How She Did it: Turning A Food Blog Into a Career with Jessica Hylton-Leckie

Looking for a dose of inspiration? Check out my conversation this week with lawyer-turned-food-blogger Jessica Hylton Leckie of the site Jessica in the Kitchen.

Jessica shares how she fell in love with food blogging and the struggles she overcame to take it from hobby to career. It’s an inspiring, down-to-earth discussion about authenticity, branding your blog, and finding ways to engage with your loyal viewers.

More About Jessica

Jessica has always had a passion for cooking and baking. In fact, she loved cooking so much she even started a small baking business in high school! Wow, that’s dedication! That business continued even when she went to college.

Throughout her years in law school and her career, she went back and forth between continuing to bake and not doing it at all. That going back and forth between two passions is something many of us have gone through as we decide our career path.

Finally, Jessica decided to do cooking full-time and with that came the decision to stop practicing law. It wasn’t an easy decision, but its where her food blogging story began!

Growing a Brand

Something that really stood out to me about Jessica’s approach to growing her brand and her blog was her focus on engaging the viewers she already had, verses always trying to get new ones.

Jessica talks about strategies for better understand your readers and how to deliver more of what they want on your site. It’s a little bit of art and a little bit of science, but it is a formula you can learn and apply to your site.

Jessica also shares great insight on how to respond to negative feedback or comments — all circling back to defining and acting within your brand’s integrity.  With a beautiful focus on authenticity and self-acceptance, her tips are incredibly helpful on multiple platforms.

Show Notes

This episode on Turning a Food Blog into a Career includes information you’ll want to know more about:

• Connect with Jessica on her site Jessica in the Kitchen
• Say thanks to our guest today with a shout-out on: Instagram 
• Jessica mentions her favorite app, the Shine App which sends her daily reminders for self care.
• Related Post: Becoming a Full-time Food Blogger with Kathryne Taylor of Cookie + Kate.
• Connect with Chopped Academy Online:  Instagram  | Twitter
• Related Post: Marly shares about the Hierarchy of Creativity
• Connect with Marly: Namely Marly |  Instagram  | Twitter
• Today’s post production, music, graphic art & sound design by Shawn Beelman
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