It doesn’t take long when you meet someone new to get to the inevitable question, “What is it that you do?” For me, there is not a simple answer and for pretty silly reasons, usually makes me feel anxious. Partially, it is because I don’t like talking about myself. But, primarily, it is because I do a lot of different things depending on what path my freelance life has taken in a given week. Trying to explain this to someone I have just met usually results in me running my hand through my hair, a nervous habit pointed out to me years ago that I can’t help but notice, and now usually only adds to my nervousness. Then I say I work in food. Nine times out of ten the next question is, “are you a chef?”
My answer to that is a definite no. When I start to explain what I do, it can be hard to focus in. Often there are too many details and an inevitable jumbling of subjects. This is the point where I begin to get self-conscious. As I get older, I care less, but part of me still cares what people think. And, the thought of looking scattered and/or unfocussed, two things that I definitely am not, drives me nuts. I am organized to a fault when it comes to work, and I pride myself on my ability to put my head down and work harder than anyone else in the room on whatever is required to get the job done.
So, in a nutshell, I work in food media. Primarily, I do recipe testing, writing, and organizational work for cookbooks. But, I have been a line producer for a few TV cooking series and also do consulting work on other food related projects. Occasionally I do cook and bake for hire and I toy with the idea of a small shop. And, in the past few years I have had the awesome addition of being a stay at home mom. I slowed down a bit when my daughter was born, but I didn’t stop working.