Today we’d like to introduce you to Shauntra Maddison.
Hi Shauntra, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Cooking started at an early age for me. I grew up in the country of Louisiana and had a mini-farm in the back yard of my grandparents’ house. My grandmother always had me in the kitchen. From cleaning chitterlings to grinding meat to make homemade sausage, I was doing it all at a very young age. As a teenager, my love for cooking grew when my mom picked up a new hobby, playing bingo. Before she would leave, she would put a chicken in the oven and tell me and my dad to eat that. I got tired of eating baked chicken, so I knew I had to do something about it. I would check out cookbooks at the library and starting using the recipes. I started getting better and better. Once my mom realized that I knew how to cook, she stopped cooking and had me do all of the cooking. She made sure to teach me all of her favorite recipes such as chicken and okra and smothered potatoes. When she passed away in 2019, I felt lost. I didn’t know what to do without my best friend. God gave me the strength that I never knew I had. With the support of my family and friends, I started learning how to heal from the sadness that I always felt. Knowing that my mom was no longer suffering and that she was in the best place she could possibly be, with God, gave me peace. My mom was a strong woman and she would never want me to sit around and cry all day. She would want me to put on my big girl panties and figure out life. So that’s what I did. A few years ago, I knew that I wanted to do more with my cooking, I just didn’t know what. Everyone is always coming to my house and the first thing they ask is “what are you cooking?” I love hosting parties and creating yummy dishes. One day, one of my friends called me and asked “Shauntra, how do you make lobster mac n’ cheese?” After I walked her through the steps on how to make it, I thought to myself……I should start a food blog! That way, everyone will know exactly how to make my recipes. I did a lot of research on food blogs and how to monetize it as well. Once I finally did all of my research, I had to come up with a name for it but was coming up empty-handed. One day, my daughter comes downstairs and asked, “mommy, is dinner ready?” It was like a light bulb went off in my mind and I just yelled, “that’s it!” “That’s the name of my food blog!” I was so excited. Since I learned how to cook from my mom, I decided to launch it on her death anniversary to pay homage to her. On 01/01/2021, my food blog, Is Dinner Ready? was created 🙂
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are always obstacles that are thrown your way whenever you are starting a new brand. It can be very exhausting but worth it. Cooking, recording a video, and blogging the recipe all at one time is tiring but I always tell myself to keep pushing through because the end result will be promising. Posting on social media, it allows people to feel that they can say whatever they want, positive or negative! I posted a video of one of my recipes but people on social media felt like I did not prepare it correctly. They were so negative in the way I prepared this dish that I did started doubting myself. I was questioning if this is something that I could do. I was really beating myself up by reading some of the negative comments that were said to me. I prayed about it and I talked to my Husband about it and felt much better. My Husband told me “People are not always going to like everything that I do, I just need to keep putting everything into what I am passionate about and not take it personal.” I agreed with him 100%. I thought more about it, celebrities are always getting backlash about things they do but that doesn’t stop them, so a few negative comments will not stop me. On the positive note, I gained over 1,000 more followers and had over 600,000 views from that one video. So, I guess all publicity is good publicity.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a food blogger, food video content creator, and cookbook author! My food blog is called Is Dinner Ready? My cookbook is called Is Dinner Ready? and it will be out in May 2022. All of the recipes and videos I post are my recipes that I create. I take all of the food photos and write all of the content. I am most proud of the fact that I am accomplishing everything that I set out to do. The fact that my daughter is watching all of this and is inspired by what I am doing makes me even more proud.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I am not lucky, I am blessed. God is continuously blessing every aspect of my life and I am beyond grateful. Obstacles are thrown my way but the strength that God gives me, allows me to overcome those obstacles. No luck here, only blessings.
Pricing:
- 24.99 is the cost of my cookbook, Is Dinner Ready?
Contact Info:
- Email: contact@isdinner-ready.com
- Website: www.isdinner-ready.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/isdinner_ready
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/isdinnerready
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/isdinnerready
Image Credits
Jessy J Photo
Shauntra Maddison
