We were lucky to catch up with Janelle Bentley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Janelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I took a risk moving across the country and not knowing anyone. Also, I took a risk living in London for a bit recently. I constantly like taking risks because life is too short not to do so.

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 first started out with the podcast that I created back in 2017 called WeBrunch. It was a fun/silly podcast that I would record with other foodies in NYC. It was a good time and I enjoyed it. I’ve always loved creating content and eating, so it just made sense that I would become a food influencer. I soon worked with restaurants and continued being an influencer of sorts. I then changed my podcast Instagram account to my name, @janellebentley and the rest was history.

If you are following me, you will not just be seeing the food I am eating, but the experiences that I am having. I eat, I travel and I etc. The content for me isn’t hard to make because it’s my life. I enjoy being able to connect and share my story with others. I don’t know where this journey will take me, but I am happy with all the things that have happened because of it. My brand is essentially sharing my authentic self and hoping that my followers relate.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The beauty of doing this, honestly, is that I’ve met so many interesting people from social accounts. And the experiences that I have made from this journey have been so worthwhile. I just want to keep doing it to guide or help others in the best way. I’ve heard so many people share with me how I have helped them with just my content. I want to keep pushing myself to do that because every bit helps!

How did you build your audience on social media?

OH, it was tough. It wasn’t easy and honestly it still isn’t. There’s so much to learn and social media is always changing. Your audience is always changing. The way you should be producing content is always changing. You can easily get whiplash from all the twisting and turning. But, if you are authentically yourself and you continue to push yourself it will get easier and it won’t get to you as much. I don’t want to put pressure on myself because for me this outlet is supposed to give me joy. And I always remind myself of that when things like this become a bit tiresome.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @janellebentley
• Other: TikTok: @janellebentley