Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalia Story.
Hi Natalia, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Hi, I am Natalia Story, and I am the founder and owner of Colorado Bites, LLC. I started Colorado Bites as an online food blog in 2014 (on coloradobites.com) as a creative outlet and way to share my dining experiences. Back then, I’m not sure I even knew what a “foodie” was or had much of a plan for the blog, since I already had a day job in advertising. I just knew I loved food and going out to eat, and I wanted to share my experiences in a more interesting way than just posting Yelp reviews. Today, the @colorado_bites Instagram has 17k+ followers — and a much bigger regular viewership.
I focus mostly on local restaurants, but I’ve also expanded it to cover other local businesses, as well as some of my favorite food- and drink-related brands outside the state. The website no longer houses regular articles but serves as a resource for people looking for my lists of favorite places to eat. Even today, this is all still MOSTLY a hobby (or passion project), in the sense that I do have a day job — but I haven’t WANTED to make this into my full-time day job. I enjoy the flexibility, creative freedom, and lack of stress around doing what I love which can only come with not being dependent on it for my income. By day, I am a Director of Financial Compliance for a broker-dealer, as well as involved with marketing for the M&A branch of the same business.
My other passion is travel, and I’ve recently started a new blog at wanderfulblonde.com, where I post long-form blog articles with recommendations from my travels. I also have a corresponding Instagram at @wanderfulblonde dedicated to travel, and I am hoping to make that into a much bigger platform someday.
As for a bit of backstory: to start at the beginning, I was born and raised in Ukraine. I know, it’s a can of worms as a topic these days, so I will just say that I am proud of where I am from and of my people, and I can only pray and hope for the best. I came to America with my parents in 1996, spent four years in a small suburb of Chicago, and then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, which is where I went to middle school and high school.
College was spent at Claremont McKenna (outside of Los Angeles) — with stints studying abroad in Germany and teaching English for a summer in Brazil. Fun fact: I was also a competitive Latin ballroom dancer throughout college, as well as a competitive salsa and bachata dancer once I moved to Denver in 2011.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Gosh, it’s been a very windy journey, as I’m sure it has been for many of us. When I moved to Denver from California in 2011, I was 22 years old, was starting my first job in advertising as a copywriter, didn’t really know anyone, and had no idea what I was doing. I spent 10 years working my way up as a Content & UX Strategist, thinking I was living the dream when I finally got to speak at conferences, lead my own teams, and take on lucrative consulting projects. And then I got let go from a job at a large corporation I didn’t really enjoy working in, and COVID happened, and it all sort of fell apart. I felt like I didn’t have a lot of friends now that I wasn’t in an office, I wasn’t sure where my career was going, and I was struggling with all the personal relationship issues we all went through during COVID.
It may sound funny, but the local food influencer community is one of the biggest things that turned things around for me. I’d been blogging about food on my website before this, as well as being part of the Yelp Elite community, but becoming part of the local influencer community (who were all connected via Instagram) helped me discover something I was truly passionate about, get out of the house and meet new people, and make some amazing friends — who are still my best friends today. For all our differences, I am grateful to Larry Herz (of Ocn Eats) for being the one who first introduced me to this community.
It’s funny that food always has been something I loved, I hadn’t thought to build a friend group around it before — the way that so many people in Colorado do with hiking or skiing, for example. So now, when I see influencers posting things I love (whether it’s about food or travel or something else), I try and reach out and meet them in person. Some people are totally receptive, and I’ve made several great friends that way. Some probably think I’m a weirdo and ignore me. If the last few years have taught me anything, however, it’s that reaching out to people over shared passions is a great way to proactively make friends who enjoy the same things in life (and aren’t just people I happened to be stuck in an office with).
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve been in Denver since 2011, so I’d like to believe that at this point, I’m somewhat of a veteran in the local food scene. I’m pretty proud of my expansive knowledge of it — but even more so — of the places I’d like to think I’ve helped. It’s the best feeling when I meet someone at a small local spot who recognizes me and tells me I turned them onto it.
The recognizable bit is always my yellow hair — hah! — which is one of the reasons I’m going to keep it for as long as I can. To bring it back, though, I am hoping to do more to spread the word about all sorts of local businesses, not just restaurants — as well as some of the small, family-run, American businesses that may not be in Colorado, but that ship here.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The restaurant business is a hard one, and it will probably only get more difficult. Food costs haven’t really kept up with inflation or distribution in the last few years, so it seems to me that prices will HAVE to go up in order for restaurant margins to keep up. People always complain when food prices go up, of course — but grocery prices and restaurant prices are two very different things. Going out to eat (especially at nice restaurants) really needs to be seen as the luxury and privilege that it is.
In terms of Denver specifically, I think we’ll continue to trend toward the patterns and prices of America’s bigger cities, especially as more and more people move here. I think that’s both good and bad: it means we’ll continue to get more top-quality restaurants here, but it’ll also become harder and harder to compete. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say they can’t get good fish or sushi in Denver because we’re in a landlocked state.
We are a huge city, have one of America’s top airports (with daily flights to places like Alaska and Tokyo), and are already home to some of the country’s best sushi spots (like Chef Nobu’s “Matsuhisa” and Chef Tyson Cole’s “Uchi”). I am excited for that trend to continue across the board. On the other hand, for those of us who really love some of our local mom-and-pop restaurants, we’ll need to do more to support them. I got into food blogging really with that purpose in mind, so I also consistently spend my money at the places that I love most.
Contact Info:
- Website: coloradobites.com (and wanderfulblonde.com)
- Instagram: @colorado_bites (and @wanderfulblonde)
