Meet Stella Navarro-Kim | Recipe Developer & Bartender

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stella Navarro-Kim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stella, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
I don’t think people are aware of how much work it actually takes to make food content. Every food content creator is different, but for me it takes at least 20 hours of non-stop work just to post 1 recipe.

That includes recipe testing, filming, taking photos for my blog, editing, writing up the blog post, recording a voiceover…the list goes on!

And that’s just the process to post one recipe- there is additional work AFTER all that has been done, like answering questions in the comments. I also try to dedicate at least 1 hour a day to going through my DM requests to answer questions. You will hear content creators say this and it’s true- I traded my 9 to 5 for a 24/7 job. It’s A LOT of work, but at least I am doing something I love.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I lost my job at the very beginning of the pandemic. During that time, TikTok really blew up and my younger sister was constantly texting me video links, because I (a millennial) refused to get on TikTok. But the videos she sent me were really funny, so eventually I decided just to download the app in October 2020. I created a cooking account just for fun, since I was an avid home cook and noticed a lot of people were posting cooking content.

Honestly, it wasn’t hard to gain followers because I had a very unique formula. I did the cooking and my husband did the voiceovers. We grew quickly because people loved his voice and my recipes. He no longer does my voiceovers, but luckily that didn’t hurt my growth so I know I’m still doing something right.

For the first year, I was just making cooking content for fun and didn’t really monetize. I saw a lot of other content creators getting big brand deals and was inspired to turn this into my full time job too. To start, I wanted to build a food blog where I could post my recipes. I didn’t have the money to hire a professional web developer so I watched hours of YouTube tutorials and did it myself. I will never forget the day that stellanspice.com went live! I couldn’t believe it. I did that.

This industry has taught me a lot about the power of influencer marketing and how to harness it without sacrificing authenticity. I am lucky to be in a position where I can comfortably turn down brand deals when my heart isn’t in it. When people think of Stellanspice, I want them to know that they can trust me and that my recipes are legit.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Southern California so there is a lot to do here! I love theme parks so I’d definitely take them to Disneyland and Universal Studios. All my best friends love gopchang (intestines) so I would take them to my favorite Kbbq spot for it in Ktown- it’s called Agassi Gopchang. Noraebang (karaoke) is also a must! And I’d probably take them to a museum like The Getty.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The person who deserves all the credit for the creation of Stellanspice is definitely my sister, Maria. She came up with the name, helped me build a following on TikTok, and really pushed me to start posting my recipes. I don’t think either one of us thought it would become my full time job, but now I am living my literal dream life and I am so, SO thankful that she pushed me to do this. I didn’t have confidence in myself but she did, and it has changed my life.

I of course have to thank my parents for not only being open to such an unconventional job, but being extremely supportive and expressing how proud they are of me. To my mom especially- I have learned so much about cooking from her and many of my recipes are adapted from her Korean dishes.

And I can’t forget my manager, Isabella. She has believed in me since day 1 and we have accomplished so much together. I cannot express enough how awesome she is at her job. She is extremely knowledgeable, resourceful, and most importantly just an amazing human being.

Website: stellanspice.com

Instagram: stellanspice

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvcRc8oSNqMO-nAaCTRf4Tg

Other: TikTok: stellanspice