Meet Elaina Newton | Owner, Writer, Recipe Developer, Photographer & Content Creator at The Rising Spoon

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elaina Newton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elaina, how do you define success?
I’m sure lots of folks are financially motivated and it’s amazing to be able to provide for yourself, your family, and have some left over, but ultimately true success (to me) is leaving a legacy. You can’t take your money to the grave and none of us know how long we have in this world. Many people create a legacy by having kids & grandkids, but I’m attempting to achieve this by having a positive impact on others and changing the trajectory of their lives, even in small ways. I’m a skeptic, but also an optimist, so I want to leave the world a better place than I found it. So, I try to create helpful, aspirational, and relatable content, plus write about and support issues that are important to me, and hopefully this has a ripple effect over time.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve always felt a pull to be creative since a young age. I lost my mother to cancer at the age of nine and after that, I became more introverted. Reading, writing, crafting, and eating were my coping mechanisms, and my father and paternal grandparents encouraged those aspects of my personality. As an adult, I was still drawn to those creative endeavors, so it felt natural to gravitate toward them, even while others were pursuing more traditional jobs that offered better financial stability. My husband is a visual artist in the gaming industry, and his drive, hard work, talent, and endless creativity over the past 17 years has been a huge inspiration to me. He encouraged me to pursue my interests at the time, for which I am eternally grateful.

In 2010, I watched a television show called Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and that had a massive impact on me. As someone who grew up eating tons of ultra-processed foods and fast food, I recognize how important basic cooking skills are to people’s overall health and independence. So, from the start, the goal of my food blog (The Rising Spoon) has been to show folks (hopefully in a relatable way since I’m not an expert) just how rewarding, satisfying, and easy it is to spend time in your kitchen fixing a homemade meal with simple ingredients (some of my favorites are soups and DIY food gifts). I believe cooking and baking is a life skill and an excellent way to foster community and self-sufficiency, so spreading that knowledge is a net positive for our society.

I’m generally risk averse, but I have an adventurous streak in me and enjoy learning, which has been a boon in this career path since the food blogging industry is constantly changing due to social media and search engine algorithms. Starting something new seems like a huge risk, because most people are afraid of failure. But when you’re compelled by a creative urge, the biggest risk is having opportunities pass you by while you’re waiting to be “ready”. If I’d held off until I knew more about photography, food styling, editing, graphic design, and basic HTML, I never would have created my blog. Instead, I “started ugly early”, as I like to say. I took grainy, yellow-tinted food photos in my tiny apartment kitchen on a point-and-shoot camera and basic cell phone and cranked out recipe after recipe with no formatting or thought for keyword optimization. It might not have looked professional, but I was enthusiastic, and people found me relatable, so I kept practicing and learning from my peers, and improved over time.

As for challenges, achieving work-life balance has been an issue for me and is a common problem in my industry. During my first five years, I was constantly glued to my computer and focused on cranking out more recipes, while learning new skills and adopting the latest strategies. This was both isolating and bad for my health in terms of too much sitting, alone time, and screen time. I’ve seen quite a few folks crash from this, especially since we are typically solopreneurs who wear ten plus hats and there is always something to work on or learn. I now prioritize spending time outside, intentional time away from my computer or phone, and downtime where I don’t have to think about anything work-related. I try not to compare myself to the social media influencers on Instagram, Youtube, TikTok & Facebook who are churning out new content constantly because they’re afraid the algorithm will stop showing their stuff to their followers. Unless you have a huge team to help you, that’s a recipe for burnout and it’s not worth it.

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?
When I get a chance to explore the Northern Front Range, one of my favorite places for day trips is Rocky Mountain National Park, especially Lily Lake, Lumpy Ridge & Trail Ridge Road, with a stop at Penelope’s in Estes Park for a corndog & Parmesan fries. In Golden, I like to hike a portion of the Beaver Brook trail by Windy Saddle Park and grab an ice cream afterward at the Buffalo Bill Museum. In Boulder, I love ordering a Catalan sandwich to-go from Le Frigo and then walking around Chautauqua Park and Pearl Street. Then, in Fort Collins, I enjoy driving and walking around Horsetooth Reservoir, strolling around Old Town, grabbing a latte and pastry at Explorado Market or Starry Night Coffee, and having dinner at The Still Whiskey Steaks.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
After I graduated college and moved from Kansas City to Texas to live with my long-time boyfriend, I had no idea what I wanted to do. The idea of working a corporate 9-5 office job sounded suffocating to me, so I began exploring my current passion, which was teaching myself how to cook. At the time, I was a huge fan of Food Network cooking shows, but also old-school style food blogs like The Pioneer Woman, Skinnytaste, Smitten Kitchen, and Eat Yourself Skinny. I was drawn to their photography, relatable storytelling, and recipes. Because of them, I decided to create my own site in 2012 in order to document my cooking journey, and it snowballed from there. I’m so thankful for the inspiration from those original bloggers, plus the mentorship, support, and community from the members of my Food Bloggers Central group that was founded by Nagi of RecipeTin Eats.

Website: https://www.therisingspoon.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therisingspoon/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRisingSpoon

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/therisingspoon/

Image Credits
Elaina Newton