In episode 427, Megan chats to Joanne Stekler about lessons she learned as an academic and how she has applied those to grow her blog.

Joanne is a lifelong baker, but it wasn’t until 2020 when she was stuck at home with her elementary school child, that she started baking and cooking with a purpose. You’ll find recipes on the Ugly Duckling Bakery blog that she makes for her family, ranging from 30-minute weeknight meals to more complicated weekend cooking, baking projects made from scratch, and classic cocktail variations. Joanne hopes to share some of the science and history, tips and tricks to understand how and why recipes work, and enough foundation so that readers can start to create their own recipes. 

In this episode, Joanne explains how she balances life as a doctor with food blogging, the lessons she learned from academic medicine and why they are relevant to food bloggers.

- Your path is your path - avoid comparing yourself to others

- Accept that nothing is ever going to be perfect.

- Persistence pays off, but you can’t just rely on hard work.

- Why is self-promotion critical to success?

- Be open to learn, even from someone who has less experience than you.

- How do you deal with having too much to do?

- Understand the importance of saying ‘no’.

Connect with Joanne Stekler

Website | Instagram