Save For Later no. 22: Creator Spotlight - Angela (Brooklyn Food Lady)
Featuring an NYC foodie and content creator.
Today, I’m starting a new series, and it’s one that I’m particularly excited about.
There are so many creatives living in New York City who have personal projects on the side, and one of the areas I’d like to focus on as part of this newsletter is shining a light on their work. I plan to interview creators of all kinds - chefs, artists, content creators, and more - to help provide some insight into their backgrounds, how they started their journeys, any tips they picked up along the way, and helpful information that may inspire you to make the leap into your next endeavor.
For my inaugural post in this ‘Creator Spotlight’ series, I chatted with Angela, who is a content creator that runs Instagram and Substack accounts under the name ‘Brooklyn Food Lady’. We met up at Winner in Park Slope to grab some Ham & Cheese Sandwiches and their delicious Carrot Honey Orange Loaf, and proceeded to have an hour-long conversation about all things food and content creation, which turned out to be a wonderful chat.
Afterwards, we walked over to Prospect Park to capture a few photos with the spring flowers blooming and chatted a bit more about her thoughts on the purpose behind her account, what she feels the content creator community means to the food industry, and she shared a few of her favorite restaurants.
I’m a fan of Angela’s work and it was a pleasure to connect with her. I hope you enjoy our interview!
Matt: Hello! Glad we could finally get a chance to meet up. First, can you tell me about your Brooklyn Food Lady project and what made you decide to start writing and creating content?
Angela: Hi! So, my fascination with food storytelling started in college when I was eating Cup Noodles and watching ‘Chef's Table’ on Netflix – the story and artistry were inspiring and made me think about food in a totally different way. During Covid, I also read an essay by Gabrielle Hamilton in the New York Times, who was the chef at Prune in the East Village, and was so moved by it. The way it is written is just so unique – it’s not really about food, but around food.
That essay was a stepping point for me and I wrote in my journal at the time that I wanted to be a food writer…but part of that journal entry was listing out all the reasons why it wouldn’t work out for me. However, I pushed past those feelings. Fast-forward to this past summer, I had a change in my job situation and realized I wanted to push myself to get started on my Brooklyn Food Lady idea. I decided to just dive in - and here we are today! I convinced myself that I just needed to start, learn on the fly, and figure out what works, which is all part of the journey.
Matt: I love that! Sometimes you just have to dive in and see where things take you. How would you describe the purpose behind your account?
Angela: One of the first things I came up with after the name of my account was the mission, which is telling stories and building community through food. That is something that I definitely knew that I wanted to do from the beginning. Not that necessarily every piece of content needs to be geared towards that mission, but the underlying root of this idea was about how to provide valuable information to my followers that I feel like they should know. I also love promoting businesses, particularly small businesses, in our community that need attention.
Matt: What criteria would you say goes into deciding which restaurants to visit?
Angela: I feel like this comes naturally because they’re the places I would’ve gone anyway – that’s actually one of the original ideas behind why Brooklyn Food Lady even started. I was already going out to restaurants and having all these nights out, so I figured that I should add the layer of capturing it. In terms of discovery, I am always looking at Eater and Infatuation, but word of mouth from friends is typically the biggest source of recommendations for me. Instagram Explore is also something I look at often. It’s amazing to have all of these publications, but it can also be overwhelming because there is no way I’ll be able to see everything. It’s hard to decide and prioritize where to go - but as a food lover, that’s a good problem to have, I guess!
Matt: Love that process - I feel the same way and it’s very similar to how I collect recommendations! Once you have a list of restaurants in your queue, how do you keep track of them? Do you have a running list or something else?
Angela: Oh wow, ok - let me show you my Google Maps! I live and die by my Google Maps. That is pretty much my source of truth to bookmark places and save notes. They also recently updated their app to categorize places by custom maps and emoji icons, so I can create visual lists that way. It is also another way of how I discover a bunch of places – I’ll search for certain types of food or bars in a map area and things pop up by ratings that I click into and add to my lists! I look at it and constantly curate my maps.
Matt: How do you keep up with everything content-wise? What does your current backlog and content calendar look like?
Angela: I probably have 50 videos in my drafts! I was worried at first about how much I could keep up with, but I go out to eat 4-5 times a week at the moment and I have plenty of content to share. I try to follow a calendar, but sometimes I just wing it and take a look at what I’ve posted recently to not have too many similar cuisines or bars posted together. I also try to pick restaurants in different neighborhoods to show some variety. Moving forward, I’d like to be more structured about it, possibly create a series of neighborhoods or similar, but for now, it’s more go-with-the-flow. In terms of posting, my schedule used to be every day, but that obviously became unsustainable pretty quickly. Now I post 3-4 reels a week, with a publication from my Substack once a week, which I feel helps create a more well-rounded approach.
Matt: How do you decide what to write on Substack vs. posting on Instagram?
Angela: On my Substack, I will write about whoever will talk to me! Sometimes I write personal pieces about things I’m inspired by that are happening in my life, and I find that people resonate with those posts. They’re a bit more vulnerable and authentic, which I personally love. I find that Instagram has a lower barrier for entry, it’s more of a visual platform and usually reaches a larger audience. So, I would say that the Substack is my passion project that I want to ultimately grow a larger following for, but my Instagram is more established and I’m hoping it acts as a gateway for people to discover and subscribe to my Substack.
Matt: How do you feel about the content creator community and what it means for the food industry?
Angela: I will say that I love certain accounts, like Righteous Eats, that stand out to me because they cover stories that I aspire to do. Mom & pop shops, food storytelling, immigrant experiences, and community-based content. I definitely feel like a small fish in a big pond, but at the same time, I love that anyone can pick up their phone, learn a few video editing skills, and bring something new to the table. There are so many restaurants and bars in the city that need a light cast on them that might not get attention otherwise, so I definitely believe there is an overall benefit that content creators bring. Sure, sometimes there is a consolidation of attention on a few select restaurants, but the more creators get involved, the more they branch out to show all types of sides of the city’s food scene. At the end of the day, it’s about having fun and supporting the community, so there are good underlying intentions.
Matt: What would you say is your favorite cuisine and what are some of your favorite restaurants in NYC?
Angela: In terms of eating out, I’m Chinese, so that is a cuisine that I could eat every day and never get tired of! Antidote is definitely my favorite Chinese food restaurant in the city - that is my top recommendation to anyone that asks. Here is a quick list of some of my other current favorites:
Edith’s Sandwich Counter (Sandwiches)
St. Anslem (Steak House)
Agi’s Counter (Eastern European)
Nick + Sons Bakery (Bakery)
Fish Cheeks (Thai)
Most of my go-to spots are in Williamsburg, so that area still has some of my favorite restaurants in the city. There are plenty of other spots I can recommend, so I’ll have to send you a longer list after I think about it a bit more!
Matt: Now that you’ve seen success with your account and are trending towards 10k Instagram followers, how does that make you feel?
Angela: It’s so interesting because I feel two ways about it at once. On the one hand, my consideration of success is still small in the grand scheme of things – my focus is still on what’s left to do and not dwell too much on what I’ve accomplished so far. Of course, there is a level of excitement and pride that I have around it of the building blocks of this dream that I have, but I’m always looking ahead to how to keep building.
Matt: What would you say is your goal with Brooklyn Food Lady? What do you aspire your account to be as you look ahead? Is it to gain awareness? Monetize it in some way? Gain influence and meet people in the community?
Angela: Probably all of them! I would love to work on this more full-time in the future, but it takes time and needs to scale more. Because my mission of telling stories and building community through food was clear from the start, I feel that with more regularity, I want to keep focusing more and more of my content on topics that create impact. I eventually want to turn it into something more than restaurant recommendations - creating stories on food access, the health aspect, and more. I don’t have a clear-cut path to get there, but I’ve started mapping out a few ideas to create stepping stones in the coming months. I do have big aspirations for this idea, and plenty of runways to get from here to there!
Matt: What brings you the most joy in your work?
Angela: Tapping into other people’s stories. The fact that they share their work with me and I can help amplify their voice. That’s been the most fulfilling part of this journey so far – noticing their potential and creating those relationships I’ve found to be special. It’s also given me a new lease on New York City. Since I’ve started this blog, I look at everything with a fresh set of eyes and am finding that there is a story in everything. I feel like I’ve fallen in love with the city all over again.
Matt: Ok! Thanks so much for your time today. To wrap up, what are a few tips that you would like to share on building a following for any other aspiring content creators?
Angela: One of the best ways is to get involved in community-based activities. For example, volunteering at a local food bank or, honestly, my advice is to reach out to people and get out of your comfort zone to meet strangers. A lot of building community is taking the leap and putting yourself out there – and that’s the best part. There are so many strangers with stories to tell and you have to make an effort to do it, otherwise, you may be stuck in a loop with the same people, in the same places. I’ve found that pushing myself to keep finding new ways to connect with people has had a positive effect on building and spreading awareness about my account.
Final Thoughts
A huge shout out to Angela for taking the time out of her day to meet with me and discuss all things Brooklyn Food Lady! I had a great afternoon spending time with her and it was fun to hear a different perspective on how to approach content creation. If you want to follow along with her journey, Angela’s Instagram and Substack are linked below.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brooklynfoodlady
Substack: https://brooklynfoodlady.substack.com/
As always, if you have any recommendations or feedback to share about my Save For Later newsletter, please feel free to reach out.
My email is saveforlaterrecs@substack.com or DM + follow us on Instagram & TikTok
See you next time ✌️
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It was such a pleasure to chat with you! Thanks for the wonderful article 😊