H-Town's own, Chaz Daughtry of SoulFit Seasonings and Soul Fit Grill is among the nominees Forbes magazine has picked for its 2019 Influencer Addition.

Just shy of his 30th birthday, Daughtry found out he had been nominated for the second year in a row. He's hoping the strong sales of his Soul Fit Kamado Grills and popular SoulFit seasonings will push him into the top 30 with other innovative young professionals. The list currently features 600 trailblazers in 20 industries. The nominees will be whittled down with the winners announced this November.

Daughtry's business savvy and entrepreneurial skills caught the eye of Forbes. His SoulFit products are now at Whole Foods stores in the Houston Metroplex and HEB stores are showing an interest as well.

"To even be a contender for this is huge and the fact that they are looking at me for the second year in a row is so humbling, exciting and nerve-wracking," said Daughtry.

"My business is still very young. I started SoulFit Seasonings in 2015 and SoulFit Grill in 2017, so a lot has happened in a short period of time." Daughtry, a Texas A&M graduate credits his love of farming for getting him started in the spice business. "I started growing spices and herbs because I wanted to create a spice blend that was healthy. I had watched my grandmother suffer from diabetes and she never could find seasonings without a ton of salt. Mixing and experimenting in my kitchen, I came up with different spices and rubs that contain no MSG, Sugar or Preservatives but taste great."

Daughtry's seasonings became popular when bodybuilders started talking about the products on Instagram and social media for FREE. "I didn't pay any influencers, they just said what they liked about the product and it took off."

Now, Daughtry's 8 seasonings and rubs are sold internationally, in hospitals, nutrition stores and of course Whole Foods. In addition to Whole Foods, Daughtry is expected to get shelf space in HEB stores throughout Texas this year. "HEB likes the product especially the Maroon Tailgate Edition that I created for my Aggie Family.

After the seasonings took off Daughtry moved into another arena, grills. The SoulFitGrill was created in 2017. Its a kamado-style grill inspired by cooking techniques Daughtry learned while studying Economics abroad in Chengdu, China. "Creating my own line of grills was in hopes that people would use them as a healthier alternative for cooking. Grilling instead of frying. The unique oval cooking shape of my grills allows vegetables and meat to cook for a shorter amount of time at a higher heat while staying moist and locking in flavor. Today, we have sold hundreds of kamado grills throughout the state of Texas. SoulFitGrill is now valued at $5 Million.

With all this going on its easy to see how this innovative Texan made it to the final round with Forbes. Daughtry already knows how he will celebrate if he cracks the top 30,"I'm going to cook up some ribeye steaks for the family on one of my grills and savor the moment."