453: Balancing a Full-time Job and Your Food Blog with Vincent DelGiudice

Welcome to episode 453 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Vincent DelGiudice from Always From Scratch.

We first met Vinny when he joined Bjork for a Coaching Call in 2023. He is on the podcast this week to chat more about his career journey — including how he made the leap from working as a full-time speech-language pathologist to where he is now.

Vinny started his blog, Always From Scratch, in 2019 and has had lots of success in that short amount of time — including qualifying for Mediavine and reaching over 100,000 followers on Instagram. While he contemplated taking his site full-time last year, he has since decided to hold off and shares more about his decision-making process in this interview.

Vinny and Bjork chat about balancing a full-time job with your blog, how you can use your blog as a “business card” for other job opportunities, and how to create a work-life that fills your cup.

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451: Staying True to Yourself as a Content Creator with Katie Higgins from Chocolate Covered Katie

Welcome to episode 451 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Katie Higgins from Chocolate Covered Katie.

Katie first started creating content online in 2006 and has been making a living from her food blog, Chocolate Covered Katie for a long time. In her first podcast interview (!!!) Katie shares openly about navigating the online content creation space for almost 20 years and how she has stayed true to herself throughout that time.

Katie has been very intentional about running her business in a way that prioritizes doing the things she loves — creating recipes, SEO, photography, FOOD, and letting go of the things she doesn’t — video, sponsored content, Instagram.

She has a really refreshing perspective on what success looks like and how she navigates imposter syndrome in the industry. We’ve been longtime followers of Katie and enjoyed getting a peek behind-the-scenes of her brand!

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446: How to Position Yourself as an Expert with Erin Jeanne McDowell

Welcome to episode 446 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Erin Jeanne McDowell.

Erin Jeanne McDowell is a cookbook author, food blogger, and video creator who brings lots of joy to everyone who follows along with her. In this interview, Bjork and Erin discuss her career journey so far, and how it all started with her love of writing.

Erin discusses her approach to creating multiple forms of content for her many platforms, including how she balances creating video content for Food52 and her own YouTube channel.

She has come to be one of the leading experts on baking in the online space and you’ll learn lots of her secrets in this great interview!

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440: FBP Rewind — Blogging with a Full-Time Job – Optimizing Your Time with David Crowley

Welcome to episode 440 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, we’re rewinding back to our episode with David Crowley from Cooking Chat, which was part of our Blogging with a Full-Time Job series.

In addition to sharing hundreds of recipes with wine pairings on his blog Cooking Chat, David also runs Social Capital Inc., a non-profit organization that strengthens communities by connecting diverse individuals through civic engagement initiatives.

In this episode, you’ll hear how David has found balance with his work over time, why he’s been focusing so much on republishing old content recently, and what he’s looking forward to next with his blog.

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438: Balancing Lifestyle and Recipe Content with Remy Park from Veggiekins

Welcome to episode 438 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Remy Park.

Remy’s journey to food blogging started as a means of overcoming her history of disordered eating and addiction by sharing a diary-like view into her favorite recipes and lifestyle. Many years later, her blog, Veggiekins, is now her full-time job.

Remy is a pro at balancing sharing lifestyle and recipe content on her various social media platforms and blog, and she explains more about her strategy for repurposing content in this interview. She also shares how she filters what she shares with her followers and how she handles negativity online.

Last but not least, Remy gives her advice for creating a uniform brand aesthetic in her photographs and on her site. It’s a wide-reaching and inspiring interview — grab your headphones!

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437: How Grief, a Diagnosis with MS, and a Biracial Background Shaped Marta Rivera Diaz’s Career as a Food Creator

Welcome to episode 437 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Marta Rivera Diaz from Sense and Edibility.

Every once in a while on the Food Blogger Pro Podcast, we have an episode that feels like “required listening” for food creators. This is one of them! Bjork and Marta have a really thoughtful and moving conversation about the importance of finding your voice as a food creator and presenting your authentic self to your followers and community.

Marta grew up as a child of two active-duty airmen and as a biracial individual (she is half-Black and half-Puerto Rican). She was also diagnosed with MS in her early thirties. All of these experiences have shaped her as a person and as a creator. She speaks beautifully about the effects of her background on her personality and her work, and why it is so important to her to share recipes that reflect her heritage.

It’s a perfect episode for the week after Thanksgiving, as we all reflect on what we’re grateful for in our personal and professional lives. Don’t miss it!

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435: Prioritizing Recipe Testing and Purpose in Food Blogging with Michelle Cehn from World of Vegan

Welcome to episode 435 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Michelle Cehn from World of Vegan.

Michelle has been blogging for a long time (she even has the @vegan handle on Instagram!) and has been passionate about animal rights and vegan cooking from the get-go. But her approach to sharing that mission with her readers has evolved over the years, and she explains more about why in this interview.

Michelle also shares more about how she balances the aspects of her job that bring her joy and a sense of purpose with the business and financial side of running a food blog.

Last but certainly not least, Michelle and Bjork chat about the recipe testing process that Michelle has used for her cookbook and for her blog, and how she recruits volunteers to help test each of her recipes.

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432: Creating a Community of Food Bloggers with Morgan Peaceman from Nomaste Hungry

Welcome to episode 432 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Morgan Peaceman from Nomaste Hungry.

Food blogging (or any career as an online creator or entrepreneur) can sometimes feel like a lonely space. But Morgan Peaceman is working to change that!

Morgan started her blog back in 2018 and has been cultivating a food blogging village ever since. She is extremely intentional about reaching out to fellow food bloggers and like-minded brands to build her community.

She has seen increased success since growing her community, which she attributes to sharing resources, experiences, and contacts with other food creators. In this episode, Morgan talks more about how she has the confidence to reach out to other creators and brands, and why she thinks it’s so important to do so.

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431: The Highs and Lows of Being a Food Creator for Over a Decade with Lauren Toyota from Hot for Food

Welcome to episode 431 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Lauren Toyota from Hot for Food.

Lauren Toyota has been blogging for almost ten years and has had tremendous success during the past decade — two cookbooks, 450,000 subscribers on YouTube, and qualifying for Raptive. But all of these high points have been balanced by some professional lows, especially since the pandemic and becoming a mother.

Lauren is incredibly honest in this interview about the current “slow” period of her business, and how her mindset has changed around her business goals recently. She openly shares her struggles, and how she views the future of hot for food.

As part of the future of hot for food is Lauren’s membership (EAT IT). Lauren walks listeners through the process of starting a membership and why she enjoys creating that type of content so much. This is a raw, transparent, brutally honest interview that we know will resonate with many of you!

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422: Why Success as a Food Blogger Isn’t Linear with Liz and Paul Madsen from Zardyplants

Welcome to episode 422 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Liz and Paul Madsen from Zardyplants.

Liz and Paul Madsen started Zardyplants in 2018 as a way to share their favorite plant-based comfort food recipes with readers. Over the last five years, they’ve worked together to grow the site (and Paul now works full-time for their business)!

Liz and Paul share more about the early days of Zardyplants, and how their processes and business have changed over the years. They have really practical advice about the importance of reinvesting in your business, being strategic around the types of recipes you create, and what to prioritize as a beginner blogger.

This is a particularly valuable episode for beginner bloggers but is also a great listen for any content creator trying to define what success looks like for you and your brand.

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