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

Bethany, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

When I was in college, I started to post my quick healthy meals on Instagram. My account was called @itsrainingveggies. My account grew quickly and I started getting free marketing gifts. This was very exciting for a college student trying to eat healthy on a budget. I started this account because I met a lot of college students who would tell me that eating healthy was too expensive and time consuming. My theme for this account was to make inexpensive, healthy dinners that are easy for college students to make. I had a lot of fun running and managing this account until the haters came out. A lot of my followers started following me because they thought it was a vegan recipe account (my account was not vegan) so people complained that my name for the account was confusing. At the time, I was interviewing for grad schools, applying for jobs, figuring out what my life would look like after college, and ultimately decided to sell @itsrainingveggies. I sold the account within a couple of days, and I was shocked at how many people were interested in my content. Unfortunately, @itsrainingveggies has been deleted, but I learned a lot about social media and creating a theme and voice online through that experience. I took a social media break for a year before I started to make health dinners and charcuteries boards on my new account @thebethiek.

Bethany, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I studied nutrition in college and I feel in love with the science of cooking. After graduating college, I worked as a health coach at a doctor’s office helping patients with weight loss. In college and in my career, I met a lot of people who felt overwhelmed by buying healthy food, cooking, and meal prepping. Something I observed from coaching my weight loss patients, is that they frequently made healthy eating extremely complicated. I believe that eating healthy can be simple and easy. Talking with my patients inspired me to start making healthy quick dinners again on social media so I could have more recipes to share and support them on their weight loss journey.

I currently work as a clinical research coordinator. I love to read and stay up to date on nutrition research, although my day job is not with food anymore. I love to run, dance, and hike. I have a passion for making charcuterie boards, as you will see on my social media accounts. I believe that pretty food tastes better and that almost every meal can be made into a charcuterie board.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

If I could go back four years ago, I would have told myself to take a social media break with @itsrainingveggies instead of selling it. I graduated college spring of 2020 in the beginning of COVID. I was overwhelmed at the time because I was working overtime in a hospital and trying to decide whether or not to go to graduate school. I do believe that at the time I made the best decision for myself. I did try and buy @itsrainingveggies back from the person who bought the account from me and discovered that the account had been deleted. I brainstormed a lot of ideas after hearing that news, and decided to start @thebethiek so I could have more space to be creative with my recipes. I loved my journey with @itsrainingveggies and I am grateful for what I learned about social media marketing and what to post (and not post) online.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

When it comes to social media marketing, I think the key to success is being consistent. I have seen the most growth on my accounts when I plan and schedule my posts in advance so they will post at similar time each week. I believe that consistently showing your audience what you have to offer them builds trust over time and eventually attracts the kind of people that you want to engage with online.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thebethiek

Image Credits

All of these photos are mine!