2021 Growth

Helllooooooo, I know — long time, no talk right? I feel like I’ve been a bit underwater between work life, mom life, and foodie life so I decided to take a necessary break. Since I last posted, I feel like I’ve grown tremendously in a number of different ways so I wanted to take the time to reflect.

I hit a lot of cool milestones in the second quarter of this year that I want to acknowledge and celebrate. First, my TikTok @joyeatsworld has gained so many new followers (10.7K and counting), which has come with a lot of great opportunities for me to try new food spots without having to spend all my money in the process. Of course, I still loveeeeee my foodstagram, but I’ve started creating a lot more video content because that seems to be my bread and butter these days. If you look back at my blog discussing my 2021 goals, you will see the my number one goal was to grow my personal brand by expanding to new social channel….so it’s safe to say I’m crushing this goal!

Another area that has grown in my life is my friendships in the Triangle are. Now that we are vaccinated and things have opened back up, I’ve been able to connect with more local foodies in person. I was even able to plan my first foodie event to celebrate Juneteenth and support Black-owned businesses. I had so much anxiety around planning and executing an event with the foodies I interacted with on Instagram because I wasn’t sure that anybody would want to come and I didn’t want it to be awkward. Luckily, that was not the case; everybody seemed to enjoy eating, taking pictures, and connecting with each other.

Lastly, I have made strides in my professional growth and development as a public relations professional. I was promoted in March and have gotten more involved in my company’s employee resource groups. As a board member of the Women of Avalara ERG, I was chosen to present at the Lesbian’s Who Tech Conference in June alongside an awesome colleague of mine. The preparation and practice to nail that presentation got me out of my comfort zone and pushed me to develop my public speaking skills. We got so much great feedback from that presentation and I am extremely glad that I raised my hand to do that.

Now that we are mid-year, I find myself wondering what’s next. As a continue to grow as a content creator, I am always debating whether or not I should turn this passion of mine into a side hustle. Of course, I would love to make extra money but I am afraid that if I turn this into a business it will start to feel like work instead of fun. We shall see what the future holds, but for now the plan is to keep growing and thriving!