head of Brand Advisor/Influencer Community for LUC. Cooking, the food-tech platform from LeCuckoo Inc. that’s shaking up the way culinary creators get paid.
LUC.Cooking — think “AllRecipes meets OnlyFans for chefs” — is the first platform to compensate creators through actual royalties. Not tips or ad clicks, just real earnings tied to engagement, subscriptions, and direct recipe sales. For once, the folks whisking and sautéing on your timeline are being treated less like content and more like creators.
“LUC is changing the game for creators,” Corley says. “For the first time, a recipe platform is being built with us, not just using us — making sure our content isn’t just seen but rewarded.”
Before the hashtags and ring lights, Corley worked in corporate insurance. He came to Texas to take a VP position in Bedford — and probably would’ve stayed on that track if not for a global pandemic and a grocery store shortage.
“That’s what really tied me to the DFW area was when I started my meal prep company, Proper Prep,” he says. “We focused on first responders and the elderly during the pandemic.”
Corley explained that there were so many people rushing towards the grocery store during the height of the pandemic that there were slim pickens for first-responders and the elderly by the time they each got to the store.
“So I basically started a company, where I would have runners go out and they would wait in those long lines and then I would do meal prep with a focus on that demographic,” Corley says.
After his stint in meal prepping, Corley says his business focused on the health and wellness space.
“And I’ll be honest with you, that’s really what ingrained me in Fort Worth is that community and the relationships that I’ve built doing the meal prep,” he says. “And that kind of evolved into me creating online content.
Corley’s online presence grew quickly when he began posting encouraging duets with other chefs during the era of Gordon Ramsay–style takedowns. “Everyone was online yelling at each other’s food,” Corley laughs. “I wanted to do the opposite — tell chefs what they were doing right.”
The positivity stuck. So did his sense of humor and his willingness to show his own progress.
At his heaviest, Corley weighed 485 pounds. He didn’t turn to surgery or fad diets — he turned to science. “I love fried chicken,” he admits. “So I started with small swaps — avocado oil instead of vegetable oil, better seasonings, more water. Nothing fancy.”
Those tweaks added up. A gallon of water a day. Fasted cardio. A mindset shift. “I told myself, I can still eat what I love — I just have to make it smarter,” he says.
A year and a half later, Corley had dropped over 200 pounds. His journey became not only a personal triumph but also a brand — one rooted in relatability. He’s not a Michelin chef or a celebrity restaurateur. He’s a father of four who gets the chaos of family dinners.
That’s what fueled his first cookbook, “Dinner in One Take.” “I didn’t want to make another ‘fit meals’ book,” he says. “I wanted something real — for the parents who come home after wrestling practice and basketball and just need to make something fast, affordable, and not terrible for you.”
The book swings from “cheap and cheerful” to indulgent — one recipe might be a skillet dinner for a crowd, another a Wagyu and eggs plate for date night.
Corley’s latest role with LUC.Cooking feels like the natural next course. Founded by a team of ex–Microsoft executives, LeCuckoo is betting big on AI-driven recipe personalization — a system that can automatically adjust ingredients for allergies, diets, or preferences. “If you’re diabetic, gluten-free, or allergic to nuts, the platform can rework recipes for you in seconds,” Corley explains. “That’s one side of the monster.”
The other? Monetization. “We’re building a place where chefs can finally make a living doing what they love — without depending on TikTok’s algorithm,” he says. “A consistent, fair system that rewards real creativity.”
Symone Opara, LeCuckoo’s founder and CEO, calls Corley’s leadership a perfect match. “Bo’s influence, integrity, and creativity represent everything we stand for,” she says. “Chefs and creators won’t just participate in LUC — they’ll help define it.”
For Corley, success isn’t just about influence — it’s about impact. Whether he’s mentoring new creators or filming his next episode of “#BoTheGoatTV,” he’s still the same guy who once cooked for his community when shelves were bare.
“When I started, it wasn’t about likes or followers,” he says. “It was about feeding people — and helping them feel good about what they’re eating. That’s still the recipe.”