You may recognize Brooke Hamroff from her famous #NUGGETS Instagrams (see pic below), or maybe you heard about how she made her way from Wash U’s Spoon University chapter to Spoon HQ in New York City. Either way, Brooke is making big moves in the real world, particularly when it comes to EATS. She has a thing for food (and eating), and is pursuing these passions through both her career at Spoon University and her own company that features gluten-free brownie #NUGGETS. Read on to learn more about this fabulous 2014 grad and her success after WUSTL.
Instagram: @whatthegf
Year of graduation: 2014
Hometown: Great Neck, NY
Current job: Managing Editor at Spoon University, NYC
Major/minor: Film & Media Studies major, Writing & American Culture Studies minors
On-campus involvement: I was a cheerleader (lol yes), Pi Beta Phi (VP Membership), Her Campus (for a hot sec) and Spoon University of course.
What was your role in Spoon University chapter at Wash U? I was part of the first Spoon staff team at WashU and was a writer. It was supa fun and awesome, and helped me realize my passion for food. And eating.
What is your role at the Spoon HQ in NYC? I’m Managing Editor here at Spoon HQ, so I oversee all the editorial content, launch new schools, edit articles and oversee all of our content partnerships. If you ever see us on BuzzFeed, HuffPo, Yahoo! Food or USA Today, I hooked that up.
How did your experience with Spoon at Wash U influence your experience working for Spoon HQ? So I thought Spoon was really cool and the two girls (Kenzie and Sarah, hayyy) were so smart and awesome. I really respected everything they were doing, and when I saw a job opening on Facebook, I immediately applied and left my job in corporate PR to join the Spoon team. Probably the best choice I’ve ever made, besides the banana chocolate chip muffin I had for breakfast this morning. #noregrets
I think almost everyone on campus has heard about your famous GF Nuggets. Can you tell us a little bit about them and how you came up with the idea? Damn, that’s flattering! So #NUGGETS were founded in my dinky Kingsbury apartment (3W forever) when I was actually thinking of a fun, photogenic article to write for Spoon. I wanted to give the underloved brownie some attention, and created brownie pops. Once they looked good and tasted even better, I actually said, “Hell no, I’m not sharing this recipe on Spoon,” and stopped writing for Spoon to pursue #NUGGETS with my extra free time (besides hanging at BPV, that was my main extracurricular second semester senior year). Dramatic, but it all worked out.
Instagram: @whatthegf
Did your involvement with Spoon U on campus inspire the way you shaped your company? So Spoon definitely taught me a lot about social media, specifically Instagram (lol I wasn’t on it until the middle of fall semester senior year), and food photography. But I learned a lot on my own, such as setting up a website, customer service, marketing, PR, etc. There’s nothing better for someone starting out to have to learn everything by trial and error.
What is your best advice for someone looking to start a food or media-related career (or both, like in your case)? GO FOR IT! The best thing you can ever do is think of an idea (your own idea), and just run with it. Don’t sit there and contemplate the pros and cons because you’ll never get moving. #NUGGETS took off from a simple Instagram on a boring Tuesday night in STL, and now they’re my side hustle when I’m not typing away at Spoon. Starting out is scary, but the benefits totally outweigh the negatives. And definitely go for something fun and what you love – literally waht’s better than food, photos, and media? Nothing.
What is the best part about working for Spoon? Going from a corporate job to a startup was a huge adjustment, but it’s also probably the best part about Spoon. Every day is different and we all have the opportunity to get involved in something we probably wouldn’t have been able to even think about in any other job. I can help out with our video content, or think about awesome social media campaigns, all while maintaining my editorial role. It’s also so awesome working with young, smart, cool people – work feels like an opportunity rather than a chore.
What are your future plans for #NUGGETS? Who knows?! I’m kind of seeing how they go until the summer, but don’t think #NUGGETS ice cream isn’t in the works, because it is and it is DOPE. But you’ll never know unless you’re following us on Insta, amirite?
Order your own #NUGGETS or learn more by visiting the website, and be sure to check out Wash U’s Spoon page!