We recently connected with Grace Vallo and have shared our conversation below.

Grace, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Accepting that you might not know everything (or anything). After taking the leap of faith to leave corporate and pursue my passion in cooking and food, I realized that I didn’t know really anything about photography or videography, SEO, or really anything about turning a food blog hobby into a business. Teaching myself photography, videography, SEO, social media marketing, and how to play in a very saturated space (food blogging) has been quite the journey. I’m still learning, but every day I feel more empowered and better than I did yesterday. Who knew that food blogging was so technical! Good cooking is just the start. Know the competition…and doing some things the same, and some things different. I read other food blogs like a religion. The competition may have a good process, and good tips for success. See what makes them successful and how you might emulate some things while still standing out. Social media is the best tool to learn how you can be different. Sometimes “not following the crowd” is where you find your breakthrough moment.

Grace, 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?

Cooking and baking with the seasons has been a part of my life since I was just a little kid. Here in New England, seasonal cooking is more than the fresh produce available during that time of year. It’s the “feeling” that you get when making popsicles or grilled meats in the summer, or a warm bowl of pasta in the winter! Whether it’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter or any holiday in between, I hope my recipes satisfy your seasonal cravings.

I’m a 27-year-old New Englander by heart and by home. I’ve lived in New England my whole life, developing fond memories and the tough skin of a New Englander, loving and living through the beautiful New England seasons! I grew up in a town filled with old colonial-era homes, rolling hills, orchards and berry farms – which still inspires my cooking today!

I grew up with my dad in the kitchen, watching him carefully dice beautiful garden carrots, onion, and celery that he picked up at one of the dozen farm stands in town. He taught me to take my time cutting the veggies, because the TLC of the farmer, along with the TLC of the chef, is what makes a dish special. I also distinctly remember my childhood lunch box, filled with deli sandwiches that my mom would make, stacked high with local veggies and farm stand fresh mozzarella (New England style!). On weekends, I was Dad’s “little sous chef,” helping him prepare for our special Sunday dinners. I loved watching him experiment with seasonal ingredients to turn them into masterful creations.

It was in my final year of college that I truly caught my dad’s cooking bug and found my own way, recipe testing and creating on weekend nights. Tastefully Grace began as a simple way of writing down all of my crazy concoctions and to remember the special moments my family shared in the kitchen growing up.

My obsession grew more after college when I sat at my cubicle in corporate America, daydreaming about how to make the perfect Panzanella Salad out of the heirlooms I bought at the farm stand that morning on my way to work. That’s when I left the corporate world to pursue Tastefully Grace full-time!

You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest & my new YouTube channel, @TastefullyGrace! I’m also a regular chef contributor on some Connecticut talk shows, as well as appearances on Food Network, Food and Wine Magazine, Daytime, Fox News Digital and Good Day Philadelphia.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

My business started when I was in college. I noticed that everyone in the food space had one commonality…a blog or website to tell their story!

Growing up in a foodie household, I knew how to cook and develop recipes, but I had no place of writing them down that would stand the test of time. I created TastefullyGrace.com as a way of documenting the recipes of my childhood and those that I had created in my college apartment. After sharing food photos through social media, people navigated to my blog – and I realized I had something! My social media was growing and the demand for my recipes was growing.

In the meantime, I finished college and was working in a corporate job. Even after a few years, I sat at my cubicle in corporate America dreaming of Slow Roasted Italian Pulled Pork and ways to scale my blogging business.

I left my corporate job when I realized what I had right in front of me… a small business! It’s been 2 years since I made that decision. Since then, I’ve grown my blog traffic by over 2,000%, I’ve been featured in some publications and networks that I never could have dreamed that I would be a part of, and I’ve built 3 successful social media platforms!

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

I’m proud that I’ve taught myself everything I know from the ground-up. I went to college, which taught me a lot of amazing things from a lot of inspiring professors. But almost all of the successes I’ve had thus far with my food blogging business have been self-taught. Not just the cooking and baking, but the writing, the photography and videography, the networking, the business side, the technical website creation side, the SEO, etc. I’ve realized that entrepreneurship is so much finding the right people, asking the right questions and not being afraid to ask for help in untraditional ways. In a lot of ways, I feel like I’ve built my own university from a bunch of people I’ve connected with throughout my life that are specialists in very diverse things.

Looking back, I am most proud of my attitude throughout the continuous learning process. This business is tough. It’s grueling at times and the rejection is on a daily basis. I am the most proud of using rejection as fuel. I definitely have days where I feel like I’m on a hamster wheel. But for the most part, the thing that’s gotten me this far is my belief in what I’m doing and myself. Among rejections, one “yes” is all it takes!

Contact Info:

• Website: tastefullygrace.com
• Instagram: @TastefullyGrace (https://instagram.com/tastefullygrace)
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tastefully-Grace-1858338371084223/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TastefullyGrace/

Image Credits
MJL Photography & Films https://www.mjlphotofilm.com/ for photos of Grace and TastefullyGrace.com for photos of food.