Stephanie Goldfinger
Stephanie Goldfinger
Food Designer
Los Angeles, CA
www.stephaniegoldfinger.com
instagram @cookingforluv
instagram @thebohobeet
youtube
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I’m quite the jill-of-all-trades within the world of plant-based food.”
I believe that we all eat with your (often hangry) eyes first, so most of my work is focused on the visual aspect of food - from creating the most beautiful plate from recipe to stove, to capturing it's best side on camera, to using tasty words to make the mouth salivate, and in the end backing it all up with massively food-coma worthy flavors. My specialty is turning plants into magical tasty treats that often make a carnivore swear off meat (well, at least for a one-night-stand), and creating content to show it all off.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
I took a lot of leaps of faith, trusted my gut, and followed my next career move and explored new opportunities based on passion, grit, and intuition. If you would have asked me a few years ago if all of it made sense, I would have laughed. Yet now, I stand here with so many jigsaw pieces that have somehow fit together to create one pretty cool frame-it-and-hang-it-up-on-your-wall hipster 5000-piece of art.
FOR OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR FIELD, WHAT DO THEY USUALLY LACK?
With a background in the culinary arts, web design, business, social media, fashion and psychology I have a unique perspective on what makes food sell from concept to plate to Instagram famous. I have taken a wild and twisty path in my career to end up with the unique skillset I have now, and I believe it allows me to approach all aspects of the food business in a wildly creative and different way than those who have taken the traditional route.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
I'm currently traveling the world eating, cooking, and writing all about it. While I wander, I am able to work with locals and remotely (I consistently have a high-speed internet connection and a fabulous workspace) on interesting and creative projects all over the world. I've been working on both short and long term contracts, with all types of clients, on recipe and menu development, culinary content creation, food styling and photography, blog writing, Instagram brand consulting, web design, to powerpoint deck creations.
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
In food: I'm messy. But not like dirty messy, rustic sexy messy, the kind of messy that actually really calculated, modern, and clean but has little touches that makes things not intimidating for the viewer. I like sauce that drips down your arms, spilled salt on a table, and content that makes you not take yourself too seriously. In design: I'm minimalist. I love geometric shapes, modern typography, and bold colors. In life: I'm a bohemian at heart and traded in my heels for converse years ago.
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
In my dream world, I would fuss with the placement of a dutch oven of chili, a thousand garnishes, a handful of antique spoons, a farmhouse table, and hand-thrown ceramics every day all day long. Food styling is my happiest of happy places.
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
I don't love selling myself. I've been lucky enough to have clients come word of mouth while living in Los Angeles for 15 years, but now that I've left the city making and maintaining those connections from home and striking out in new cities is an arduous task.
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
Please, do my dishes! I leave a trail of destruction behind me wherever I cook.
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
You are better than you give yourself credit for and you have a unique gift that the world needs - believe it and go forth to share it.
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
I would love to deep dive into video and photo editing, it is my latest and greatest hurdle.
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
Food styling and photography, wordpress/shopify/squarespace design, Instagram brand strategy, recipe and menu development, culinary content creation
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL JOB/CLIENT/COLLABORATION.
I would love to work with restaurants, food brands, or start-ups that are making change in the world of food and approaching plant-based products or cuisine in a fun and accessible way. My favorite long-term project was working with Follow Your Heart on a series of original recipes that were sold with their Veganaise jars and placed across social media and web, and we then worked together to turn those recipes into their first web series that I starred in. The people at the company are some of the most incredible I've come across, and we collaborated together to create something truly special. I also recently worked behind the scenes with the Disney Channel styling and cooking the food for a children's cooking competition show, and worked with the production team to create a series of how-to cooking videos for their social media channels - it was such a blast and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. And in the past year I have created a few websites and Instagram Playbooks for some small brands, and subsequently seeing their reach grow and their products reach a broader audience brings me tons of joy.
WHAT IS YOUR HOURLY RATE, RETAINER, OR SALARY RANGE?
I approach each project's pricing structure individually, and since I do a wide range of things it's tough to give a flat or hourly rate range. When a project comes across my plate, I work with the point person to truly understand the scope and budget and then get a quote put together. I have a few flat project rates and daily rates for certain tasks and can share upon request.
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
I love to understand the culture and personality of the brand, what the goals of the project are, and why me (in the form of song lyrics or represented by a hilarious gif never hurt anyone)!
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
Never stop exploring.
This member profile was originally published in 2017.