Mackenzie Filson
So I haven’t quite, but it was a good, it was a good job. Yeah, everyone needs to, yeah, but I got, I got my license in a very similar way where I didn’t earn it. It was mailed to me instead of a permit, but I think that just happens. So it’s, it was a different state too. So no, we did not talk about the, yeah, yeah.

Meara McNitt
Oh, and how Jordan’s now legally, she’s legally allowed to legally drive.

Meara McNitt
It’s like these nepotism licenses. Okay.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Yeah.

Meara McNitt
What? Oh my God. OK, well, so what we’re going to do is this is online off script. We go off script. You obviously saw the questions, but we might not stick to them. Irene and I are just going to ask questions as it feels relevant. But what I’m going to start with is we have this introduction, but we record it separately. And the instruction ends with me being like, thanks for joining us. How are you? So I’ll start this off being like, how are you? You can answer as earnestly as you please.

And then I’m just going to ask you to tell us a little bit about what you do as a freelance writer, and then we’ll like use that to like naturally progress us into the questions.

Mackenzie Filson
Awesome. Sounds good.

Meara McNitt
Cool. Okay. Well, thank you for joining us, Mackenzie. How are you?

Mackenzie Filson
I’m doing pretty good. It’s a Friday, so feeling optimistic to really bring it full circle. Yeah. Yes, so I mean, I’m somewhat a baby freelancer, but I also kind of jumped into it all at once.

Meara McNitt
The best.

Meara McNitt
There you go, love that. So you’re here to talk about life as a freelance writer and what you do. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

Mackenzie Filson
about a year ago, I actually got all of my clients in the same week, which I don’t think is normal, but I got really lucky. Yeah, and kind of sort of fell into it. It was, you know, sort of finding that other jobs weren’t really for me. I mean, like traditional nine to fives and even just, you know, those even just set schedules and set, you know, set people I work for. Just wasn’t quite working. So sort of, you know,

figured out how I could do something different for myself working wise.

Meara McNitt
Did you just decide, I’m done with the nine to five, I’m gonna freelance and then go out and just immediately secure a bunch of clients? Or were you in the nine to five life, building a freelance portfolio of clients and then jump ship?

Mackenzie Filson
It was a bit of a mix. I think I had kind of gotten fed up, sort of. So I had taken a new job, started it, which, you know, you’re like, oh no, I started a new job and I really don’t.

like it. And so I made the decision to be like, I won’t be doing this, I’m going to move. I took a job in California, which I love California, but it was very expensive. The salary wasn’t quite right. And the job, you know, it was a lot for and so I decided to actually move to a lower cost of living place. I’m I’ve been based in North Carolina for the last few years. And so with that kind of could sort of live off my savings, which is I felt really lucky to do. Because one thing I think that

I learned through this process of being freelance is to give myself as low of an overhead as possible and make my life as minimal and really bare bones so that I don’t have to do things that I don’t want to do. And so actually I had been, during the pandemic, I write about food and I had a food background that I did when I wasn’t really wanting to do a nine to five anymore. I worked at Trader Joe’s, I waited tables, I worked at a bar, like I did all those sort of, you know.

behind the counter, on the ground with people. And weirdly enough, I didn’t realize that people like to click on like 10 best Trader Joe’s articles and got into sort of a Facebook group for food writers, found that someone needed someone to write about cheese, which I have a weird knowledge of and a Trader Joe’s knowledge. And she was my first assigning editor and just started giving me more articles. And then from there, other people saw my stuff. And then…

you’re kind of just slowly building and then probably maybe like three or four months into just working with her. I kind of got some ghost writing clients and I have like more of a part-time but like staff contractor freelance gig. So I kind of have two, two or three usually throughout the month that I’m writing for right now. So yeah, it was, it was a slow process and it wasn’t easy and it kind of happened.

Mackenzie Filson
without me really being super diligent about it, which I think is nice. It’s nice when it comes naturally because I think those end up being a good fit long term.

Irene Wambui Muchai
For sure. I’m really curious about your Trader Joe’s experience, because I’m so deep in Trader Joe’s halls, TikToks, like it’s all over my feet. I’m curious about how that job transitioned into what you’re doing today.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, so when I worked at Trader Joe’s, I ordered the cheese. So at every Trader Joe’s store, there are people that order for certain sections. So the people you see in the store are ordering it specific to that store, because each store has their own personality and like.

things that are popular in one store are not gonna be popular in another store. So I did cheese and I also did wine, which I always called like the party sections. And I always loved that part of the store specifically because you’re getting like the most fun people honestly like the most fun questions like those are the people that are there for to have a good time in cheese and wine. So whereas like in produce you might get the more not as fun questions to answer. Yeah, health conscious or even just kind of like.

Irene Wambui Muchai
conscious.

Mackenzie Filson
Do you have better strawberries in the back? You know, like those kinds of questions. And so cheese and wine was so much fun. So I would order both for my store, which, you know, is like in suburban North Carolina. So that’s also very specific. But yeah, I mean, you get to know a lot of the inner workings of Trader Joe’s. And I think it’s kind of interesting what people think is like tea to be known about Trader Joe’s. But yeah, I was a nerd.

Irene Wambui Muchai
tea for me.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, I mean, I was a nerd when I was there. So I always read like all of the different, you know, every product has like a different information sheet and it’ll tell you like where it came from. Like, you know, the people that made that product. And so I got really nerdy and really into telling other people those things. So. Ooh. No.

Meara McNitt
I feel like the big rumor on the internet about Trader Joe’s is that y’all have to flirt with the employees or with the customers. Not true.

Mackenzie Filson
No, I really actually really want to write about that. I’ve written a couple articles where I’ve slipped that in where I’m like we are not told, we are, I’ve never ever been told in any capacity like it’s good if you flirt like thumbs up if you flirt. I will say the way I describe the people at work at Trader Joe’s is they all have the kind of face that you feel comfortable asking a question like

No matter what mood you’re in, I’m always like, because the thing is the Trader Joe’s staffs people that are a reflection of the neighborhood the store is in. So if there’s, you know, there’s there’s always going to be like the soccer mom person there. There’s also going to be like your friend that’s the DJ. Like there’s always, you know, that sort of makeup of the store that reflects the community. That’s always what they try to do. But I think like the thing that bonds us all is we all have that face that’s like, yes, please ask me a question. So

I think that can be misconstrued as flirting. That being said, I have flirted with customers, so I have done it. I’ve done it, so.

Meara McNitt
What I am.

Meara McNitt
engineering, the Trader Joe’s employee experience can be summed up by that one Dylan O’Brien tweet where it’s like not flirting, just hot.

Mackenzie Filson
Oh, I love that. No, I love that. That can, we’ll take it. Trader Joe’s employees are thinking them so funny. Yeah, I’ve always told people like always check your bags after you leave the store. Trader Joe’s employees are also very encouraged to give like free items away. And I did ask out a customer by putting my phone number on a candy bar. So.

Meara McNitt
How’d it go?

Irene Wambui Muchai
is genius.

Mackenzie Filson
We did go on a date. What was, sorry, what was that?

Meara McNitt
That’s what we wanted to know, what happened?

Mackenzie Filson
Oh, yeah. No, I did. I did actually put my number on a candy bar. And it had been a customer I had been like flirting with before and was like, OK, I can I can, you know, and so I was like, oh, check your bag. There’s I’ve had a little treat in there. But I didn’t say like my phone number was on it. And we did go on a date. The thing is, it was during covid, so I didn’t know like what his like rest of his face looked like. And it’s not what I what I thought.

Meara McNitt
No, mask fishing.

Irene Wambui Muchai
dangerous.

Meara McNitt
been there.

Mackenzie Filson
It had a lot more weight than I thought that that would… He was very, very nice, very delightful. We had a very nice, friendly date. But check your bag, there might be.

Meara McNitt
You.

Meara McNitt
I swear we didn’t know how much this matters until COVID.

Mackenzie Filson
Yes! I really… Yes!

Irene Wambui Muchai
100%. What really sent me is I didn’t realize how much I lip read until like after COVID because accents are different so I always have to lip read to make sure I understand what people are saying and then during COVID I was like oh my god I have no idea what anyone’s talking about anymore.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, for me, I especially just from working at Trader Joe’s, like you get crazy customers. And I for me, the mask was job security because I was, you know, whispering things like, oh, my God, like, you know, under my breath. I was like, this is I love the mask. The mask keeps me employed. People don’t need to they don’t need to see my face and the faces I’m making in these, you know, this place. So the mask was good. But, you know.

Meara McNitt
Dang.

Meara McNitt
Thank you. Bye.

Meara McNitt
So to bring it back to the writing. So what I’m hearing is that you, the writing was more because of the interest in food and like the knowledge in food. Was Trader Joe’s, well, was Trader Joe’s what fueled the interest or did you already have the interest so that’s why you went to Trader Joe’s?

Mackenzie Filson
Yes.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, and I had always, oh sorry.

Mackenzie Filson
It was always there. One thing, like when I look back on it, I’m like, oh, I was always meant to do this. I just kept avoiding it. Because in college, I studied publishing and writing. And writing was always something I kept for fun. I never wanted it to be a thing I made money off of. I just always was concerned about blurring those lines. I mean, they do get blurred, but it is, I’ve reconciled that there’s things I can do easily.

I don’t know, it’s like a different part of my brain can kind of be like creative rather than like more like strategy wise. But yeah, in college I did a publishing program in my magazine class, it was a food magazine. We got to pitch our own things. I pitched a food magazine, then I did a publishing course. After college also did a food magazine. Like every single opportunity I had to do food related things, I…

I naturally just always wanted to do food-related things. And then my background, my mom, my mom was a career waitress my entire life. So I kind of grew up at the restaurant she worked at, during my homework, waiting for her to get home from work. And so there was always food and everything about that everywhere. So yeah, I’ve always just been sort of obsessed with food, very picky and always kind of trying to figure out how things work. And I kind of grew up in all the restaurants my mom worked in. Yeah, and I even…

had an internship one time, like an offer at Food Network, and didn’t take it, did something else completely. And I was like, I had so many waved into it and was like, no, that’s not quite. I think it was always the nervousness of combining something I really enjoy writing to making it work. And I think that’s why I sort of avoided writing for money for a really long time. And so.

Yeah, and then Trader Joe’s, you know, just seeing that I could write about things that are kind of useful and still creative, but also kind of with a different hat on than the writing I do just for myself or just for like expressing myself. I mean, I still do that with my Trader Joe stuff, but it’s it’s it’s categorized different in my head.

Meara McNitt
Yeah, you mentioned that you took a publishing. Oh, go ahead, Irene.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Yeah, for sure.

Irene Wambui Muchai
No, I was curious about like, because obviously there’s a lot of people doing freelancing now trying to get a bit more creative with their writing and do something different. How do you make yourself stand out amongst, you know, a bunch of other people doing food writing especially because I know that’s quite a competitive space.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, I love that question. Cause I think that’s a worry, but I don’t think it should be too worrisome. I think like what you’re obsessed with and what you can’t stop thinking about is

maybe, you know, there might be people that have that same thought in mind, but not the way that you’re going to think about it. I know for me, like, I, I’m really like obsessed with like beverage culture right now and just like all the different drinks out there and just how we, especially like American culture is through drinks and like, I know there are other people writing about it, but we might not agree with each other and we’re going to be more interested in other facets of it. I just, for me, like with

publishing in general, I think there’s so much pressure to have all the ideas all at once. But no one’s gonna think about it the same way that you are. So I think if something feels like a little weird for you or you’re like, oh, is anyone talking about this? You should, like that kind of keeps me going, even if it might be the same subject matter, it statistically just won’t be the same words in the same order and the same input, so.

Meara McNitt
So you mentioned that you took a publishing course. I’m wondering like how much that pushed you into the career because we know that it’s like a top rated publishing course, right?

Mackenzie Filson
Yes. Yeah, it definitely, you know, it’s for me, it felt very practical. And it gave me like a lot of information I still like love to, you know, give my friends because publishing is sort of strange. It feels like it goes one way but it actually goes in a whole other way.

Irene Wambui Muchai
I’m going to take a few minutes to get this done. I’m going to take a few minutes to get this done. I’m going to take a few minutes to get this done. I’m going to take a few minutes to get this done. I’m going to take a few minutes to get this done.

Mackenzie Filson
Just like how that industry works in general, I think people are always a little bit confused by. I loved it. It was like book camp. And for me, I loved school. I love taking notes. I love like sitting in a place and like being able to, you know, kind of nerd out with people. And I was a hundred other nerds. And so for me, it really worked for me. I think other people, you know, they can kind of jump in and start from the ground in. But I had…

my career up to that point where I worked in commercials, like I worked in commercials and advertising and stuff. And so I’d sort of gotten a little bit distant, still doing writing and still doing editing, but for commercials. So I knew I had to sort of do something to show that one, I was serious about making that jump back into it to people that wanted to employ me. Cause I also lived in LA at the time. So it was not really where publishing is happening. So I think for me, it was, you know, I…

took my savings, was like, this is really what I want to do. I’m going to make a concerted effort to do this. So I think for me, it was such an inspiring place, too, when you’re around other people that don’t make you feel weird for being so obsessed with books. And book love can kind of be solitary. So it was nice to be constantly around people that are also like, yeah, I agree with you. That does something to you. I think that’s kind of special.

Meara McNitt
You’re speaking my language. I am a big reader and I feel like I’m constantly pushing other people at work. Even I read, I’m like, I read, you have to read this book.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Yep.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, there’s a weird little corner for everybody, I’m convinced. So yeah, if it doesn’t exist, it should and you should do it. You know, like that’s always how I think about things.

Meara McNitt
Good job.

Irene Wambui Muchai
one.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Definitely. I was wondering about like, I know you had mentioned that, you know, when you’re around different people, it can kind of help to spark that creativity and spark that kind of writing. But what advice would you give to somebody who’s kind of in a rut and might have writers block? I would imagine with freelancing, it can feel a little bit siloed, especially if you’re like on your own. So what kind of advice would you give for people who are stuck in that kind of writers block?

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, I sort of, not to diminish writer’s block, but I think for me, you just gotta do it. It’s like, it sounds like cliche, but I really will actually set a timer for myself and just sit there and I’m like, this is when it has to happen. I love the Pomodoro timer, specifically, because I think I work in 20, 25 minute bursts and I’m like, there’s only…

I don’t know, I think it’s really just like setting the time that I’m going to sit physically in the chair and that is the only thing I have to do. Like it’s almost like I’m in time out. So I really, I really with writer’s block, I just kind of refuse to let it take up too much space as a concept because I think once you’re like, oh, I have writer’s block, it becomes like a part of you and it really can just be like a temporary thing. I also feel like a lot of other activities also count as writing.

Like for me, like one of my old mentors, she would always be like, you might just be like in your like lying fallow phase, like kind of like a field that hasn’t quite, like isn’t ready for harvest yet. Like the seeds are there, you’re like collecting information, but it just might be like your lying fallow time. Like you’re kind of, you’re generating, you’re getting ideas that later everything will kind of like cook a little bit and then you’re ready. So sometimes not writing is writing.

Meara McNitt
I love that.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Yeah, I would imagine especially being, I would imagine being a food writer, it’s like, let me try a new meal, let me try a new restaurant, get inspired that way. I feel like that’s a great way to get inspired to write.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah. No. Yeah, no. And I think like you sometimes have to be like, I would call it, this is not a technical term, but I’ll be like, you have to be like kind of the strict parent to yourself and be like, nope, you’re not doing that today. Like you, I have a really like scary cookbook collection. Like I, they’re the only books I buy anymore because fiction and nonfiction, I just only have cookbooks now.

It’s good for budgeting too, because I’m like, no, only cookbooks. Those are the only ones I buy. Um, but I will just be like, no, you’re trying like, you know, two or three different recipes this week. Like just buying different, cause I’ll get into food ruts. That’s actually mostly the block I’ll have is with food and trying new things. I think that’s actually where my writer’s book will come in is just, uh, being like, Oh, you’ve been eating the same, like five meals for like the last month. It’s time to, you got to buy different, you got to do different stuff.

You gotta like add new tools to the toolbox, sort of.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Mm-hmm.

Meara McNitt
So what if that writer’s block comes from you’re having to write something about that you’re just like not interested in what you do

Mackenzie Filson
I do, I mean, realistically, I do do a lot of that. So, and I think it’s sort of, you have to go into a different head space of like, there’s something interesting to find about every, like I really do try to like, find something interesting about everything. And I mean, like for instance, I was telling someone about this today, like today I have to write something about tiki drinks. And…

Personally, I love tiki drinks, but how do I make someone else interested in tiki drinks? And then I’m like, oh, what’s the history of tiki drinks? Where did it come from? I just think there’s always a little bit of a rabbit hole to go down. And it can even be something even less exciting. One time I had to write about pork loin. And I realized that pork loin and pork tenderloin are actually not the same. So then I went down this little rabbit hole of, oh, that opens up a whole other world where like,

What is the difference between pork loin and tenderloin? How do you cook it differently? So I think, depending on what your niche is, you’ll kind of know if you kind of get a little obsessed with like really small things like that. Like, oh, I didn’t know that you cook the tenderloin this way and the pork loin this way. I think not every assignment is ever gonna be like, ooh, this will be what, you know, is.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
what I’m known for. Like no one’s like, oh, Mackenzie knows a lot about pork line and pork tenderloin, but I’ll bring that with me somewhere else, you know? And so I think there’s, yeah.

Meara McNitt
Yeah, it is the same way with our social media clients. Like people, like we have like a truck driving school and like pest control and like, like a paper company and like it’s such things where you’re like a paper company but like I’ll show up to my friends and we’ll be at drinks. I’ll be like, did you know that when paper is made like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Mackenzie Filson
Oh, fun.

Mackenzie Filson
Yes!

Yes, no, I mean the office is about a paper company and we all watch that, you know, and I honestly personally when you said truck driving company, I’m like, oh my god, what’s their deal? You know, so I think, yeah, for sure. I know I was overhearing, I actually was on a trip for a meat company last week, and I overheard one of the like top guys talking about like.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Meara McNitt
Yeah, I know so much about truck driving now.

Irene Wambui Muchai
haha

Mackenzie Filson
a new machine to do ground meat and why, you know, like, when you get like, um, like a thing of ground meat, it has those like little ridges and stuff and why that is and like getting a better machine so that there’s less air between it. And it makes it. I was just like, I hate that I’m eavesdropping, but I was, I don’t know. Like that. I was like, Oh my God, I’m going to write down like, you know, ground beef. Like I can’t remember the technical term he used. It was such a cute little word to describe.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Meara McNitt
thrilling.

Mackenzie Filson
like those sort of the waviness of ground beef. So I just, I think, especially for me, I, you know, when I left college, I really actually wanted to be a comedy writer. Like I wanted to write for SNL. And for me, I just kept pushing it to the point where I didn’t enjoy it anymore. Like did not enjoy sitting down being like, it has to be funny. It has to be this. And I think that kind of delayed me in a way for actually finding what I’m.

Meara McNitt
Like the waviness.

Yeah.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
truly obsessed with, which is like food and drinks and restaurants and, you know, even weird TikTok recipes and stuff. So I think, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it’s, and it’s okay.

Meara McNitt
I think that happens to a lot of people. Like college makes you be like, you’re all like, well, what do you wanna do? Like, what are you working towards? So then you like have to make this decision really young and then you kind of like get out there and you’re like, okay, well, I put all this into it. Now I have to like make it happen, I guess.

Until you grow into yourself and have to be like, I don’t have to. Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, I mean, I look at comedy writers now and I’m like, oh, I’m so glad they’re doing it. I like that I get to enjoy what they’re doing. Because for me, that took me a couple of years to sort of give up on that and give myself the grace to be like, that’s not one, it’s not everything, it’s not all the things I wanna write about. I like writing about sad things and more serious things and even just about ground beef, you know?

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Mm-hmm.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
I think giving yourself grace that you’re going to find the niche that you like, and it might just not be what you’re expecting is key. Oh, God.

Meara McNitt
is whenever you have to write about these niche things, I’m thinking about pork loins. Are you ever the person who writes the SEO five page introduction to a recipe, they’re like, I was hanging out with my children on the family’s farm, and if you wanna know how we cook these blueberry muffins, keep reading, and then you have to scroll three pages to actually find the recipe. Are you that person, do you write that? Oh.

Mackenzie Filson
No, no, I do ghostwrite for someone who has a website like that. And what immediately I love about her is she’s like, please don’t do that. Like we are not doing that. And I loved that like someone that does have that platform and like could very well do that and like she still does do a personal aspect to it. Just knows.

Meara McNitt
Amazing.

Mackenzie Filson
you know, like what we’re actually trying to do here, which is like, just show me the cookie recipe, you know? So, and I think we are getting away from, I mean, I think there’s a reason why we all make fun of it is because we’re like, we don’t need it anymore. Like, yeah.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Meara McNitt
Yeah, very true.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Speaking of ghost writing though, I’m sure like you have, I mean, you obviously have a lot of passion behind what you do. Do you ever find that like you have any negative emotions as a ghost writer, feeling like someone else is kind of taking credit for your work and you kind of want to be like, but I wrote that, you know, kind of thing?

Mackenzie Filson
Not really, like at all. But I also think it’s the content that I do write for them is, you know, it’s more SEO focused. And I think I also get some, a fringe benefit of that too, which is like, for instance, what the, I really only go straight for one other person, but she has like a very, you know, popular kind of like SEO focused food blog and.

And like, you know, I don’t know her personally, so I will, you know, I will attempt to write in her. It’s fun for me, one, I love figuring out how to write in someone else’s voice. I think it’s sort of a fun game. So that is like one thing I do get out of it is I’m like, cool, I kind of, you know, this is sort of a test for me. But also, I learn a lot in the process of researching things for her website. So for me, I’m like, oh, how, you know, I’m usually answering common questions that.

people might have when they’re baking cookies, like how do I get a chewy cookie? How long does it take for alcohol to freeze and these popsicles, like those sorts of things. And so that’s all knowledge that I take with me somewhere else. And for me, it’s not content that I would actually write personally. So for me, it doesn’t feel like I’m losing anything in the process. And I think that is kind of an important thing about ghostwriting is a lot of really successful ghostwriters, they’re writing for like Prince Harry or I mean, even like

Olympian gymnasts and stuff. So it is, the collaboration is also fun too. So, and I think also writers in general kind of know what to save of themselves for their own things and know what is able to be given in another situation.

Meara McNitt
Is Tom going off, Irene?

Irene Wambui Muchai
Sorry, the dog is doing the dog thing.

Mackenzie Filson
Tom! His name is Tom. I love people names for dogs. Yeah, yeah. Nice! Yeah, I love people names for dogs like Keith or like Kevin. Yeah, it’s formal. Me too!

Meara McNitt
Yeah, he is.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Yeah.

Meara McNitt
usual hosts. Usually Sam is my co-host here and Tom is his song. Irene’s watching him right now.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Sorry, let me grab him for two seconds.

Meara McNitt
Yeah. I think it’s so funny. I also love random object names. I used to work at a doggy daycare, and we had cheese and waffle and pancakes and bushes and cacao. It was great. Cute.

Mackenzie Filson
So…

Mackenzie Filson
I really want a dog named Bucket, but I haven’t met a dog that needs to be named Bucket, because you know when you meet a dog and you’re like, no, that’s not your name, but it’s in the back of my head.

Meara McNitt
That’s how Waffle, I think, because whenever I got dogs with weird names, I’d be like, how would you name your dog Waffle? And the mom was like, well, my son wanted to name a dog Waffle, so I had to find a dog that looked like it would be named Waffle.

Mackenzie Filson
Waffle. That looked like waffle. Yeah, my cousin has two dogs. One is named Pickle and it looks like a pickle. And then one is named Pretzel, which was like their shelter dog name, but you can’t outdo Pretzel. It looks like a Pretzel. Like, I don’t know, it just happens.

Meara McNitt
If any of this.

Irene Wambui Muchai
I think this kind of goes back to the food, but if you had to name your pet after a food or a cuisine or a type of food, what would it be? Fun question.

Mackenzie Filson
It does!

Mackenzie Filson
Oh my God. I actually had this thought the other day. I feel like sushi is both fun. Cause when you name an animal, it has to be a word that you don’t mind like shouting at a dog park or if they’re bad, it feels like it has weight to it, you know? And so I was thinking the other day, I was like sushi I think would be really fun and has nickname potential. I also, my dog, he, he…

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
sadly passed on about a year ago, but his name was Bear, and he looked like a bear, and I really didn’t like that his name was Bear. It was his shelter name, but I called him Bean. I just changed it a little bit, and I think I would name another dog Bean too, because there’s a lot of nickname potential. I called him Beanie Baby. I called him Beanie Weanie. I called him a lot of things. So I would name another dog Bean in a heartbeat, so on purpose.

Meara McNitt
I love that, that’s super cute. So what advice would you give to someone who’s aspiring to be a freelance writer?

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
I think if you’re obsessed with it, then that is a good, that’s a good place to keep like discovering. And I kind of a double, double advice, like a side advice to that is just because you haven’t seen anybody write about it does not mean don’t write about it. Sometimes, especially recently, I’ve realized, oh, something might be a good idea if I’m having a really hard time researching for it.

because no one else is talking about it. So I think if you feel like no one’s talking about it and you feel like you’re the only one thinking about it, that’s actually a great sign. If it’s hard to research the better because that means no one’s necessarily talking about it quite yet. And you could be like the first one to do it. And yeah, I think it shows, I think, you know, and it comes from a place where you’re really gonna like figure, you know, you’re really gonna figure out what you think about something, so.

Meara McNitt
Oh yeah.

Meara McNitt
Should they just like start personal writing about whatever the thing is that they want to get in the space for? Like I know, like you said that you were like in this Facebook group and like that’s part of like how you got found was the personal right. Like is that kind of the path that someone should take?

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah, I mean, the groups that I am in are primarily for women and non-binary people. And so it is like not like a male focused group, but there’s tons of them for writing. They’re called binders and that kind of

goes back to, I mean, I want to say it was like 2015 where I want to say it was Mitt Romney who said, Oh, I have binders full of women. That’s where that term comes from. And so if you look up binders, it’ll be like binders full of science fiction writers, binders full of beverage writers. There’s there’s, I mean, I really think there’s like hundreds of them. So if someone is, you know, specifically, you know, like, you know, not typically, you know, I mean,

not in a male-dominated space. I mean, publishing thankfully is not necessarily a male or even female-dominated really necessarily, but those are really helpful. So if you have a niche that you’re really into, it might be like personal essays, it might be novel writing, specifically for, I mean, I think they even have it for non-writers too, but it’ll be like binders full of, and then, I mean, they’re public groups, so you can kind of search those. And mine was the food writers group, so it’s called like food writers of the sub.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
binder and then I’m in a beverage one too and then there’s travel writing. So yeah, they’re really useful.

Meara McNitt
I mean, honestly.

Were you on the internet in the 20 teens, if you’re not in a Facebook group that has like five offshoots and like a specific sub focus, like I used to be in this group, it’s called, it was called Spice Girls. Um, and it was like just like women and non-binary people. Um, and so all the offshoot had like spice to the name. And so like,

Mackenzie Filson
Yep. Yeah. Those are the people to know.

Meara McNitt
There’s a New Orleans one for just those of us in New Orleans and people traveling to New Orleans that I made is called New Orleans Spice. And the header photo is all the different kinds of spices that people put in foods in New Orleans.

Mackenzie Filson
I love that! Oh I mean that’s that’s really the only reason why I’m on Facebook is because sometimes the groups are so good.

Meara McNitt
The owners of Still Darius for the Facebook groups. Like we could have an entire episode just on like Facebook group culture.

Mackenzie Filson
You really should because they really are like, I mean, I deleted my like, OG I’m I’m 32 now. So I was like 17 when I think I was allowed to get a Facebook back in the day. And I deleted my full on account, all my friends, all my photos, everything. I think like maybe five years ago and only rejoined it for groups and marketplace sometimes, but like mostly for those groups. Cause I mean, I’ve wanted to quit Facebook since and I can’t cause those. I mean, that’s really how I got.

Meara McNitt
Wow.

Mackenzie Filson
pretty much all of my writing jobs was from people that kind of directed me towards finding those other spaces. Also, if someone is really into food, there is another job site that I think is like under appreciated. It is for not just writing jobs, but there are sometimes, it’s called goodfoodjobs.com. And I think what they do is really cool because they, they focus on people that are employing people properly and paying the living wage.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Mackenzie Filson
of times, you know, have a lot of like a food justice bent or an environmental bent and even some food media jobs and food PR too, and like food marketing. So it’s cool because yeah, finding food jobs and food writing jobs can be a little tricky because you might get, you know, a restaurant job that pops up instead. So.

Meara McNitt
Yeah. Well, I think we’re about ready to wrap up, but I do have one last question before I get to our wrap up question. Do you have any books, podcasts, blogs, or anything that you just, just as a food appreciator, not for someone who wants to write about food or do food professionally, but just as someone who enjoys food, any bits of media that you’re like, this is great.

Mackenzie Filson
So many. I love, oh god, what’s it called? Splendid Table. Like when it comes on on Sunday and I put it on in my car, it makes me feel really cozy. It’s like the public radio food and they always do something really cool. Publication wise, I’m a-

That’s such a good question. Um, I mean, for me, I just follow everybody because I like to be in the know. Um, I really like what punch is doing. They are a drinks focused website. And as a beverage nerd, I always feel like I learned something from them. Um, I also love maintenance phase. It’s actually sort of more of a diet culture, food culture. Bent. And I think what they’re doing is really cool too. That’s a podcast. So, um, yeah, it’s off the top of my head.

Meara McNitt
Yeah.

Meara McNitt
Irene, you’re also a foodie. Do you have anything to add?

Irene Wambui Muchai
I am a big foodie. Do you know what, have you ever seen four levels on YouTube? It’s like one of my favorite YouTube shows. And essentially it’s, they’ll take a recipe, say it’s tacos, and they’ll have like an amateur chef, like someone who’s a bit more advanced, someone who’s a full blown like professional chef and a food scientist. Or like, the first three will make the food, and then the food scientists will like critique the food and why one thing…

Mackenzie Filson
Oh No Hampton

Irene Wambui Muchai
or one technique was better than the other. It’s amazing. It’s my favorite thing. And it’s really like, you know, just chill. It’s like not so serious. It sounds serious because there’s a scientist in it, but it’s super chill and it’s a really, really good show. And sometimes they’ll have an episode where their professional chef will swap ingredients with a like amateur cook. And they’ll have like these really fancy ingredients to make this dish. And then they’ll give it to the amateur cook who has to actually make it. And then the amateur cook will give them normal ingredients and then.

Mackenzie Filson
Yeah. I love that.

Irene Wambui Muchai
the chef will have to make it fancy. It’s an amazing show.

Mackenzie Filson
I love that so much. Cause I mean, I love food science too. Like if I ever, I love school. If I went back to school, I would probably do like food science. Cause it’s strange. It’s very strange. And then I think there’s something we said about, you know, why did this, would you buy it? The store tastes different at home and restaurants and stuff. So I’m going to check that out. Oh.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Yeah.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Definitely.

Meara McNitt
I have two books that I want to shout out. One I actually haven’t read, but my nutritionist recommended is called Food Fix. It’s about, it’s like a lot of sciencey background, like environmentalism, the health of your body, all this different stuff, and how like the food that we consume, and like how we get the food matters and all that. It’s nonfiction. Second is fiction. I’ve recommended it to everyone already, but Mackenzie, I’m recommending it to you as well. It’s called Ma Me. I think the author is Jessica George. It is about, have you read it?

Irene Wambui Muchai
Nice.

Mackenzie Filson
Oh, yes. I have like the early copy on my Kindle. I just haven’t had a chance to look at it, but the premise of it, yeah.

Meara McNitt
I highly recommend my book club just read it. Yes. And as someone who turns to Facebook groups clearly for like questions and stuff, this character does a very similar thing. Google is her best friend and confidant. So it’s very funny. And food is like a theme throughout the book. She goes and works at a food publisher, like a publishing place that focuses on like cookbooks and stuff. So any foodie who love to read who are listening to this podcast, my may check it out.

Mackenzie Filson
Oh, okay.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Nice.

Mackenzie Filson
Thank you. I love this exchange.

Meara McNitt
We’re all about the value here at Online Offscript. All right, well, thank you so much for joining us, Mackenzie. If there’s anywhere that people are interested in either working with you or asking questions, reaching out, where should they do that?

Mackenzie Filson
Yes. Oh, goodness. I am on Instagram. My handle is, it’s a long story. It’s like I was a German nerd in high school and it’s my German nickname because it’s German wordplay. But it’s Mackenzie, which.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Okay.

Meara McNitt
Cure.

Mackenzie Filson
If you took German in high school, you’d think it’s funny, but most people don’t. But it’s M-A-C-H-E-N-S-I-E, which is not how my name is spelled. But, and then my website is mackfilson.com.

Meara McNitt
Love it. Thank you so much for joining us, Mackenzie.

Irene Wambui Muchai
Thank you.

Mackenzie Filson
Awesome. Thank you all so much. This was lovely.