I discovered Fiorella DiCarlo on Instagram, where she was producing small cooking videos of her own. I liked her personality and natural presence on camera, but what interested me most was the unusual combination of expertise she brought with her: she was a registered dietitian, a cook and an educator who also taught Italian history.

I saw an opportunity to build a show around all of those qualities rather than simply hiring her to demonstrate recipes.

To give the series greater depth and production value, I approached Eataly in New York City and secured permission to film inside the store before it opened for the day. We had roughly an hour to capture the material we needed, but the location gave us a completely different visual environment—and Eataly generously allowed us to shoot there without a location fee.

I used that opportunity to create recurring field segments for the series. For each episode, Fiorella could step outside the kitchen format and discuss a featured ingredient—adding nutritional, culinary and cultural context that complemented the recipe.

Those segments became part of the structure of Diabetes Bites, allowing the series to combine cooking with education and storytelling. The format grew directly from the host I had found: rather than asking Fiorella to fit a predetermined cooking show, I developed a show that could showcase what made her uniquely interesting.