We were lucky to catch up with Katie-Rose Watson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Katie-Rose, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

One challenge I face as a food blogger and recipe creator is that I never considered myself to be a photographer. The most popular food blogs have the best photos, even if the recipes aren’t all that unique or innovative. I’m glad that I dove in and started my food blog anyway, undeterred by my lack of photography skills. I study food photos that I love, learn on the job, and challenge myself to be better every day. I spent the last year updating old recipes with brand new photos now that I have significantly improved by photography skills. I think that’s a good lesson for everyone: don’t hold back and strive be better every single day.

Katie-Rose, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I publish original recipes, party ideas, tablescapes, gardening tips, travel inspo, and more on my website, www.therosetable.com. I also produce the digital show The Rose Table, which covers everything from food to travel to entertaining in your own home. I’m best known for my Disney Dinners series, which are elegant dinner parties for adults inspired by some of my favorite Disney movies. I post all of the recipes on my blog and do an episode for each on my Facebook channel (facebook.com/therosetable).

My Disney Dinners started as a way to get young people like myself (I was 28 when I started the series) excited about the seemingly old fashioned notion of the dinner party. I remember when I invited someone to my first dinner party, they told me that dinner parties were “stuffy.” That really saddened me. What’s stuffy about enjoying delicious food with people you love? I’m a huge Disney lover and wanted to show people just how fun and whimsical dinner parties could be. It thrills me how many people write me every week to tell me that they were inspired to host a dinner party for their friends because of something they saw on therosetable.com. The memories made around a table really last a lifetime and I’m honored to be part of that.

I do want to be clear though: these are private events in my home meant to inspire others through my blog and show. I don’t do any sort of catering!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of being a content creator is seeing other people have magical evenings because of something they saw on The Rose Table. It thrills me every time! On holidays especially, people tag me when they make my recipes and I can’t even describe how wonderful it feels to be part of people’s lives. There are a lot of challenges when developing content like mine – particularly the theme party content, which seems to be everyone’s favorite! – but seeing an episode come together exactly how I envisioned it after months of planning is really so satisfying. I really enjoy the creative process. Dreaming up The Rose Table content is my happy place.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Social media is a tricky beast. You can’t control the algorithm and you can’t predict what will happen next. There are definitely highs and lows when it comes to building a brand on social media. I remember being four months into my Disney Dinners series and wanting to throw in the towel because I was so stressed with work and I didn’t want to keep spending so much of my free time (and energy!) into creating content that not that many people were seeing. I was drained and wanted to cancel Disney Dinners: Alice in Wonderland. I remember my mom giving me a pep talk, saying that she really felt like I was building something that people cared about with The Rose Table. Alice in Wonderland is now my highest viewed episode with nearly half a million views. I went from about 11,000 fans before Alice to over 200,000 fans today. Thank goodness I kept going! I think that’s the key to success on social media: not giving up.

Contact Info:

• Website: therosetable.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/therosetable
• Facebook: facebook.com/therosetable
• Twitter: @therosetable
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSzPcltEUc644XTEF6Rw2w
• Other: TikTok: @therosetable Pinterest: @katierosewatson

Image Credits
Credit for all except the black tablecloth photo: Katie-Rose Watson Black tablecloth photo: Jessica Serna