We recently connected with Mia Santos and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mia, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

As a content creator, we often put ourselves in the public eye and post about anything and everything. I will never forget when one of my followers sent me a long direct message saying how much joy I brought in her life during a tough week that she was having. She listed the reasons why and proceeded to tell me that it was my genuine personality and energy that I exude that helped her through the tough moments. She complimented my work and noticed the love and hard work that I put in my craft. This moment was very special for me and I will never forget her kind words. I had no idea that I made such an impact on people. I saved her message to remind myself of the purpose of why I’m creating in the first place.

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?

Hi there! I’m Mia, a DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) based content creator of all things food and fun! I started my platform in 2019 highlighting delicious eats in the area and slowly made a transition to things that make my heart full. I love traveling, music, fitness, wellness and art. My love for food started when I became a Yelp Elite in 2016 where I wrote reviews, highlighted, and photographed local eats in the area. Joining the Yelp Elite Squad gave me practice with my photography skills. I told my friends that I wanted to do something food related beyond Yelp but I wasn’t sure what to do to branch out. In 2019, my coworker suggested to create a food Instagram and that’s when phoodietings was born. I connected with a few foodies in the area and met Andy, the founder of DMVFoodieCrew and the rest was history. The food community opened the doors for me to attend events, collaborate with big brands, and collaborate with many restaurants in the area and out of state when I’m traveling. I tell a story through my content from start to finish. I like to be playful when it comes to shooting food and showcase my personality in a lot of my content. This gives the audience a chance to get to know me as an individual and as a creator. My creative juices are always flowing and the audience will find that every video is different on my feed which sets me apart from others. Content creation is something that I am very passionate about and I make sure to show that in every piece of content that I post.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The algorithm is constantly changing and it’s difficult at times to figure out what works best to grow. I put myself in a lot of my content which helped me grow a trusting audience. I always try to have fun and showcase my personality in a lot of my videos as I said in my previous message. I collaborated with another content creator friend and we started with two videos. Both of our audience seemed to enjoy the content and found us entertaining together so we try to collaborate from time to time to keep our audience happy! My tip is just to be yourself and the people will see that through your craft and will support you till very the end.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Content creation is a lot of hard work and non-creatives don’t understand the amount of time it takes to put together content. I’ve had some tell me that all we do is move our phones around and take random videos to post but that is far from the truth. I have felt many burnouts and creative blocks during my journey. We are our own creator, director, writer, and planner. In my case, I try to branch out with each piece of content that I post so it takes me longer to brainstorm new ideas for my future posts. The amount of time it takes to plan and edit can sometimes be exhausting. I work a full-time job, consistently workout at the gym, try to balance my social life, and dedicate time to create can be physically and mentally draining at times. I love what I do and I wouldn’t change anything about my journey so far. I’m grateful for the many friendships that I have made and the people that I have networked with along the way. I have a goal to meet and I constantly remind myself that the only way is up from here. I’m excited to see what the future holds for phoodietings!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoodietings/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@phoodietings?_t=8jvjyOkFEfT&_r=1