Entrepreneur, social media star, rising cross-country talent and future Olympian? Kobi Walker has more than enough on her plate, and still she seeks more to eat.
In order to head back home, Kobi Walker has to endure 36 hours of travel to reach Brisbane, Australia. She spent her life through high school there, a whopping 15 hours ahead of the time zone in Columbia.
After emerging as one of Australia’s top high-school runners, Walker got noticed by many different colleges in the US. She hadn't thought much about running and going to college in the United States. She had heard that competing overseas at the NCAA level would, “make or break you.”
“I did hear of it when I first started running, like, when I was 15, but I was like, 'I'm not doing that, there's no way I’m moving,' ” Walker recalled. “Nothing was broken so I was like, 'Why would I go and alter my life?' ”
As she got a little older, she started having some more serious discussions about moving roughly 7,000 miles away to attend college and run. Walker credits her parents with helping to convince her. She realized that she couldn't pass up this opportunity.
Walker had a ton of interest from colleges all across the country, including from Stanford, Oregon and UCLA. But Walker never quite felt a spark with any of those options. Instead, it was Mizzou that won her heart.
“I just felt something different when I spoke to Kyle Levermore, who’s our head coach here,” Walker explained. “And when I got to finally see the team and see the facilities, it was kind of a no-brainer from there.”
She remembers that, when she first joined the team, she had no idea what the SEC was or even that Missouri was a landlocked state. Walker took a challenging transition in stride.
Since high schools in Australia graduate in November, Walker first arrived in Columbia for school in January.
“I’d never seen snow before, and it was like a blizzard. It was so cold,” Walker said, as she recalled her first two weeks here. “Honestly those first 12 days are the hardest 12 days I've ever had in my life. Those two weeks have shaped me a lot, as silly as it sounds.”
Since her official visit was in September, Walker had not realized the massive difference between a Midwest winter and an Australian one. As a warm-weather lover, Walker had to adjust to not being able to run outside in the winter. Brisbane has a warm, humid climate.
As someone who has always liked to document her life, posting blogs and vlogs on the internet and TikTok, Walker decided to record her journey of moving to America. It helped alleviate some of the homesickness.
Her initial vlog, titled, “Move with me to America” amassed more than two million views. Other videos included, “Going to an American Target for the first time” and her going to her first basketball game at Mizzou. The videos performed well on TikTok.
This week, her TikTok account shot up from 30,000 followers to around 65,000.
“People love the comparison of Australia versus America. There's always a lot of fights in the comments too,” Walker said.
Her TikTok account recently surpassed a whopping 100,000 followers. She also posts long-form content on her Youtube account, the content still focuses on vlogs about her running and daily life.
Being a Division I athlete is already time-consuming and documenting, editing and posting content like she does adds more to her plate. Although the social media algorithm rewards consistent posting, Walker doesn't stick to any sort of posting schedule.
“It’s really organic,” Walker said. “If I look at it like a job it loses its fun and I always started it as a fun thing.”
She tends to post at least once a day and averages around 5-10 videos a week on TikTok and one to three longer videos per month on Youtube.
“I have always said that I will never sacrifice any of my training to film or create content, but I think they work pretty well simultaneously,” Walker said.
Her favorite part of posting is being able to build a community, and to be inspiring to other people.
“I like that my side of the internet is a positive side for people to come,” Walker said. “So anything that kind of spreads joy as such or offers people some insight that they can then apply in their lives is what I really enjoy.”
Constantly trying to come up with things to post about can be daunting, but Walker has a way to make the process easier.
“It comes down to what I enjoy watching. I have a niche of running, cooking and food,” Walker explained “I also try to work in questions that I commonly get asked in my DMs”
Content creation has its monetary benefits, as well as serving as a gateway for some really cool experiences. Brands will send packages to be opened up on video. Her favorite camera brand, DGI, sent her an Osmo to create some videos. She has also been able to fly to Sydney, where she hosted a run club promoting a Gatorade drink.
Walker has come so far from what was once just a hobby, it still is just that, but now with so much more reach and opportunity.
Her knack for inventing and creating doesn't stop here. Walker also has two different businesses that she started and runs.
She started her first business, a food catering service titled Foodiespread, when she was 14 years old. Unfortunately Walker has had to put this on hold after moving to the United States. She hopes to continue catering when she lives in Australia again.
Her other business, a line of seasonings without any artificial seasonings or extra ingredients, are sold under the name Kobi's Kitchen.
On the course, Walker is having her best season as a Tiger. Earlier in the season at the Gans Creek Classic she smashed her old personal best 6-kilometer race. She notched 13th place by finishing in 19 minutes, 54.4 seconds. The women's team and Walker would go on to nab first place at the meet.
“It was just so nice to get the team win, we all performed really well,” Walker exclaimed.
Home-course advantage has been key for Walker this season, and upon returning to Gans Creek for the SEC Championship race she outdid herself. She cooked up a massive 27.2 second improvement, bringing her new personal record to 19:27.2. Her performance in the SEC Championship earned her 17th place and All-SEC third-team honors, very close to at mid-season goal she set for herself of placing top 15 at the meet.
With the season winding down, the Tigers have entered the do-or-die postseason. Many months of training will boil down to a little less than 20 minutes of agony, and this Friday the squad will be heading to the Midwest Region Championship race to prove themselves.
“You know, you want to keep getting better for the girls around you and we want to be again on that national start line and show that it wasn't just a fluke last year,” Walker said. “We have aspirations of being a top 20 team this year.”
Walker has some equally lofty goals for herself this year.
“I would love to be top 15 at regionals, that would be a massive goal,” she said. “I’ve said that I want to be an All-American in cross country as well.”
With another three years of eligibility, no matter what happens this meet or even this season, Kobi Walker will stick around representing the black and yellow proudly like she always does.
After graduating from Mizzou, Walker will pursue her ultimate goal of representing Australia and running at the Olympics. Her drive and determination to invent, run, and share her life with the world has already made her successful in myriad endeavors. So, don't be surprised to see her pop onto your phone's screen one of these days.
