Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Elizabeth Wescott. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Elizabeth , 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?

It wasn’t easy mentally to jump into the food writing and content creation world at all. I was in my late-twenties when I started and a medical professional so it was not a comfortable move. I thought that people would see it as me being weird or just wanting attention, or perhaps my professional reputation would suffer. Once I started showing people that I was serious about food and writing, the response was amazing. I received overwhelming support from friends, mentors, colleagues. Every piece of content I put out feels like a risk still, but sometimes there’s a huge reward or at least a lot of learning. Putting out a book was ridiculously rewarding, going viral a few times has been a high. But every piece of content I put out there feels like a risk. That feeling of “oh no, not one soul is going to care about this” is always there. If your’e on the fence about pursing your talents, think of it this way: people’s lives are boring. Absolutely mundane. They want to see you. They want to see your talents. Your talents are needed in the world no matter how saturated you think your niche is. The key is to put your foot on that pedal and don’t let up; you’ll be amazed with what can happen for you.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Elizabeth Wescott and I’m a cookbook author, publisher, food photographer and content creator, and small business owner. I wrote my first cookbook Desert Honey and published it in November 2021 while launching my website and e-commerce at the same time. My book became an Amazon Best-Seller in Southwestern Food and Wine after its launch and has sold many copies in South America and Europe. I am a passionate story teller and I love connecting with people of different cultures through food and sharing ideas. I am also a mother of two and I look to find easy techniques for new cooks or busy families that make cooking more fun and enjoyable. My blog Desert Honey has built a community of over 60,000+ across social platforms and continues to grow. As an artist, food and photography are my art mediums of choice. Though cookbooks are seen more as utilitarian guides, they can really move people if the story is told with heart, and that is what I want to convey the most through cookbook publishing. My relationship to food started in my early 20’s as a college student. I worked as a baker in a wedding venue in North Las Vegas making wedding cakes with orders scaling upwards of 15-20 wedding cakes a week. I worked with my sister who is a trained pastry chef and she taught me so many techniques and how to bake professionally. I was only in this work to get through college and while I was in it, I couldn’t wait to get out of it. The days were long, exhausting, and dirty. Space was so tight and we shared it with the head cook who did not play around. I would compare working in a bakery more to working construction than any other job. There is nothing cute or easy about it. I didn’t know at the time that that work was formative to me and how I would shape creative pursuits later in life. Even the experiences that we embark on unwillingly can lead our lives into places that we’d never thought we would go. I always encourage people to go and do the job your don’t want to do; you never know how I could shape you.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing for me, hands-down, is simply someone telling me that they made a recipe of mine and that they loved it and/or it made their life easier. It’s just the coolest feeling. I made a video once about a simple bread recipe that doesn’t require kneading. A woman messaged me and said that she had arthritis in her shoulder and that she was finally able to make bread again because of my recipe. Another said that her children and husband loved it so much that they make it all the time. I wish I could bottle that feeling. It just feels so good to make a difference and enrich people’s lives and that’s really what creatives and artists are here for. To teach, to send a message, to spread awareness, to connect through our medium. The world will always need people who are willing to put themselves out there and share what they know.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Putting yourself out there comes with opening yourself up to criticism from strangers. There’s just no way around it, and the more attention you get the worst it will be. I get negative messages or comments all the time. I’ve learned to love negative criticism, I see it as a very good thing. Your friends and family won’t always tell you what you need to hear. It stings at first, but if they have a point, there’s something valuable in it. A lot of times, people will just criticize you because they just don’t like you or what you did and that’s easy to separate out. I think that it’s healthy to take advice that improves your product, but it’s not healthy to lean heavily on listening to people. You are what makes your product great, and people will give you advice that would make it not-as-great.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.deserthoneyproject.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/_Desert_Honey_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deserthoneyproject
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethwescott