We recently connected with Joshua John Russell and have shared our conversation below.
Joshua John, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I went to culinary school at Johnson and Wales University in RI and got my degree in baking and pastry arts. It was a great experience with great instructors. There was no YouTube then, so I had to learn outside of school through trial and error. It was actually a great way to learn and create my own style. The movie industry started to grow in Atlanta and I had done several editorial shoots so I got my start in the food styling industry by word of mouth. Because I had been making wedding cakes and working in restaurants for a few years, I was used to being flexible and solving problems. On set, it’s all about rolling with the punches because things change daily with the scripts and the set.
Joshua John, 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?
After college, I got my start in Atlanta, GA working in restaurants and hotels. I fell into the wedding industry pretty quickly and made wedding cakes for many years. I ended up going under contract with Food Network and doing culinary competition shows for a couple or years. I then got a contract with NBC to do marketing for one of their production companies. I created a show for YouTube called Man About Cake so push traffic back to an NBC learning platform. During my time with NBC I got the appear on TODAY 3 times and work with Bravo making wedding cakes for some Bravo celebrities. I then started my own YouTube channel called You’ve Been Desserted and was able to work with Netflix (Nailed It, guest judge), Hulu (Baker’s Dozen, guest judge) and Prime Video (Dr.Seuss Baking Challenge, head judge). I currently co own a brand called Whisk and Drill Productions with Karen Portaleo. We create props for tv and film and do food styling. We work with our clients to make sure we can execute their vision and provide creative solutions to make the project come to life,
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
Karen and I used to be the cake team at Highland Bakery in Atlanta, GA. We were the “go to” cake designers in the city. We worked closely together for 3 years and then got other opportunities that took us in different directions. We remained friends and eventually decided to collaborate on this business.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Mostly “word of mouth”. It’s often times hard to find creatives that can be well rounded enough to tackle any project. We always go head first into projects. We love the challenge
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Whisknanddrillproductions.com
- Instagram: @whiskanddrill
- Facebook: @whiskanddrillproductions
- Linkedin: @whiskanddrillproductions
- Twitter: None
- Youtube: @youvebeendesserted
- Other: Tiktok: @joshuajohnrussell
