We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Virginia Shaffer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Virginia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

When I tell people I write about oysters, I almost always get a laugh. “Oh, wow, that’s niche!” And they are right. There are only a handful of independent shellfish food writers around the world. My mission is to expand consumer knowledge on oysters and their meaningful contributions across culinary, cultural, and environmental spheres. Oysters were a part of my life at a young age, from growing up in Maryland’s wetlands, to scraping my knees on oyster reefs, to tasting my first oyster on a saltine cracker. As I grew older, half shell was omnipresent during my years in Washington, D.C., my time working in Europe, and precious time spent with friends and family. An oyster’s complexities, textures, and flavors always intrigued me but when I started Lady Oyster, I knew so little about oysters beyond the restaurant.

I began writing about oysters in 2016 when I was in search of a creative hobby and a community but at the start, I was a total imposter … a little pea crab that the oyster industry had let creep in and stay, even if it didn’t quite belong. I didn’t own a pair of waders and had no background in aquaculture, but I worked in sales so I was comfortable with cold calling. I’d phone an oyster farmer, show up to their farm, and ask a lot of stupid questions. In the end, I hoped that I would learn something, meet people, and share it with other uninformed city dwellers like myself.

Everything snowballed very quickly and an odd curiosity turned into a deep love. Through stories on the farm, I learned far more than I ever thought I would about oysters and the role they played in our world. Beyond their culinary delights, oysters are the lungs of our seas and through them, many other living things thrive. By growing more oysters, farmers are adding environmental services to our natural surroundings for years before the oysters are harvested for consumption (and then replenished with more baby oysters, a.k.a. “spat”). The oyster industry is unlocking new ideas about regenerative farming and consumption, coastal protection against climate related vulnerabilities, and environmental restoration. Imagine a world where we’re contributing to a better planet when we consume, and putting back more than we take. That’s the world I want to live in, and that’s exactly what the oyster farms up and down our coastlines help create.

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 published food writer and the founder of Lady Oyster Blog, a website that documents the stories of oyster farms, raw bars, oyster tourism, and industry enthusiasts. Lady Oyster is now followed by thousands of oyster lovers worldwide who are looking to learn more about their food sources. Each day, I partner with small businesses in the oyster industry to provide creative services that showcase their stories, passions, and products. It’s taken six years of writing, exploring, and traveling to build up Lady Oyster’s audience, but each story is a reflection of the compassion, will, and resilience of our coastal communities.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When I began writing about oysters, I had this idea that every sea farmer looked like Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea. I’m so embarrassed to even admit that! It’s a tired stereotype that doesn’t reflect the amazing people who work along our coastlines and in the fisheries. Faces are diverse across gender, age, ethnicity, politics, creed, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background. The patchwork of stories in the oyster industry reflects every American, as it should be.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media can be fickle and the things our audiences care about can change. I try to stay true to myself and those I am featuring, but I like to experiment with different approaches all the time to see what’s best for engagement across photography, video, and narrative. I think we’re so often afraid of throwing our art out there and not getting the response we want, but this is how we listen and improve. Instagram stories have been by far my favorite way to engage with people. Quizzes, questions, and polls build up my engagement so when a well-developed story hits the press, it gets the attention and traction it deserves. My best advice is to pre-engage your audience just before you launch a high-value content piece.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theladyoyster.com
• Instagram: lady_oyster
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladyoyster

Image Credits
All image credits: Virginia Shaffer