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.

Keep Reading

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!

Keep Reading

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.

Keep Reading

419: Balancing Life, SEO, and Income Streams Over 14 Years of Food Blogging with Anne Mauney

Welcome to episode 419 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Anne Mauney from fANNEtastic Food.

Anne Mauney has been running her blog for over 14 years now and, as you might imagine, her life has changed considerably during that time. Since starting her blog, Anne has become a Registered Dietitian with a Masters in Public Health, has gotten married, and had two children.

In addition to all of those big life changes, she has witnessed the rise of social media and SEO, and seen the huge changes in the food blogging landscape. In this candid conversation, Bjork and Anne chat about navigating life and blog changes and balancing parenthood with running a business.

Anne shares more about her changing income streams over the years, and why outsourcing certain tasks that don’t bring her joy has allowed her to continue blogging after all these years. It’s a super valuable episode no matter where you are in your blogging journey!

Keep Reading

416: Preserving Family Recipes with a Food Blog with Sarah and Kaitlin Leung from The Woks of Life

Welcome to episode 416 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Sarah and Kaitlin Leung from The Woks of Life.

For Sarah and Kaitlin Leung, their food blog, The Woks of Life, is a family affair. They have run the blog with their parents, Judy and Bill, for over ten years, and now they all work together full-time!

Bjork chats with Sarah and Kaitlin about the early days of The Woks of Life, including why they started documenting their family’s Chinese recipes, and how they grew their site while working full-time.

Sarah and Kaitlin share more about the division of labor when running a food blog as a family, and what they’ve learned over the last ten years of blogging. They have a really unique perspective on food blogging, and it’s a can’t-miss episode.

Keep Reading

413: Lessons in Burnout, Persistence, and Creativity after Ten Years of Food Blogging with Maggie Zhu

Welcome to episode 413 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Maggie Zhu from Omnivore’s Cookbook.

Maggie Zhu has been running Omnivore’s Cookbook, a food blog all about modern Chinese cooking, for over ten years. That’s a very long time in internet years! She’s had incredible success growing her site during this time and just recently wrote her first cookbook.

But this success didn’t come without some struggle. Maggie has navigated intense periods of burnout over the last ten years and has learned that outsourcing and prioritizing her creativity are key to helping her overcome these phases.

This interview is honest, raw, and thought-provoking, and we really hope it resonates with you as much as it did with us!

Keep Reading

411: Working with Brands and Knowing What Your Work is Worth with Shanika Graham-White and Darnell White

Welcome to episode 411 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Shanika Graham-White and Darnell White from Orchids + Sweet Tea about how they work together to run two businesses, partner with brands, and create content with their audience in mind.

We’re really excited to share this week’s conversation with Shanika Graham-White and Darnell White. They’re the creators behind the food blog Orchids + Sweet Tea, and the production company, Brooklyn Sweet Tea Productions.

In this episode, you’ll hear all about the evolution of their businesses, how they negotiate with brands, and more about their experience as black creators in the food blogging space.

It’s a really inspiring episode with tons of actionable takeaways, and we can’t wait for you to give it a listen!

Keep Reading

396: The Business of Sprinkles with Sweetapolita’s Rosie Alyea

An image of sprinkles and cake and the title of Rosie Alyea's episode on the Food Blogger Pro Podcast, 'The Business of Sprinkles.'

Welcome to episode 396 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Rosie Alyea from Sweetapolita about serving your audience and transitioning from blogger to shop owner.

This episode with Rosie is full of inspiration, and we’re so excited to be talking to her this week about the way she transitioned from blogging to running a multi-million dollar product-based business!

A common theme in this episode is the importance of serving your audience, and you’ll learn how Rosie did that as a blogger and now as a sprinkle business owner.

It’s a super entertaining interview, and we hope the conversation opens you up to other ideas and ways that you can be supporting your audience where they need it most!

Keep Reading

393: How Passion and Sourdough Feed a 9 Million Pageview Food Blog with Maurizio Leo

An image of bread and the title of Maurizio Leo's episode on the Food Blogger Pro Podcast, 'Passion and Sourdough.'

Welcome to episode 393 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork interviews Maurizio Leo from The Perfect Loaf about business growth through passion.

From co-founding and running a popular phone app to starting a sourdough blog that now gets 9 million pageviews a year, Maurizio Leo is a busy guy.

But everything he does is deeply rooted in passion, and you’ll hear why forming businesses around that passion has been crucial for his business growth and consistency in this conversation today.

If you’re looking for ways to diversify your income, growth strategies, or simply some inspiration to help you work towards your goals, you’ll get it all in this episode!

Keep Reading

392: How Pinch of Yum’s 1.1 Million Follower Instagram Account Got Hacked (and Recovered!)

A phone opened to the Instagram login page and the title of Bjork Ostrom's episode on the Food Blogger Pro Podcast, 'Hacked Instagram Account.'

Welcome to episode 392 of The Food Blogger Pro Podcast! This week on the podcast, Bjork explains how the Pinch of Yum Instagram account got hacked and eventually recovered.

Last month, Bjork and Lindsay went through something we all fear as content creators: they completely lost access to the Pinch of Yum Instagram account after Lindsay’s Facebook account got hacked. Talk about a scary situation!

They were eventually able to get the accounts recovered, but they went through a few very stressful days trying to get everything sorted out. In this episode, Bjork shares the entire story of how this happened, how they were able to recover the accounts, and what measures they’re taking to prevent this from happening in the future.

Last but not least, Bjork also provides some tips for how you can secure your own social media accounts to hopefully avoid a situation like this.

Keep Reading