Word & Mouth Blog
Where food, hospitality, branding, and human behavior all crash into each other. I write about restaurants, wine, placemaking, customer experience, and the small details that make people talk about a business long after they leave.
For even more snarky takes on marketing, pop culture, branding, and the internet, visit my Substack, Burnt Popcorn & Branding: Substack
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A mix of hospitality, branding, customer psychology, hospitality culture, and internet behavior from someone who’s worked behind the scenes in marketing long enough to know what feels authentic and what feels painfully forced.
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Yes. Especially if your marketing currently sounds like ChatGPT wrote it.
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No LinkedIn thought leadership energy here. Just strategy, storytelling, and occasional side-eye toward trends, Chat-GPT written branding advice, and “disruptive” ideas that all look the same.
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People in marketing, hospitality, branding, retail, wine, or anyone who secretly judges restaurants by their menu design before reading the food list.
Word of the Year for 2025: Align
Fixing a hidden gas leak taught me to focus on alignment - post cancer treatments—syncing habits, energy, and choices to live with intention in 2025.
My Journey Through Early Menopause: What I Wish I’d Known
Early menopause at 38 left me lost and struggling—until I found the truth about hormone therapy. Here’s what every woman needs to know when it comes to Perimenopause and menopause and your body.
Embracing Your Worth: Transforming Personal Challenges into Professional Confidence
Discover how overcoming personal challenges, such as a health battle, can transform your professional outlook. Learn actionable steps for marketers to build resilience, set boundaries, and foster supportive work environments that value and respect individual worth. Gain insights into creating a positive, empathetic workplace culture and embracing your professional capabilities.
How to Create a Healthy "TikTok Salad Recipe" Inspired by the 5 Foods you Should Eat Everyday
Get creative in the kitchen with this easy and healthy TikTok Salad recipe. Incorporate spinach, apple, broccoli, garlic, flax seeds, and an apple cider vinaigrette dressing. Plus, you can customize it to your liking. Don't forget to post on TikTok and share with friends, and learn about the 5 foods you should eat every day for a balanced diet.
Choose Your Word of the Year for Motivation & Focus in 2023
Looking to stay motivated and focused on your 2023 goals? Consider choosing a word of the year – here are some tips for selecting one that resonates with you, setting goals, and incorporating it into your daily routine.
6 Ways to Take Care of Your Mental Health
It's important to take care of your mental health. Here are 6 ways you can do that.
Reflecting on Two Years Since My Anal Cancer Diagnosis: Pivoting my Business
I found out I had anal cancer two years ago this week, and my life and business have pivoted to focus on more of the values I hold true.
6 Tips on How to Enjoy Life Even When You Feel Overworked
We've all had those weeks where we're just counting down the days until Friday. And even when we do have a few moments to ourselves, we're often thinking about all the things we need to get done. Here are 6 tips for how to enjoy life when you are overwhelmed and overworked.
Tips to Help You Get More Fit After Anal Cancer
Here are simple tips to help you start getting fit after anal cancer treatments. Even if most days feel like no progress has been made, slow & steady exercise can help both your physical and mental self. Moderate exercise can go a long way in helping you to improve your quality of life post anal cancer.
One year Since my Last Day of Anal Cancer Treatments
One year ago I rang the bell at the Kaiser cancer treatment center. One year ago I finished my anal cancer treatments - radiation & oral chemotherapy. And now, one-year post anal cancer treatments —Moving forward, one of my goals in life is to encourage everyone to listen to their body, and go see a doctor, community health center, etc when they feel like something is off.
Bottoms Up! Post-Anal Cancer Life One Year Later
The post-cancer journey is a slow and arduous one. It's hard knowing that I may not return to my pre-cancer "normal" in some ways. But all you or I can do is approach every day in turn—and with diligence, focus, and people by your side, things become a little less tough than they otherwise would be. Sometimes, that's all you need.
Word of the Year: Embrace 2021
Whether you have kids at home or feel paralyzed by not being able to find a job, there are small things you can do to embrace your goals. This isn’t about jumping in headfirst and hustling (read: burning out). This year should be about taking slow, actionable steps to get you further than where you are right now - and embracing your word of the year like I am.
Tips I Learned During Anal Cancer Treatment
I will say that no matter how horrible the days were, they went by quickly, and there is a light at the end of this tunnel. My type of stage III anal cancer has a good chance of recovery—even if that recovery means that I still have to have surgery in the future.
Why Taking a Step Back from My Business Actually Strengthened My Career Aspirations
This is a good reminder that you don’t have to go through a pandemic or cancer treatments for you to take a step back from your business life and really look critically at what you want to do next.
So, Are We Setting Goals For 2021?
2020 turned out to be something that NOT any of us could have predicted. With massive job loss and stay at home orders due to the pandemic, 2020 goals changed. Even though my New Year Resolutions looked different, I still made time to goal plan and create small goals to get me to the next step in my career and for my health. Here are some action items for setting 2021 goals.
Next Steps Post Anal Cancer Treatments
As I move forward with anal cancer treatments, I wanted to answer are some questions I get the most
2020 Is a Literal Pain in My Ass — Finding Out I Have Cancer During a Pandemic Was Not Part of the Plan.
Out of all the places to get cancer, it’s definitely not the most flattering. Speaking up and normalizing things (like talking about anal cancer) can hopefully inspire people to be more proactive in going to see the doctor when they have symptoms so they can get treatment.
Small Business Superpower: Connections with Your Customers Matter
The brick & mortar hair and skin salon has continued to focus on the connections that they have with their customers, and that can be seen as soon as you walk into the salon through smiling faces and repeat customers. When the SIP order went into place for Sonoma County, they had to shut down their salon and turn to online delivery orders, as well as a new Facebook group
Social Distance Yourself From Social Media: How To Spring Clean Your Social Media Habits
If you feel like you need to social distance yourself from social media, you are not alone. I am trying not to check the news as much, or mindlessly scroll through Facebook or Instagram stories. Here are my top 4 tips for spring cleaning your social media during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Restaurant and Winery Marketing Gets Creative While We Shelter in Place
With the shelter-in-place order, wineries and restaurants all over California are having to rethink their traditional model of people coming to them. Creativity tends to flourish during times of crisis, so I wanted to give a few shoutouts to brands that I think are doing a great job of embracing the horrible reality that we're dealing with right now.