Today we’d like to introduce you to Alesia Anderson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Alesia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Where did I start? Wow, where do I begin? I’ve been in love with food for as long as I can remember. Growing up in New Orleans, I had amazing food around me 24/7. I remember when I was younger, I would always clear my plate and still want to go back for seconds. Food has always been a passion of mine, I would watch the food network all the time. Unwrapped, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, Man v. Food, and 30-minute meals with Rachel Ray were my favorites. My mom always took me and my siblings out to eat, and that is when I knew I loved food. When I started my food page in December 2017, I had one major goal in mind. What is that you might ask? Well, the goal was to remember what I ate. No seriously, there were too many times I had a mouth-watering meal, or a delightful dish and I couldn’t remember where it was from. I realized that I had to do better, but how? What could I do to solve my problem? With the help of social media and a pretty awesome iPhone camera, I decided to start my food page on Instagram. All I could remember was trying to figure out my social media name. With all the foodie page puns and funny handles, I wanted to stand out. After hours of brainstorming, it finally clicked. I looked to see if “stay hungry” had been taken already (and surely it was) but what I saw surprised me. It wasn’t a whole bunch of food pages, but instead, they were fitness and workout pages. Wow right, I know. That’s when my name came to be, Not Stay hungry, but Stayhungrayy. That’s where it all began.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I started my food blog as a hobby so I wouldn’t say I struggled much with it, at first. But as time went on it became a hassle. My food page is my release. I enjoy going to cool and exciting restaurants, eating delicious cuisine and sharing it with the world. However, when you get caught up in social media and what others are doing, it can become stressful. All I want to do is share my foodie experiences with others. But, as we all know everything is not all peaches in cream. As I scrolled through Instagram, I would see other foodie pages and their amazing photos and all the popularity they had and I too wanted that same shine. I struggled with trying to find “Who Stayhungrayy was” It’s simple to just take pictures and write a little something about it, but how does it work with your brand? How can you set yourself apart and be authentic. Well, that’s just it. You have to be you to truly understand why you blog or why you go to 5-star restaurants with a canon camera and snap pictures of your meal. No one can be you. I struggled with finding my voice at first, but once I found it, it made everything fall into place. My advice for young girls starting their journey would be to find our voice and listen to it! Be who you are, there are millions of bloggers, but there is only one you.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Stayhungrayy story. Tell us more about it.
Stayhungrayy is a food blog I started on Instagram. As time went on, I branched off to Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp. I’m what people would call a foodie. I go to restaurants to not only capture the delicious food, but also the experience. A lot of people are not just sold on, “Oh, yeah. This place is great!” Some people need to see it for themselves. And that’s where I come in. I love to show people the entire eating experience of a restaurant. Not only do I assist the community in finding great places to eat, but I also work with restaurants to help promote their establishment and draw more customers to their establishment. I guess you can call me the middle man. I help consumers find amazing restaurants, and also help establishments gain and keep business. If you would have told me when I first started that this would even be possible, I would have laughed. During this past year with my food blog, I am most proud of my HungrayyGang, My gang is all of my followers who love good food and love sharing their experiences with others. My gang sends me tons of photos of a new foodie experience, old faithful spots, and even some cool places they just ran across one day. I am most proud of the HungrayyGang because it is something that brings people together. It’s more than just food, it’s building a community,
Do you have a lesson or advice you’d like to share with young women just starting out?
The most important piece of advice I can give a young woman starting her career is to always remember why you started. Never forget why you started pursing your passion. There are many distractions all around us. So, it’s important to stay true to yourself and keep grinding.
Contact Info:
- Website: stayhungrayy.com
- Email: stayhungrayy@gmail.com
- Instagram: stayhungrayy
- Facebook: Alesia Anderson
- Twitter: coolbreezelee_
Image Credit:
Alesia Anderson
Suggest a story: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
