Tineke “Tini” Younger is an American chef, cookbook author, and social media personality who turned a viral macaroni-and-cheese recipe into one of the biggest food followings on TikTok. Born and raised in Walkersville, Maryland, she cooked her way through culinary school, competed on Fox’s Next Level Chef, and by 2026 had become a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree with millions of followers watching her recipes every week.
Quick Profile
Table of Contents
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Tineke Younger |
| Nickname | Tini |
| Born | September 2, 2001 |
| Age | 25 (turned 25 on September 2, 2026) |
| Birthplace | Walkersville, Maryland, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Chef, cookbook author, social media personality |
| Years active | 2021–present (content); TV from 2023 |
| Partner | Antoine Wright Jr. (married November 12, 2024) |
| Net Worth | $100K–$3M (attributed estimates, all unverified) |
Tineke Younger Net Worth
No mainstream finance outlet has published a verified net worth for Tineke Younger, so every figure in print is an estimate with an attached methodology caveat. The numbers cluster between six figures and a few million, and the spread itself says more than any single value.
| Source | Printed Net Worth Estimate |
|---|---|
| CelebsMoney | $100,000–$1M (2026) |
| TheCityCeleb | $1 million |
| Forbes (Top Creators list, 2026) | $3M (earnings ranking) |
The honest reading: CelebsMoney’s band is the broadest and its page is visibly stale (it still describes her as a musical.ly star), while the Forbes figure reflects 2026 creator earnings rather than a balance-sheet valuation. TheCityCeleb’s flat $1 million sits between them with no methodology shown. Track every version as an attributed guess at Net Worth Worlds.
Bio, Age & Early Life
Younger was born September 2, 2001, in Walkersville, Maryland, and grew up there with two younger brothers. Per her Wikipedia biography, she found cooking through culinary programs she enrolled in while a student at Walkersville High School and Frederick Community College — a path she has described as turning her school experience around.
Finding Cooking
Before the kitchen, her interests ran to athletics: cheerleading, track and field (long and high jump), and lacrosse, per multiple profiles. She has spoken in interviews about having a learning disability that made traditional schoolwork difficult, and about the Frederick County career-and-technology center’s culinary program as the place she finally clicked.
Culinary Education
She completed formal culinary training through Frederick Community College’s Monroe Center — Hospitality, Culinary & Tourism Institute, graduating in 2022. That schooling underpins the credibility of her content: unlike many food influencers, she trained in professional kitchens and worked restaurant jobs, including reportedly at The Wine Kitchen and McDonald’s, before going full-time on social media.
Tineke Younger Career
Her career is the classic creator arc — early traction on TikTok, a television break that supplied credibility, then a diversified brand built on the audience.
| Year / Period | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Begins posting cooking videos on TikTok; early viral hits |
| 2023 | Competes on Fox’s Next Level Chef Season 2, finishes 8th; publishes debut cookbook Cooking for My Boyfriend |
| 2023–2025 | Hosts a YouTube series on Gordon Ramsay’s Bite Originals channel; guest-appears on Next Level Chef Season 3 |
| 2024 | Designs an apron and chef’s knife with Hedley & Bennett; brand partnerships (Uber Eats, Olipop, Philadelphia Cream Cheese) |
| 2026 | Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 (Food & Drink); new cookbook Today We Are Cooking… released in the fall |
The Viral Macaroni and Cheese
Her breakout moment was a macaroni-and-cheese recipe that ricocheted across TikTok, drawing millions of views and becoming her signature dish. The video’s appeal was the combination of professional technique and a warm, approachable delivery — viewers could tell she actually knew what she was doing, and that the recipes were built to be replicated at home.
Next Level Chef
In early 2023 she competed on the second season of Fox’s Next Level Chef, mentored by Richard Blais, and finished eighth among 18 contestants. She didn’t win, but the exposure converted her from a TikTok account into a nationally recognized food personality. Gordon Ramsay’s Bite Originals YouTube channel then gave her a hosting platform — a meaningful endorsement from the franchise she had just competed on.
Cookbooks and Products
Her first cookbook, Cooking for My Boyfriend, went on sale in 2023 — the title riffing on the running theme of her early videos, in which she cooked for her then-boyfriend Antoine. By 2026 she had added product design (the Hedley & Bennett apron and knife) and was publishing a second cookbook, Today We Are Cooking…
Tineke Younger Income Sources
Nothing about her personal income has been publicly verified — no salary, contract, or financial filing exists in the public record. The streams below are what her documented career supports, described with the labels each outlet gives them.
| Stream | What Is Known |
|---|---|
| TikTok/Instagram content | 11–12M TikTok followers; sponsored content estimated at tens of thousands per month by tracker sites (modeled, not confirmed) |
| Brand partnerships | Reported deals with Uber Eats, Olipop, Philadelphia Cream Cheese (per Forbes profile) |
| Cookbooks | Cooking for My Boyfriend (2023); Today We Are Cooking… (2026) |
| Product design | Apron and chef’s knife with Hedley & Bennett |
| Television | Next Level Chef appearance; Bite Originals hosting |
Like Brittany Renner, Younger belongs to the generation whose income is assembled from a dozen small revenue streams rather than one contract, and none of it is publicly itemized.
Family & Personal Life
She met Antoine Wright Jr. in 2019 at Frederick Community College; the two became engaged in November 2023 and married on November 12, 2024, in Jamaica, per her Wikipedia biography. Antoine appears regularly in her content.
On June 20, 2025, the couple announced they were expecting twin girls. Per Wikipedia, the twins were born prematurely at 36 weeks following a placental abruption, and one of their daughters did not survive; thecityceleb names the surviving and lost daughters publicly, but this profile does not repeat details beyond the verified outline out of respect for the family’s privacy.
She moved from Maryland to Georgia in 2022 and, by the Forbes 2026 profile, was listed as residing in Augusta, Georgia.
Conclusion
Tineke Younger, 25, is the chef known as Tini who built a 12-million-follower TikTok audience on recipes like her viral macaroni and cheese, parlayed it into an eighth-place finish on Next Level Chef, published two cookbooks, and landed on Forbes’s 30 Under 30 for 2026. Her net worth has no verified figure; printed estimates range from $100K to $3M depending on the outlet and methodology. Married since 2024, she has been open with her audience about the joy and loss of her twin pregnancy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Tineke Younger?
She is 25 years old. She was born on September 2, 2001, in Walkersville, Maryland, and turned 25 on September 2, 2026.
What is Tineke Younger’s net worth?
There is no verified figure. Attributed estimates range from $100K–$1M (CelebsMoney) to $1 million (TheCityCeleb) to $3M on Forbes’s 2026 Top Creators earnings list — each with a different methodology, so treat them as guesses.
What is Tineke Younger known for?
She is a chef and TikTok personality known for recipe videos — most famously a viral macaroni and cheese — who competed on Fox’s Next Level Chef Season 2 and wrote the cookbook Cooking for My Boyfriend.
Is Tineke Younger married?
Yes. She married Antoine Wright Jr. on November 12, 2024, in Jamaica. They met in 2019 at Frederick Community College.
What happened with Tineke Younger’s twins?
In June 2025 she and her husband announced they were expecting twin girls. The twins were born prematurely at 36 weeks after a placental abruption, and one daughter did not survive, per her Wikipedia biography.
