We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Maddie French. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Maddie below.
Maddie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?
I’m fortunate to know and be acquainted with many kind people so I feel lucky to have so many examples of kindness. One thing I’ve known to be true is that you never know what someone else is going through, so trying to be kind and sympathetic to others is one of my life mantras. As someone who also loves food and would consider it one of my love languages, one time as a thank you someone gifted me a fully paid wine and food pairing for myself and my fiancée. It showed a level of generosity but also a level of depth of knowing how food is love to give a gift of that sort. It was so thoughtful it blew me away (and for the record, it was at Bastion and it was one of my all-time favorite meals in Nashville).
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a digital content creator and founder for the BNA Best Bites social media pages. It started off as a project for me to document all the food-related experiences I’ve loved in Nashville. It’s grown into a way to help local businesses market their products. It’s still very much driven by my passions for showcasing locally owned and operated small businesses in Nashville. Sometimes I seek out places to go and sometimes I’m asked to collaborate. One thing that I feel strongly about is that I would never market a place on my page I’ve not had a good experience there myself. I’ve also turned down opportunities to collaborate with corporate brands that are super well-known since I want to give space for smaller businesses on my social media.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I’ve built my audience through consistency and constant interactions. It really helps to be open minded to new people and opportunities. Getting started is about building relationships with other accounts and interacting with them. I’ve also said “yes” to things a lot more times than I’ve said “no” especially starting out because those opportunities could lead somewhere promising. Putting in the time and effort when you start anything new is also key since there will be a sharp hill to climb before you’ve reached a first goal.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think everyone has some creativity in them and it just takes the right experience to bring it out. I keep a long list of different ideas on my Notes app that come to me and it’s not always apparent at the time where that idea will head. I think having patience and being able to revisit ideas that didn’t feel complete the first time is important. Sometimes being in the right head space can help too because taking a break and coming back to it renewed and refreshed can shed light on where to go from there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/bnabestbites
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bnabestbites/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bnabestbites
Image Credits
Maddie French