We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Beatrice W a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Beatrice, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

One of my biggest challenges as a person has been to live in the present. To appreciate what I’m doing, where I am and what I have right now, instead of wishing I had more, was doing better and spent my time in a warmer or more interesting place. I have, however always enjoyed sharing my experiences with other people and helping people make more of their every day lives.

I saw that while people in larger cities such as New York and London had plenty of like-minded creatives focusing on making the most of their lives in these places and sharing their experiences, very few people were doing that in Stockholm, Sweden, which is where I live. I always thought that no one is interested in seeing what I do in Stockholm or my travel experiences, or that I don’t travel enough to have that as a focus. As Covid-19 rolled through I got more time at home and started to think more. Somewhere along the road, I decided to at least try to see what I can do with what I have, instead of deciding for myself that this isn’t gonna work and leave it at that. As I grew to become more consistent and learned more, i also recognized that living somewhere where the travel & food niche is quite small, is actually an advantage, because you don’t really have anyone else that’s doing the same thing as you.

My mission has elevated into sharing my travel and food experiences with the purpose of creating value for my audience. What sets me apart from other travel and food accounts is that I go in depth and show the decision making process, the struggles, the unexpected, my raw, unfiltered opinions and why I would/wouldn’t do something again and what I’d do instead. I’m transparent about prices, priorities and share a lot of the unglamorous and challenging sides of travel as well. The same thing goes for when I try food. I think a lot about sharing places that provide good value in terms of experience versus cost. Most people put up a beautiful photo or video without really sharing much value apart from that, which isn’t going to help others when they go out to have new experiences. People enjoy when the experiences are achievable and relatable. I used to think that I wasn’t worthy of sharing my travel experiences cause I didn’t have the funds or following to stay at five star hotels in the Maldives, but it turns out that a lot of people are tired of seeing content that’s out of reach anyway.

I want to help people making the most of their time, regardless of whether it’s about finding the best dessert place for a casual get-together, or planning their ultimate trip to Italy without breaking the bank. I encourage my audience to start discussions or direct message me if they have questions, and I give a lot of individual travel advice as well and try to help people prioritize and allocate their time and money in the way that gives them the most value. In today’s society, we spend a lot of time doing things that we must do, and managing responsibilities. My goal is to inspire you to make the most of your free time, and overcome the individual circumstances and limitations that are holding you back from doing so.

Beatrice, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For as long as I remember, I’ve really enjoyed sharing my travel and food experiences, as well as my daily life with other people. It started through Facebook for friends and family, and evolved into Instagram. After graduating law school in in 2018 I had more free time than I did while studying, so I started a separate Instagram account for specifically travel and food content. I shared photos and tips for where to go and where to eat under the name Foodie on Vacay, as it combined my passion for food and travel, and in particular, my huge emphasis on food while travelling. However, I wasn’t very consistent and it wasn’t until the spring of 2020 and the Covid-19 era when I spent I spent more time at home than usual, and I started thinking about different ways to elevate this hobby.

I started posting more consistently, I showed up more in my stories, and I learned more about content creation from various sources, I bought a DSLR camera and upgraded my phone, I bought photography courses and started learning how to do things better. I got into video content and started experimenting with TikTok and started growing. Although we’re talking about a small growth and only a few thousands of followers, I’ve seen some great successes with my blog, I’ve landed collaborations and I’ve created a community and gotten to know like-minded people which has been more fun and rewarding than I could ever imagine. I also have the freedom to scale this however I want, and find new ways to be creative and have fun with it.

The way I create content and my focus now is a lot different from what it was when I started, but it takes time to find your own style. If you visit my Instagram page or TikTok now, you’ll find a healthy mix between travel and food tips both in Stockholm, and destinations that I’ve travelled to. If you visit my blog, you’ll find in depth travel and food guides, and it’s a great opportunity for me to share what I do and who I am without the limitations that come with TikTok and Instagram.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It makes me really happy to have a purpose where I can create and build a community of my own with like minded people who both enjoy travelling, food and making the most of their every day life. I hope that I inspire people to get out more and try new things, whether it’s a new coffee spot in your hometown, or taking the leap to travel to a new country. I believe that trying new things and visiting new places teaches you how to navigate and handle new situations. Not only does it change your perspective and how you perceive your surroundings, it also helps you to build trust and confidence in yourself.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Definitely, I do believe that a lot of people, are struggling to see the point or purpose with spending so much time on an app like Instagram or TikTok, and why you’d want to do that with your time. Social media platforms and the internet are still relatively new, and previous generations haven’t gotten the opportunity to understand. Naturally, they’re skeptical and think that there are better ways to spend your time. When it comes to my photography journey and my creative projects, my mom has actually said that ”You should get a hobby that you can actually make money from”. I still haven’t told her that it’s exactly what I’ve already done. Also, I don’t really believe that money is the only value that should be recognized. To me, it’s more important that you spend your time in a way that feels valuable in terms of joy, and something that creates value for the long-term, rather than short-term gains.

What most people don’t get is how rewarding it actually is to, both be able to share things that you’re passionate about with like-minded people, and also that you’re actually becoming authority within a topic that you love and that you’re able to scale that. To me, that’s worth a lot more than any Netflix binge watch or other activities that are more socially acceptable than investing your time in learning something new and creating something of your own.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.foodieonvacay.com
• Instagram: foodieonvacay
• Youtube: foodieonvacay
• Other: TikTok: foodieonvacay Pinterest:foodieonvacay