Investing in yourself with food stylist Kimberly Espinel

Things we talked about:

• The often-underestimated importance of being “politely persistent”

• Starting a blog and Instagram before you become an expert (practising in public), as a way to find clients after you graduate

• The way Kimberly used Instagram not only as a photography portfolio but also as a way to train her writing voice ahead of writing her book, alongside her blog writing

• The value of receiving immediate feedback on Instagram to hone our marketing skills: we immediately learn what works and what doesn’t, based on people’s responses

• A burgeoning shift of women taking up space and creating businesses, that is reshaping our ideas of what it is to be a leader, what a CEO is, and what “sales and marketing” should look like

• The historic under-valuing of creativity in the mainstream, and particularly in business (creativity is not perceived as productivity, and productivity is how we measure our worth), and how creative people (often women) are forging important changes to that attitude

• Kimberly’s fabulous words, like a rallying cry, which someone needs to put on Pinterest! “Creativity is joy. Creativity is being alive.”

• The highs and lows of pitching a book to publishers and agents (and recovering from rejection)

• Using our public platforms to hold ourself accountable to pursuing our creative dreams

• The awful summer of 2020, and Kimberly’s personal and professional turning point after reading the rather grim statistics around the number of women of colour who get book deals, and what they get paid…

• The importance of investing in ourselves (even to putting our money where our mouths are!)

• The nuts and bolts of self-publishing… beautifully (and being the CEO of your book)

• Kimberly’s advice for anyone who is seeking the courage to follow their dreams
  

Links from this episode:

• My Instagram class The Insta Retreat

• Kimberly’s Instagram, @thelittleplantation 

• Kimberly’s book, Creative Food Photography 

• Kimberley’s podcast, Eat, Capture, Share 

• Kimberly’s blog, with lots of resources on self publishing and food photography 

• Sara’s podcast interview with Fiona Humberstone 

• For self-publishers, Kimberly recommends The Book Launch Show podcast with Tim Grahl

• More about Clubhouse, a live, audio social media app