Today we’d like to introduce you to Jill Machovsky.
Hi Jill, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I went to college to become a teacher, but after graduating, I decided I wanted to try something different before heading into the classroom. I was also a little concerned about the earning potential in teaching, so I ended up taking a sales position with a forklift company. It certainly wasn’t where I expected my career to begin, but it turned out to be a great fit.
I spent 11 years there, eventually managing the customer service sales department. I loved the job, did well in sales, and honestly could have been very happy staying there. But eventually I reached a point where I was ready for something new, and there really wasn’t another position within the company that I wanted to move into.
That led me to take a much bigger leap. A friend and I started a meal assembly business from the ground up. We grew it into a substantial small business, eventually doing around $500,000 a year in sales. I spent 12 years running that business, developing recipes and helping people get meals on their tables. It was a lot of work and very physical at times, and I always knew it probably wasn’t something I would do forever. When I had the opportunity to sell my share of the business, I decided it was time to figure out what was next.
I had always loved creating recipes, and photography had been an interest of mine since I was young, so in 2019 I decided to combine the two and start a food blog, Cooking Up Memories.
Today, I create Midwest comfort food recipes and share them on my website and through social media, including Instagram and Facebook. Food blogging has changed tremendously since I started, and I feel like I’m constantly learning something new. One of the biggest changes for me was learning how to develop and write recipes for someone else to recreate in their own kitchen. With my meal assembly business, we created the recipes, prepared the food and sold the finished meals. Now I have to make sure someone can look at my photos, read my instructions and successfully make the same dish at home.
I’ve also spent years learning food photography, which has become one of my favorite parts of what I do. I still love developing a new recipe, photographing it and then seeing other people make it for their own families. That part never gets old.
Outside of Cooking Up Memories, I’ve been married for almost 30 years and have a 26-year-old son. I have a wonderful group of friends, including some I’ve known since high school. I played tennis for years but have now made the switch to pickleball, which I love. I’m also an avid reader and enjoy gardening.
When I look back, my career definitely hasn’t followed a straight line. I went from planning to be a teacher, to sales, to owning a food business, to becoming a recipe developer and food photographer. But each chapter gave me something I needed for the next one. I think I’ve always been willing to recognize when I’m ready for a new challenge and take a chance on what comes next. Cooking Up Memories has given me a way to bring together so many of the things I’ve learned along the way, and I still genuinely enjoy creating recipes and sharing them with others.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t always been a smooth road. Switching careers is hard, and I’ve essentially done it a few times, but I genuinely love problem solving. I think that has helped me through every stage of my career.
When I owned my meal assembly business, we were constantly looking for ways to shift gears, try something new and get more people in the door. Some ideas worked and some didn’t, but we learned to adjust and keep moving forward.
Content creation has its own set of challenges. You can create a recipe you love, spend hours developing it, photographing it and putting it out into the world, but the challenge is getting people to actually see it. The industry is constantly changing, so what worked a year ago, or sometimes even a few months ago, may not work today.
It’s definitely been a process, but I’ve learned to be willing to change course, keep experimenting and figure out what works. There’s something really rewarding about getting to the other side of a struggle and realizing you figured it out. I’m always grateful for those moments, and I think they make the successes that much sweeter.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m the recipe developer, photographer and creator behind Cooking Up Memories, where I specialize in approachable Midwest comfort food. I create everything from easy weeknight dinners and slow cooker recipes to appetizers and desserts, with a focus on recipes made with real, familiar ingredients.
A big part of what I do is take the comfort foods we all know and love and make them approachable for today’s home cook. I especially love finding ways to make classic recipes without relying on a lot of canned soups or heavily processed ingredients. I want my recipes to be doable on a busy weeknight, but also good enough that you’d be excited to serve them to friends or bring them to a gathering.
I think my background in the meal assembly business really sets me apart. I spent 12 years developing recipes that real people were actually buying, taking home and serving to their families. That taught me a lot about what people really want to eat. A recipe can be creative and beautiful, but at the end of the day, it also needs to taste great, be easy to follow and be something people want to make again.
I’m probably most proud of building Cooking Up Memories into a business that allows me to combine so many things I enjoy: cooking, recipe development, photography, creativity and connecting with people. There’s something incredibly rewarding about hearing from someone who made one of my recipes for their family, or finding out that a recipe has become one they make over and over again.
There are millions of recipes online, so I never take it for granted when someone chooses one of mine. My goal is always to give them a recipe they can trust, one that feels familiar and comforting but still gives them a reason to be excited about making it.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
For me, the best mentorship has actually come from building relationships with other women in my industry. I have a mastermind group that originally connected through a blogging conference, and we now meet every Friday. I also have another group of five women that I meet with regularly.
Those relationships have been invaluable. There’s something really powerful about having people who understand exactly what you’re doing, who will cheer you on when things are going well and help you work through things when they aren’t. And, of course, I get to do the same for them.
That has become especially important because the blogging and content creation landscape is constantly changing. We’re able to share what we’re seeing, help each other understand the changes and talk through how we’re going to adapt our businesses moving forward. Sometimes just knowing you’re not the only one trying to figure it out makes a huge difference.
My advice for networking would be to find people in your industry who are willing to share, and then be willing to share just as freely with them. Conferences have been a great place for me to make those initial connections, but the real value has come from continuing those relationships long after the conference is over. You don’t necessarily need one traditional mentor. Sometimes the best mentors are the people growing right alongside you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cookingupmemories.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cookingupmemoriesinsta/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cookingupmemoriesblog
