United States
Alexis Nikole Nelson, known online as Blackforager, is an Ohio-based forager, outdoor educator, and content creator who built a multi-platform following by making wild plant identification feel joyful, accessible, and genuinely funny.
Total Followers +0.7%
9.1M
Across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok
Primary Platform
YouTube
1.3M followers · 14% of audience
Engagement
11.1%
vs. 1.5% category median
Sponsorship Tier
Mega
Est. $35K–$82K / IG post
Published by Simon & Schuster, the foraging handbook and vegan cookbook kicks off a tour including stops in Seattle (Sept 14) and Columbus (Sept 20). It's her first book.
TIME recognized Nelson alongside other major creators for her ability to blend ecology, culinary traditions, and African American and Indigenous food history.
PBS Nature released 'From Foraging to Fame: How Alexis Nikole Nelson Became @blackforager,' bringing her story to a mainstream public-broadcasting audience.
Nelson presented 'Reframing Food: A Tasteful Revolution' to educators gathered for AMS's 65th-anniversary event, connecting foraging to hands-on learning philosophies.
| Window | YouTube | TikTok | Combined | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last 7 days | +10K +0.8% | +5K +0.2% | +0 +0.0% | +15K |
| Last 30 days | +52K +4.0% | +15K +0.5% | +0 +0.0% | +67K |
| Last 90 days | +251K +19.3% | +81K +2.8% | +0 +0.0% | +331K |
| Last 365 days | +251K +19.3% | +81K +2.8% | +0 +0.0% | +331K |
Daily follower snapshots from CreatorDB's longitudinal index.
| Brand | Type | Platform | Date | Performance vs. baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EA / The Sims Gaming | Channel sponsor | TikTok | Long-term | — |
| Ninja (Ninja Creami) Kitchen / Appliances | Brand ambassador | TikTok | Long-term | — |
| Netflix Entertainment / Streaming | Sponsored content | TikTok | Long-term | — |
| Laika Studios (Wildwood) Entertainment / Film | Sponsored content | TikTok | 2024–2025 | — |
Alexis Nikole Nelson, known online as Blackforager, is an Ohio-based forager, outdoor educator, and content creator who built a multi-platform following by making wild plant identification feel joyful, accessible, and genuinely funny. She rose to widespread visibility on TikTok around 2020–2021, at a moment when audiences were hungry for nature-connected content, and distinguished herself immediately through a combination of real foraging knowledge and an unguarded, musical personality — she routinely breaks into song mid-video. Her handle carries a deliberate double meaning: she is a Black woman in a foraging space that has historically skewed heavily white, and she has spoken openly about reclaiming that outdoor tradition. Her content spans cattails, linden trees, milkweed, and other overlooked edible plants found in ordinary Midwestern landscapes, framed less as survivalism and more as culinary adventure.
Represented by United Talent Agency and the author of a forthcoming book, Nelson has expanded well beyond a single-platform niche. Her brand partnership history — spanning EA's Sims franchise, Ninja Creami, Netflix, and Laika Studios — reflects a creator whose audience trusts her across lifestyle and entertainment categories, not just foraging. That audience skews slightly male and spans a wide age range, suggesting her appeal crosses both younger discovery-seekers and older nature enthusiasts. Engagement rates significantly above category benchmarks across YouTube and TikTok indicate a community that actively participates rather than passively scrolls. As outdoor education and sustainable food sourcing continue gaining mainstream cultural traction, Nelson is positioned as one of the defining voices in accessible foraging content — a space she has shaped as much as inhabited.
Blackforager reaches an audience concentrated in United States primarily through YouTube, and is best activated via long-form YouTube integrations, Instagram Reels and Stories, TikTok branded content. Their sponsorship history skews toward Gaming, Kitchen / Appliances, Entertainment / Streaming, a clear signal of fit for brands in those categories. Demonstrated partners include EA / The Sims and Ninja (Ninja Creami). Engagement on YouTube runs around 11.1%, which points to an audience better suited to category-relevant, mid-funnel campaigns than to pure-reach buys. The channel's mix of long-form YouTube integrations and Instagram Reels and Stories lets a sponsor choose between short awareness placements and longer, more detailed integrations. Because the audience follows education content rather than arriving through untargeted reach, sponsorships that match the channel's subject matter tend to convert more efficiently than broad placements. A consistent, on-topic posting focus gives sponsors a predictable, brand-safe environment, lowering placement risk compared with broad, general-interest channels. Campaigns here are best measured on qualified engagement and consideration within the niche rather than on raw impression volume. For United States-focused brands in Gaming and related categories, Blackforager offers a defined, creative-fit audience rather than broad, low-intent impressions.
Benchmark estimates for a creator at Blackforager's tier (Mega, 9.1M combined followers, United States). Pulled from CreatorDB's category benchmarks.
The CreatorDB Agency runs end-to-end influencer campaigns globally — shortlisting, outreach, contracting, and performance reporting. Talk to our team about building a campaign around creators in this niche.
Blackforager's real name is Alexis Nikole Nelson. She introduces herself as Alexis in her YouTube channel description, and her full name appears in the professional booking contact listed across her social profiles through United Talent Agency. Most of her audience knows her only by the handle Blackforager.
Blackforager announced a book tied to her foraging and outdoor education work, with preorders promoted across her TikTok and Instagram as of mid-2026. The book connects directly to her content focus on edible and useful wild plants that grow in everyday environments. She also announced a book tour to accompany the release, which is linked in her Instagram bio.
Blackforager coined the nickname swampdogz for cattails because their cylindrical brown seed heads resemble hot dogs on a stick. It's one of her signature moves — giving wild edible plants fun, memorable names that make foraging feel approachable rather than intimidating. Cattails appear repeatedly in her content because they are edible at multiple stages of growth.
Blackforager identifies the linden tree as the source of a natural chocolate substitute, referring to it as 'linden chocolate season' in her posts. When the linden's flowers and seeds are processed together, the result reportedly produces a flavor reminiscent of chocolate. It's one of her most-reshared discoveries and a good example of her focus on common trees people overlook.
Blackforager is based in Ohio and leans into it as a running joke, describing it as the 'very untamed wilderness of scenic Ohio' — the humor being that Ohio is not typically imagined as wild foraging territory. Her central argument is that extraordinary edible and useful plants grow everywhere, including suburbs and local parks, not just remote wilderness. Ohio is essentially her proof of concept.
Yes — Blackforager explicitly notes in her YouTube bio that she 'sings her feelings a lot,' and musical moments appear throughout her content alongside the plant education. It's one of the personality quirks that separates her from more straightforward nature educators and contributes to her unusually high audience engagement. Fans often cite her humor and spontaneous singing as core parts of her appeal.
Blackforager has worked with a notably eclectic mix of sponsors for a foraging creator, including EA as a Sims 4 partner, Netflix, and Ninja as a Ninja Creami partner — the last of which she likely uses to make frozen treats from foraged ingredients. These partnerships reflect how broadly her audience crosses into lifestyle, gaming, and food beyond a typical outdoor-education niche.
Blackforager has shown exactly that, posting a DIY perfume tutorial using milkweed and sweetgrass — two aromatic wild plants found across much of North America. The video is a good example of how her content goes well beyond eating wild plants into cosmetics, crafts, and other everyday uses of foraged materials. It's beginner-friendly and requires no specialized equipment.
Yes — as of 2026, Blackforager's Instagram bio prominently advertises a book tour with a booking link, connected to the foraging book she was promoting for preorder across her platforms. It marks a significant milestone in her move from online creator to published author and public educator. Tour booking inquiries are handled through United Talent Agency.
Blackforager has built a combined audience of over 9 million followers across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, placing her firmly in the Mega tier of creators. Her TikTok is her largest individual platform, and her engagement across all three channels runs well above the category average for lifestyle and nature content — which is unusually strong for a creator at her scale.
Stats (followers, engagement, audience demographics, growth) are pulled live from the CreatorDB API covering YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Bio and FAQ content is AI-assisted; news items are sourced from cited public press at generation time. Read the full methodology →
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