About

WELCOME TO

#NOFILTER BLOGGING!

I want to help other food bloggers get comfortable online with honest and transparent advice and guides to creating your own successful food blog!

I'm Leslie, and I've been running the food blog â€‹Stress Baking​ since 2013. I think that makes me one of the “OG” food bloggers, and I swear I've seen it all.

10 things to know about me:

  1. I have a dark (but also goofy) sense of humor
  2. I'm very sarcastic, and rarely take a serious photo. Not even in my wedding photos 😂
  3. I strongly believe there’s no such thing as too much whipped cream
  4. I don't like and am not good social media, but I still try sometimes
  5. I've worked at various tech companies primarily as a Technical Program Manager for 15 years (aka: herding cats and much hyper-organization)
  6. I will drop everything to pet a dog, including a cake (true story)
  7. More often than not, I'm binging the entire series of Bob's Burgers from the beginning for the umpteenth time
  8. I have an affinity for all things lobster, dinosaur, and Deadpool. And dogs. Any and all dogs. Did I mention I love dogs?!
  9. I have a slew of chronic illnesses that I â€‹write about on Medium​ and share occasionally on â€‹Instagram​ and â€‹TikTok​
  10. But more than any of that, I'm known for having zero filter.

I can't hold my tongue, I can't control my face, and I can't lie to save my life.

And that's why creating #NoFilter Blogging felt like the perfect next step for me.

What is #NoFilter Blogging?

I started #NoFilter Blogging as a way to share all the knowledge and experience that I have from running a food blog for the last 10+ years.

People have so many questions about how to start their own food blogs, and there is so much information out there that it can be hard to know where to even start.

My goal is to show you where to start, where to hang a left, and how to get to the destination: a successful, monetized food blog!

And I want to get you there with honesty and transparency, and an approachable and kind attitude.

Leslie on the kitchen floor covered in flour with a silly expression on her face

What you'll find here

As I continue to squeeze every last bit of blogging information out of my brain and into posts, the site will have:

  • Step-by-step guides on starting and growing your new food blog
  • My recommendations for plugins, software, services, and more
  • Information about experts in the industry – who you should work with and who you should steer clear of
  • Exposing the realities of food blogging so you're not taken by surprise
  • Starting with affiliate networking and finding the right fit for your niche
  • How to create disaster recovery plans
  • Recommended vendors, podcasts, books, and courses
  • How to wrangle Google Analytics data to get the information that you need
  • Tips and tricks for photography and videography
  • Teaching you how to learn from the mistakes I've made
  • Deciding when to outsource (and how to decide what to outsource, and to who!)

This is just a small sampling of the materials I have in my drafts right now – if I kept typing them all we'd be here for a week, and you'd never get any new posts out of me! 😂

I'm also hoping to start creating and selling templates, spreadsheets, and workbooks to help you in your blog travels.

Podcasts & Interviews

I love talking about food and stress management, and you’re more or less guaranteed that I will make dad jokes or let my dark humor leak – so be warned! 😉 Here are podcasts I’ve had the pleasure of joining previously:

  • This is Not What I Ordered – Discussion about chronic illness, work-life balance, and using baking as a form of stress management.
  • tutoriaLinux – Our conversation is largely about my “day job” in tech, but we also touch briefly on Stress Baking.
  • Cook it Real Good – We talked about all things butter, as well as my Baking Basics series.
  • Fish Tales – Lee Trout and I chatted about various aspects of my blog including the origin story and what I do to keep things running.
  • The Articulate OX Podcast – Tim Johnson and I discuss my blog, the importance of taking care of your mental health, and the loss of my beloved choco taco.

Print

In 2015, a few of my favorite recipes were published in the fall edition of Esperanza Magazine along with a brief interview about how I use baking and blogging as an outlet for my stress and anxiety.

Check them out – it's a wonderful publication that strives to increase the awareness of depression and anxiety and to provide hope and empowerment to those in the depression and anxiety community.