Last updated on August 2, 2017 by Liza Hawkins
I am continuously surprised by how this food blog creates so much conversation in my day-to-day life.
A couple of weeks ago I applied for a spot in Leadership Frederick County, class of 2010-2011. If you’re one of the 30-40 people selected, you have the opportunity to participate in a nine-month class that explores emerging community issues and elements of community leadership. It’s an opportunity to dig into the community a bit and learn about ways to give back and help Frederick grow in a positive way. The application process is lengthy…forms, a bio, a resume, references, and lastly a panel interview.
For the interview I was in front of a panel of four Chamber of Commerce members with a bunch of “behavioral” questions at the ready. Lots of, “Liza, tell us about a time when [fill in the blank].”
One of the last questions they asked me was, “Liza, what makes you different than all the other applicants?” And so I talked about my current job. How I work with over 35 small business owners to help them grow in the community and build lasting relationships. The panel members seemed less than intrigued, but they did offer up polite head-nods every minute or two. Read: B-O-R-I-N-G.
Rather than continue rambling I paused, and then said, “Well, in my spare time I enjoy blogging.”
Their ears perked. “Blogging? Really!? What about?”
I pointed to the last paragraph of my bio, two sentences that talked about my life outside of my nine-to-five job. “Here. I blog about food related topics at amusingfoodie.com. Restaurants, recipes, cooking, local farms, etc.”
“Now THAT’S interesting and different!” one of the panel members said excitedly. (Really?? OK!)
There were a few more questions to finish up the interview, but somehow our conversation kept circling back to my blog. It probably helped that one of the panel members happens to be the owner of Canapés, but the blog talk certainly didn’t seem to bore anyone else either.
Ultimately, I was selected for the class of 2010-2011 (woot-woot!), and I’m pretty certain that my blog had some influence in their decision. At least I hope. Cheers!
