Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Wolfson.
Rachel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started my Instagram @Healthywaysfordays in 2014. I was a sophomore in high school at the time and running cross country & track. I was encouraged by my coaches to start prioritizing my nutrition, so I looked at different food Instagram accounts for inspiration. I was then inspired to start my own food Instagram, which at the time was private and just for me. I didn’t tell anyone about it, I would just take pictures of my food and follow other food accounts.
Eventually, I told my closest friends and took my account off private. If someone had told me that six years later, I would STILL be posting recipes, workouts, and things from my daily life to an audience of over 102,000 people, I would have told them they were crazy. Sometimes I can’t believe that what once was just my private food diary turned into a brand, a blog, and a YouTube channel. It’s been a crazy and unexpected journey that has led me to a community of like-minded people who have passions for food and fitness!
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s funny because Healthywaysfordays was a total accident. Growing my Instagram platform wasn’t something that I ever intended to do, in fact when I first started the account, I didn’t even want anyone to know about it at all! There have definitely been moments where I was uninspired and too busy to put effort into the account, but for the most part, I feel like I have been fairly consistent. Even when I lived in a dorm room as a freshman, I think I still did a pretty good job of making content for Instagram, just because back then, it was more casual and less posed.
When the Instagram algorithm changed a few years ago, I think most influencers were frustrated and had trouble adjusting, but you have to use trial and error to learn what your followers like and don’t like! Since starting my first full-time job in June after graduating from college, I feel like I have had the least amount of free time to dedicate to creating recipes and shooting content, but that’s part of my life and personal growth. My followers follow me for my recipes, but also for the realness of navigating real-life and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, so I think they appreciate me being open about not having the amount of time to make new posts that I used to.
We’d love to hear more about Healthywaysfordays.
Healthywaysfordays is a lifestyle food Instagram. I post recipes, meal ideas, and healthy living inspiration. I am known for posting recipes that use very few simple ingredients, don’t require a lot of prep time/bake time, and taste good. I would consider almost all of my recipes/meal inspiration to be “easy” because I am busy and more often than not don’t have the time to make anything elaborate. I think that I represent a realistic way to balance health and fitness while still actually living life. I also post different types of workouts, including interval runs and HIIT resistance training. This workout style is unique and has been proven to help people improve their running stamina, endurance, and speed!
I would say that I am most proud of the way that I am able to showcase the lifestyle that I love while at the same time getting inspiration from others. The community that I am a part of is like no other, and through it I have found passions for things like Peloton and yoga, been exposed to different brands that I now use on a regular basis, and also have been inspired to expand my brand into different channels.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think Atlanta is a great place to start a food Instagram! We have so many grocery stores where you can find ingredients like Publix, Kroger, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Sprouts, The Fresh Market, etc. There are so many healthy restaurants in the metro-Atlanta area, too. There are boutique workout studios, fitness centers, and so many places where you can go as part of the healthy lifestyle you promote. The best part about a food Instagram is that you really can do it from anywhere, but I do think Atlanta has an edge in terms of actually living an exciting healthy lifestyle that people want to follow along with.
Contact Info:
- Website: healthywaysfordays.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/healthywaysfordays
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv0hoY-CoVsYtu8VXsY_BnA
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