Keith Lee is on a hot streak of using his TikTok platform to support small businesses.

As previously reported by AfroTech, the TikToker helped Southern Taste Seafood, a Black-owned food truck, raise $30,000 in less than 24 hours.

Now, Lee has gone from spreading generosity on social media to national television.

On Jan. 26, Lee was a guest on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to surprise Akim Vann, the owner of Bakery on Bergen — a Brooklyn-based, small bakery.

On behalf of Duncan Hines, “Good Morning America” and Lee surprised Vann with a $10,000 check.



Prior to surprising Vann alongside “Good Morning America,” Lee had visited her bakery, where he said he was met with immaculate customer service. He was also more than pleased with the green tea latte and sea salt chocolate chip cookie he ordered. At the time, Vann wasn’t familiar with Lee and his platform of millions of followers.

Along with making sweet treats, Vann opened Bakery on Bergen as a way to give back to the neighborhood and serve the community. Vann tutors students at her bakery as a student coach.

“My mom really took leadership into her own hands in terms of curating a space that wasn’t just for her,” her son Chi Osse told the outlet.

“She’s always believed in us,” he added. “When folks tell me I can’t do something or have to wait my turn, even though I know I’m ready, I still go out and do it and accomplish it because that’s how I was raised.”

Hours after his TV appearance, Lee did a taste test of Vann’s food on TikTok.

@keith_lee125 Bakery On Bergen taste test 💕 would you try it ? 💕 #foodcritic ♬ original sound – Keith Lee

“When I first went, it was very slow. It was only me and one other customer the whole time I was there,” Lee recalled. “Akim also told me she recently lost her husband. For her to be going through that and her business to be slow at the moment and for her to still have amazing customer service and pour everything she has into it, it touched my heart.”

He continued: “Akim, I told you earlier, I don’t promise anything but I will personally say get ready. You deserve it.”