Temple University student Leah Hillegas runs @templefoodies on Instagram, an account with approximately 6.6K followers.
Managing this account is no easy task. Curiosity struck me: how does she effectively juggle running @templefoodies, becoming a PINK Campus Rep, having a very sought-after internship at Comcast, and still have time for school? Well, she actually considers all of this “slowing down” because she was a former member of PROWL and Spoon University.
As a freshman, Leah was living on her own for the first time; you know what that means, lots of EATING! Since Temple is surrounded by super-indulgent restaurants, Leah wanted to showcase them. With some strong encouragement from her boyfriend and other local food bloggers, @templefoodies was born in March 2016.
Her first post ever on the @templefoodies account was a grilled cheese from Burger Tank. This is especially important because even after the unexpected growth of her page, she has remained loyal to her TU favorites. Richie’s, also a local favorite among practically everyone, is another great example. Leah shared an intimate detail about their professional relationship; she was the initial post of the mozzarella grilled cheese, which led to Richie’s being featured on Travel Channel’s Food Paradise: College Town Cravings.
The biggest thing Leah wants her followers to take away from her work is that she is trying to keep everything authentic by doing the following:
- Never stating whether she enjoyed her food, or not
- Using little to no editing
- Never referencing herself or her personal account
- Showcasing food she has made
Leah’s purpose? To keep it fun! And, she has this to say,
“Even though people don’t know who I am, @templefoodies has established a presence on campus and has built a brand. A brand that helps college students see that they can afford to eat out and what those options are.”
Not only has the creation of this account changed her own relationship with food for the better, but it also made her more involved with her city – unexpected benefits, but now essential in her role as a food blogger.
Being an outgoing senior, Leah has a lot of experience under her belt. She contributes some of the progress on her account to the classroom, but mostly her extra-curricular activities. Her copywriting class helped with creating captions, but she says her clubs aided in conducting herself professionally at events. She often gets invitations to media tastings with other local food bloggers, the most prominent in her memory was Burger Brawl. Since Leah has kept anonymity, her invitations are addressed to Temple Foodies, because the organizers don’t know her real name! She says that now most of the people in her building know those packages are for her, but it’s still funny every time.
Now to the nitty-gritty. Leah says she has never had a set schedule for posting, but attempts to produce some content, upwards of twice, daily. One of the newest things on her account, by follower request, is Feature Friday. This is where her followers submit their own photos to her and she posts them on her story; it has received really great feedback. Also new to her stories is teaching people how to cook her favorite meals. I was able to see her most recent story on how to make fajitas!
She doesn’t often edit, but when she does, she uses the built-in editing features on Instagram; even more rarely, she uses Adobe Lightroom for those pictures that need a little extra boost. On average, it takes her between 10-20 pictures to get “the one.” She says sometimes, “the one” is her first shot! I sat down with her at Temple’s own Honeygrow to see exactly how it’s done.
Don’t worry about the future of this page, it will be around for years to come. Leah has plans and her follower’s expectations should be high. Those are for me to know, and for you to find out.
Leah is an outstanding example of what being Temple Made truly means. She wants to tell her fellow owls, “Go do it, you’ll never know what happens!” We wish her well in her future to come!