Susannah Hutcheson| Special to USA TODAY
Our series “How I became a …” digs into the stories of accomplished and influential people,finding out how they got to where they are in their careers.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
A scroll down Alex Snodgrass’ Instagram feed will have you instantly salivating. Stunning, colorful photos of everything from mushroom poblano fajitas and roast chickens to bright salads and perfectly ripe avocados jump out from the screen, the harvest of her successful blog, The Defined Dish.
From the early days of Googling how to take her own pictures and embarking on her own Whole30 journey to winning the reader’s choice for most inspired weeknight dinners at the SAVEUR Blogger Awards and partnering with companies like Amazon, Tessemae’s and Aldi, Snodgrass’ blog has turned from a side project into a massive hit. Over 200,000 people follow along with Snodgrass on Instagram every day, and the original photography and recipes on The Defined Dish have created a way for people around the world to enjoy healthy, delicious food.
More: Outdoor Voices CEO Tyler Haney: How I became a successful entrepreneur before I hit 30
More: How I became an architect: Daniel Libeskind talks about designing Jewish Museum in Berlin, Ground Zero in NYC
More: How I became a book cover designer: Chip Kidd
USA TODAY caught up with Snodgrass to talk about everything from learning from her mom and studying abroad to the importance of a little salt and pepper and the lessons she’s learned from putting her life on the internet.
Question: What is your coffee order?
Snodgrass: I usually make my own coffee, and it is with Nutpods frothed up – it’s like a Whole30 coffee creamer.
Q: What’s the last book you read?
Snodgrass: “The Alice Network” by Kate Quinn
Q: What would you say is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?
Snodgrass: I studied abroad in Seville whenever I was in college, and that was one of the most formative experiences of my life.
Question: Who’s been your biggest mentor?
Snodgrass: I would have to say my mom. She taught me to cook – I grew up in a small town, so we were always cooking since we didn’t really have any restaurants. Still, to this day, I’m learning new techniques and recipes from her.
Q: What are your go-to songs for cooking?
Snodgrass: My favorite album right now is the album by Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett, it’s called “Lotta Sea Lice.” It’s just nice and chill and relaxing while cooking in the kitchen.
Q: What does your path look like, from college to now?
Snodgrass: I was living in Austin after college with my now-husband. We had dated for our senior year of college and then after college we moved to Austin. We both worked at the Capitol for a session, and then we both got jobs kind of within the political sphere after that. And then, we found out we were having a baby, very surprisingly. Luckily we’d been together for a while, so we decided, OK, let’s move back closer to both of our families – in the Dallas-Fort Worthmetropolitan area – and let’s have a baby and get married and do things a little backwards. So, we did, and I obviously left my job at that point.
Since I was pregnant, I didn’t pick up another job and I just kind of found myself being a stay-at-home mom. I tried to do real estate for a hot minute. … I was just bored, lonely, I was struggling from postpartum anxiety, not knowing what to do with myself. I’ve always loved cooking, cooking for everybody. I’ve always been that girl that’s hosting people, cooking all the timeand taking people food.
That’s kind of when blogs were really getting popular, especially Instagram. So, my sister and I decided (she was a fitness instructor) and since I was so into cooking and food, we were going to start The Defined Dish together, and this was in 2014. So, we did – she was the fitness girl and I was the food girl, and it quickly became food-focused pretty early on. So, she backed out of it after about a year and a half. We really weren’t taking it very seriously, we were just posting here and there. We enjoyed it, but it wasn’t until she left that I say was the turning point for me – because I was like, do I want to do this? Do I not? At that point, I really realized how much fun it was for me and how much I enjoyed (it). That was my creative outlet, sharing recipes with others.
At that point, I redid my website, I made it easier to function, and I became more consistent. I worked my butt off at that point, and that’s really when The Defined Dish came to birth to what it is today. Since that point, it’s grown a lot over the last two years. For the last two years, I’ve really been hustling at it … been really consistent. About a year and a half ago, I finally hired a part-time nanny, because it just keeps getting more and more, and now she’s working full time with us, so it just keeps building on itself and keeps growing. It’s been really organic, but I’ve put a lot of hard work into it, too.
Q: What’s your favorite part of blogging?
Snodgrass: First and foremost, just being able to share food with people on a large scale. I’ve always loved to share food with people, and I think it’s one of those things that brings people together: your family, your friendsand so many different cultures together. It’s really nice to be able to share on a wide scale and put healthy and delicious dinners on other family’s tables so they can enjoy each other with my food.
Q: What’s been your biggest high and your biggest low?
High: My biggest high is something that I can’t really talk about, legally – but I’m working on a big project behind-the-scenes.
On the other hand, a project that I can talk about is that I recently flew to New York and did a really cool event with Amazon and their Alexa product. That was really fun, to be able to be their kind of face of Alexa for the weekend.
Low: You don’t think that you need to have thick skin to do something like this, but whenever your audience grows, you have a lot of people looking at you every day and criticizing what you do and how you do things. Everybody is an expert on everything, and it’s been good for me, in a sense, that I’ve been able to grow thicker skin, because I’m definitely not one to have thick skin. But, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get my feelings hurt and it didn’t wear on me sometimes.
Q: What are your favorite recipes on The Defined Dish?
Snodgrass: That’s really hard – it’s like picking a favorite child. I would say:
• Whole30 Skillet Chicken Picatta – my whole family loves that one, and it’s definitely a fan favorite, too.
• Thai Basil Beef – I love that one, too. It’s super hearty.
Q: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from blogging?
Snodgrass: That you just can’t please everybody. It’s just one of those things that, you think in your head – if someone doesn’t like what I’m putting out there, they just won’t follow it – but they do, and they’ll hurt your feelings, and you just have to come to the point that you do your best, do it with good intentions, and be able to put yourself out there and know that you’re going to get some negative commentary here and there. You just can’t please them all. It’s been a very good lesson for me in life, especially as somebody who is a major people pleaser, to just realize that it is absolutely impossible to make everyone happy.
Q: What is your go-to cooking tip?
Snodgrass: This is so basic, but salt and pepper. You’ve got to use the salt and pepper. Like, when cooking a soup, it’s not just adding it at the end. It’s adding those layers, like when you’re sautéing your vegetables in the beginning, just to make sure that you add a little bit of salt there so that it’s layered in there and it’s not just on the top, just sitting there and it doesn’t really flavor the dish. Salt brings out a lot of flavor.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
Snodgrass: I would say that consistency is probably the key. There is no way of knowing how to start a blog, and there is no right or wrong way of doing it. It took me about two years to find my own voiceand find my rhythmand get to know what people wanted from me and what I was good at sharing. And, so, I think you’ve just got to get started, be consistent, and it just kind of evolves into your own brand and your own voice with time. Once you get there is when you can really blossom.
