We recently connected with Jane Ko and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jane thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

When I started A Taste of Koko in 2010 as just a food blog, I had no idea it would grow into the lifestyle brand that is it now. Along the way, people kept asking for community and if they could come along to the experiences that I was sharing. It took several years but I kept thinking of a way to bring my community with me and finally last year we launched Club Koko.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started A Taste of Koko when I was finishing up my last year at the University of Texas at Austin. I was graduating with a degree in Nutrition but had no plans in pursuing a career in Nutrition. I was working four part-time jobs at the university – working UT football games at the Dipping Dots stand, FIG (First Year Interest Group) mentor, UT Tower tour guide, and the marketing department for UHD (University Housing and Dining).

I started A Taste of Koko originally as a recipe blog – I was making recipes and shooting them out of my college boyfriend’s apartment. A few years in, a local restaurant reached out and asked if I could come in and shoot some photos. I’ve been to thousands of restaurants since shooting photos and videos.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I worked four part-time jobs in the early todays to start saving up money so I could buy a laptop, and different cameras (I’ve gone through 8 different camera models and now just shoot predominately with my iPhone). Before I went full-time with A Taste of Koko, I was working a full-time job as a social media manager for food company. For Club Koko, I funded it through A Taste of Koko.

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

In the first ten years of A Taste of Koko, I worked 80-90 hours a week on shooting, editing, and creating content and helping support local restaurants with visibility. I love working at night so my sweet spot was working on content from 9pm to 3am. When we launched Club Koko, we followed a similar model working with local businesses and creating a streamlined system to give our members a seamless experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.atasteofkoko.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atasteofkoko/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/atasteofkoko
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/janeko