Brett Chody’s Journey to Building a Community One Mile (and One Bite) at a Time

Long before Brett Chody became Nike's first Running Global Creator, she was a college cross-country athlete sharing GRWM videos, food posts, and pieces of her everyday life on TikTok and Instagram.

She never planned on becoming an influencer. But her personality, love of running, and honest look at college life started attracting thousands of followers who could relate to her experiences.

What began as a small side account eventually grew into a career built around the same things that made people follow her in the first place: consistency, honesty, and an ability to make followers feel like they're along for the ride.

Today, Chody has become one of the most recognizable athletic Creators on social media, with numerous brand deals and sponsorships, a run club that attracts thousands of runners, and her own apparel brand. 

For lifestyle Creators looking to turn an online following into a real community and business, her journey offers plenty to learn from.

From Lake Forest to USC: An Unexpected Path

Growing up in Lake Forest, Illinois, Chody competed in cross country throughout most of high school, where she participated in regional meets and earned local attention along the way.

After an injury that forced her to take time off her junior year, she turned to social media as a creative outlet to take her mind off running. 

She started sharing smoothing and food recipes, along with GRWM and day-in-the-life vlogs that showed people the real Brett.

By the time she started college at the University of Southern California, she had committed to running track and cross country her freshman year. 

However, after a few months at USC, a series of injuries she had endured the previous summer led her to take the rest of the season off. 

Eventually, burnout from running and conditioning led Chody to retire from the sport entirely, allowing her to focus on her studies as a journalism major. 

With running on the back burner, Chody shifted her focus to school and posting content. 

Her popularity on TikTok began to skyrocket, thanks to her running videos, which were already gaining traction, and, most importantly, her friendship with fellow student and aspiring TikToker Jake Shane.

The two quickly developed a strong friendship and even became roommates, with both Creators popping in each other’s TikTok videos and Chody eventually becoming a recurring guest on Shane’s Therapuss podcast. 

With track and cross country now behind her and her content continually growing, Chody had now found a new path that would define her next chapter. 

However, it was only a matter of time before her content pulled her back onto the road as a storyteller rather than a competitor.

Turning Her Lifestyle as a Runner into Something Viewers Connect With

After college, Chody continued running, but this time, winning races wasn't the goal. 

Instead, running became an extension of her life that she could share with her Instagram and TikTok following, which had grown considerably toward the end of her college days.

On top of the usual GRWM videos and food content that attracted her viewers, Chody's marathon training videos and race-day vlogs became a more vital part of her brand as an up-and-coming lifestyle Creator.

By sharing tough races and challenging training days alongside her successes, Chody made the experience feel more honest and relatable. 

Her followers responded positively, showing her that they appreciated seeing the real ups and downs of running.

Eventually, that online interest turned into something people could join in themselves.

After followers began asking Chody to organize a group run, she hosted the first Bites Run Club meetup in New York City. 

She wasn't sure how many people would come, but more than 100 women showed up on a cold Saturday morning.

From there, Bites Run Club grew quickly. Ahead of the Chicago Marathon, around 1,500 people attended one of its gatherings, a huge jump from that first New York meetup.

The concept was simple—bring people together, go for a run, and give followers a chance to meet Chody and one another. 

In doing so, Chody turned an audience that had been following her running journey online into a real community that could connect beyond social media.

Brand Partnerships Built on Real Overlap

Chody's brand partnerships work because they connect naturally to the content she already creates. 

Instead of promoting random products for a paycheck, many of her collaborations are tied directly to running, food, fashion, and other parts of her everyday life.

Her relationship with Nike is a good example. It started when she appeared in the brand's "Calling All Athletes" campaign, which took her to Barcelona for the shoot. 

That opportunity eventually led to Chody becoming Nike's first Running Global Creator.

Through the role, she helps promote Nike's women-focused After Dark Tour, a series of running events held in cities around the world. 

The partnership fits naturally with Bites Run Club because both focus on running, bringing people together, and creating a stronger community for women.

Her other partnerships follow a similar approach. 

PopUp Bagels worked with Chody to create a cream cheese flavor inspired by her popular dessert bowl content, turning something her followers already knew her for into a real product. 

Moreover, partnerships with brands like Harmless Harvest, Poppi, and TruFru have fit naturally with the food and lifestyle content she regularly shares on her Instagram and TikTok.

She has even brought some partnerships back to where her Creator journey began. 

In January 2026, Chody and her older sister, Hannah, returned to their alma mater, USC, for a Summer Fridays campaign where they looked back on their college experiences and shared advice with current students.

The event let Brett and Hannah reflect on their college days while offering guidance to a new generation of USC students beginning their college careers. 

Together, these partnerships show why brand deals tend to work best when they already make sense for a Creator's audience. 

Rather than changing her content to fit a sponsor, Chody has found ways to work with brands that naturally fit the interests and lifestyle she was already sharing online.

Store Launch: Bites Run Club

As Bites Run Club grew into a real community, launching merch was a natural next step for Chody. 

In August 2025, she launched her first apparel line under the same label. 

The storefront features running-inspired clothing made specifically for the people already showing up to her events and asking where they could buy Bites Run Club gear.

Instead of keeping the same products available year-round, Bites Run Club uses limited drops, releasing new items and collections seasonally.  

This approach feels closer to a streetwear brand than a traditional Creator merch shop and gives fans a reason to pay attention whenever something new launches.

The store also handles drops through monitored pre-orders, with shoppers being warned about "extreme demand" and asked to allow five to seven weeks to receive a tracking number. 

This lets the store produce closer to what people actually order, instead of guessing how much inventory it will need beforehand. All purchases are also final.

Rather than filling the store with dozens of products, Bites Run Club focuses on a smaller collection of premium apparel. Current products include:

• Heavyweight sweat shorts: $55, made from 560 GSM heavyweight cotton.
• Oversized drop-shoulder hoodies: $92, made from 560 GSM heavyweight cotton.
• Limited-edition shell jacket: $130, made with a nylon-and-polyester shell and lining.
• Payment options: Each product can be purchased using four-installment financing through a buy-now-pay-later option.
• Sizing: Product pages include fit recommendations and model sizing information, including the size worn by a 5'7" model for reference.

The products also use embroidered logos rather than basic printed graphics, helping the collection feel more like its own clothing brand instead of standard Creator merch.

Chody keeps the collection fresh with limited-edition designs and colors. Past releases have included a "90s-inspired" hoodie with matching sweatshorts, along with pale yellow versions of the hoodie and shorts. 

Product descriptions even explain which pieces are designed to be worn together, showing that the collection is thoughtfully designed rather than simply putting the Bites Run Club logo on different products.

The result is a store that feels like a natural extension of the run club itself. 

Fans no longer just wait for Chody's next video or race recap; they can also look forward to the next merch drop.

What Other Creators Can Learn from Brett Chody

Chody's success didn't come from one lucky viral post. Instead, she built her audience over time by sticking to a few simple habits that other Creators can learn from:

• Keep posting even when growth is slow. Chody spent years creating content for a relatively small audience before her following took off. She kept going because she enjoyed what she was making, even when the numbers weren't there yet.
• Let your content change with your interests. Chody started with food, expanded into lifestyle content, and eventually made running a major part of her platform. Instead of forcing a new direction for growth, she let her content evolve naturally as her interests did.
• Give your followers ways to connect in real life. Bites Run Club turned Chody's online following into a real community. Instead of only watching her content, followers could show up, run together, and meet other people who shared the same interests.
• Work with brands that make sense for you. Many of Chody's biggest partnerships connect directly to things she was already talking about, wearing, eating, or doing. That makes sponsored content feel like a natural part of her platform, not a random advertisement.
• Don't only show the good moments. Chody has been willing to share difficult experiences, including races that didn't go as planned. Showing those moments alongside her successes makes her content more relatable and helps build trust with her audience.

For lifestyle Creators, Brett Chody's journey from a college food account to a Nike partnership, run club, and apparel brand shows the value of playing the long game. 

Stay consistent, build around the things you genuinely care about, and give your followers opportunities to become part of something bigger than a social media audience.