We recently connected with Nina Cereno and have shared our conversation below.
Nina, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
I’d say optimism comes from trust in yourself and the future. It’s built over time and you need to believe that good things will EVENTUALLY happen.
If answers aren’t certain, some would feel disheartened from not seeing results. For me personally, it was the growth of my page. During quarantine my blog had grown significantly, however after the world slowly opened back up it was harder to gain a farther reach. I stopped gaining followers after I reached 10,000, my posts would barely hit the discover page, and my current engagement was dropping. I wasn’t doing anything differently with how I was making content, but I was still losing followers and not getting any likes or comments as high as I used to.
For a time it was pretty disappointing and I was losing the enjoyment of making content-which wasn’t good. When you sense yourself getting tired of your passions, it’s time to switch things up. I didn’t want to quit. I worked too hard for my blog to stop now. But I could tell I was getting burnt out when I was seeing the numbers add up or seeing success. Here I changed my mindset, focus on the progress and the joy of food.
I started @saikofood because I liked taking pictures and videos of my food. I loved the adventure of going to a new restaurant and trying something I haven’t tried before. It sounds basic, but I reverted back to the foundation of why I was posting in the first place. The progress and the journey is the fun part. I shifted back to the basics of simply sharing new food I thought was cool as I was going out with friends or visiting restaurants. I stopped sticking myself in my room to edit for hours and made plans to explore. I started documenting my food trips like it was a dairy. When I changed my content to make it more story-telling it reignited that spark to constantly share to my community, what’s next.
So to answer this question, where does my optimism come from? It’s the excitement of what I’m about to create and what I’m about to share next. I’m more happy with the way I’m making content, when I’m out and about, and I see the results are following on my account. I’ve grown more these past few months than I did and I’m excited to see where my blog takes me next.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
SaikoFood is my food blog where I post restaurant reviews, food adventures, and fun lifestyle content. I’m mainly based in Southern California (which include Los Angeles, Orange County, San Gabriel Valley, and San Diego) but I also create content on any trips I take out of state. I love sharing information about the restaurants I find and any cool food discoveries I make. My main channel is Instagram but I also post on TikTok and Youtube where you can see funny behind the scenes of my life as a food blogger. I also do social media management as my main job working with restaurants. I run their social media accounts (Instagram/TikTok), create content about their food, and host media events for food influencers.
Something exciting about my brand is that I’m going to return to Youtube and create more long form content. I want to create videos about what it’s like being a food blogger. I plan to talk about the essentials of being a creator and also the challenges that come along with it. I’m doing this because I want to be more personable to others and share my insight, while also making it fun and casual. So stay tuned for the that!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three skills that I think that were important for me through my journey as a food blogger is 1. Learning how to edit, 2. Networking with your community, 3. Developing thick skin.
Editing is such a crucial element as a content creator, it’s where you bring your creative vision to life. But there’s also a balance that you need to discover for yourself when you start making videos and posting. People think you need all the fancy equipment. While that may be helpful, just because you have the most expensive gear doesn’t mean anything if what you create doesn’t resonate with the viewers. Plus if you have a long process for setting up shots, paying constantly for high tier editing programs, you can tire yourself out out in the work and in the bank. Sometimes overly professional videos do not interest your audience (unless that’s your niche of course). Unless you have a great personality to make it casual enough to play on screen, people may find it hard to relate to you if you have too many cuts or edits. At the same time though you need to make sure your videos still look nice. If you don’t know how to read natural light, all you videos are going to be too dark or pixelated and that also doesn’t translate well online. For me I mainly shoot in the day time near a window, I film on my phone on 4K, and edit using free app that has all the tools I need to edit (cutting, pasting, doing voice overs, color grading, etc.). This is all you need and once you have a rhythm of how you work, it’ll all fall into place.
Networking within in your community is also essential. If you just sit and do your own thing, sure that’s fine. But if you are closing yourself off to potential opportunities to collaborate with others. I’ve made some of my closest friends in my food community that I would have never imagined. We relate to each other, ask one another questions about content, and give advice on how to improve. Putting your name out there is not only on social media, it can also be the traditional way when you meet people and have a conversation with them.
Lastly, developing thick skin is important. The bigger you get, the more opinions about you may follow. When my page started growing I got a lot of negative comments. A lot of the words people may say are super bad and may seem hurtful. But I’d encourage you to have a solid mindset. You know your content is good, you are proud of what you put out there, and you stay happy. People who write negative comments often are just looking for attention or think it’s funny to make fun of others. Protect your energy. If you start focusing on them, they win. Don’t let your mind fall and stay strong.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I try to do the complete opposite of what I’m doing or change something around me. If I’m overwhelmed at work I displace myself somewhere else since I work remotely. If I’m overwhelmed by people, I take myself out on a date and do something I want to do. If I’m overwhelmed with being alone, then I go hang out with friends. By removing yourself from the situation and taking a quick break to shift your energy can make a difference.
Something I also tried to incorporate is to be kinder to myself. I didn’t take self-care seriously so I tried to change that. I started meditating, journaling, taking care of my skin, listening to podcasts on how to improve my mindset, etc.
I also am trying to do learn a new skill or concept every couple months. This past year I picked up golf which has been a great stress reliever for me. Sometimes people lose focus on their work and passions. For me I was lacking motivation. So by picking up a new hobby, the desire to be better at golf got me back on track in mind. I was eager to improve and that translated in life. I think picking up simple past times like that really make a difference. It doesn’t have to be something active either, it could be knitting, cooking, or even diving into a new show you don’t usually watch (I picked up interior design shows). These all make a difference to switch up your routine and keep you being excited.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saikofood/?hl=en
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ninacereno
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVPHlt0E1Ld6TkCnjBRI-mg
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@saikofood?lang=en
