#MakingTime: A Day in the Lives of Two Foodie Co-founders (And Best Buds)

Molly Ford and Sarah Jesup

Molly Ford and Sarah Jesup

Fairygodboss
Fairygodboss
Women can do anything — but not everything. As the largest online career community for women, we at Fairygodboss realize that balance is a myth, and that picking what to prioritize on a day-to-day basis isn't always easy. In the #MakingTime series, women share with us how, for one day, they chose to spend their most precious resource: time.
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Who: Molly Ford and Sarah Jesup
What: Co-founders of The Food Lens
Where: Boston, Massachusetts 

6:30AM

Sarah Jesup: My alarm goes off. I’m one of those weird people that doesn’t need caffeine to function, so I head right to pilates. I try my best to motivate myself to work out regularly to balance our constant eating schedule at The Food Lens! Plus, it’s a great way to combat stress, which is definitely ever present as an entrepreneur.

7AM

Molly Ford: My alarm goes off. I always hit “snooze” at least once, usually twice…I’m not a morning person at all! I throw on clothes and head straight to Tatte in Beacon Hill for an almond milk latte. I don’t like to talk to anyone before my morning coffee.

7:15AM

MF: I publish the latest article on The Food Lens along with the Facebook post. I encourage restaurants to reshare our Facebook posts to increase traffic to certain content on The Food Lens. 

7:30AM

MF: I always start my day with a homemade healthy breakfast – my go-to meals are avocado toast or oatmeal with nuts and bananas. I will simultaneously skim through emails for anything time sensitive and comb through our social media accounts to respond to followers. I am quite the multi-tasker in life. 

SJ: I try to make sure my breakfast is something that is going to keep me full for the majority of the morning. My go-to meal is usually steel cut oatmeal with berries, almond milk and of course maple syrup. While I eat, I prep our Instagram post for the day, or sometimes, for the next week. I like to use latergram to better visualize what the photos will look like on our feed before I actually post them. I try to use different angles, colors, and food subjects to maintain diversity and keep our overall aesthetic consistent. 

8:30AM

MF: I walk to Sarah’s house, where our office is located. We live a few blocks from each other in Beacon Hill, so the commute is a dream! 

9AM

MF+ SJ: We go through new emails, social media notifications, and editorial calendars together to discuss/respond to everything. We spend time updating the events calendar on the site, and planning out future content. We are constantly thinking about and talking through new ideas to ensure we keep our users engaged!

11AM

MF+SJ: We hop on a call with our web development team to iron out the design for the addition of Breweries & Distilleries to The Food Lens. We recently underwent a site wide content reorganization to help users better navigate our content more efficiently. 

12PM

MF+SJ: We head out to meet our photographer at BISq for a photo shoot. We help him with the creative side of things - holding certain foods, using different props to make the photos really stand out and ultimately making sure we get that perfect shot. Simultaneously we make sure to capture the whole shoot throughout a series of Instagram stories to share with our followers. Everyone loves behind-the-scenes content!

2PM

MF + SJ: After our shoot, we head to Dave’s Fresh Pasta and Bagelsaurus to try new menu items and take a few photos for Instagram. Once again, we always make sure to post everything on our Instagram story. When we are researching different spots, we do our best to visit places that are in close proximity to one another to be as efficient as possible with our time.

3:30PM

MF + SJ: We hop on a call with one of our partners, RESERVE, to continue the dialogue about ways in which we can further promote one another. 

4PM

MF: I post an Instagram story of the new content we published earlier in the day to alert users on the latest articles on TFL.

SJ: I post a photo we took at Bagelsaurus to Instagram.

4:30PM

MF+SJ: We catch up on any emails that came in during the day that we weren’t able to get around to on our phones. Tonight, we finalize our upcoming newsletter with our marketing team, Marlo Marketing, which will announce the addition of our new “Escapes” section on the site. Our first guide features Nantucket, which we worked hard to push out in time for summer!

6PM

MF+SJ: We close our computers and take Sarah’s dogs for a nice walk in the Boston Public Garden before we head out to dinner.

7PM

MF + SJ: We head to Eventide, to re-taste some of our favorite menu items (and wine too!), so we can make a selection for our monthly “Can’t Miss Dish” column on the site. The column, which we recently launched in May, highlights a specific dish we can’t get enough of alongside a wine pairing at a popular Boston restaurant. We then send an email with our choice to one of our writers, so she can begin working on it. 

9PM

MF: I go through more comments/tags that have people have left throughout the day on our social accounts. It can be tough keeping track of every like/comment across all our social channels, but I try my best to stay on top of it on a daily basis. Engaging with our users this way has definitely been instrumental in helping us continue to build a loyal user base.

SJ: I’m on the couch, on my phone, planning out where we should go tomorrow for more research and Instagram photos. Molly and I are both constantly managing our social media accounts each day - it’s time consuming! 

10PM

MF + SJ: It’s finally time to turn off our screens and get ready for bed. Tonight we will sleep at our own apartments, but often we both end up at Sarah’s. It’s true that we almost never leave one anothers sides! 

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Interested in contributing to Fairygodboss' #MakingTime series? Email [email protected] with "#MakingTime" in the subject line.