Ty Kilgore
Founder at Everything Digital Marketing
Topic: A Clear-Eyed Look at the Current State of SEO Plus Live Blog Audits That Show Exactly What to Change to Earn More Visibility, Clicks, and Trust From Google
Ty Kilgore has immersed himself in the world of SEO and Digital Marketing for over 15 years. Prior to starting Everything Digital Marketing, he successfully increased rankings for over 150 websites which included 40 different industries. Now, he's channeling his extensive training, wisdom, and success into the food blogging space, where he has already catalyzed the growth of more than 150 food-focused websites. He’s been married for almost 16 years with 3 awesome children and is enjoying life with them in Austin, Texas.
Ty Kilgore kicks off this session with a concise, no fluff update on the current state of SEO, breaking down what actually matters right now and what no longer deserves your energy.
From there, things get very real and very actionable as Ty conducts live audits of attendee blog posts, so be ready to throw your URL into the mix. With clarity, kindness, and zero judgment, he’ll walk through what’s holding content back, what Google is responding to, and the specific changes that can lead to more eyes and more clicks.
You’ll see real examples of how small adjustments can make a meaningful impact, leaving you with a clearer understanding of how to evaluate your own content and prioritize updates that move the needle.
Ben Jabbawy
Founder of Grocers List
Topic: Power Plays to Take Control of 2026 Revenue
Ben Jabbawy is the founder of grocers list, the leading growth + monetization platform built specifically for food creators. He lives in Boston with his wife and two incredible daughters, and loves supporting entrepreneurs through new technology.
Join Ben Jabbawy, founder of Grocers List, to discover the new strategies top creators use to increase traffic, boost affiliate sales, grow email lists and launch paid memberships. You’ll leave with actionable tactics you can put to work right away to maximize this year.
Ansley Beutler
Full-time food blogger and Certified Public Accountant at Peach Perfect Financials
Topic: What’s New in Taxes and Business for Food Bloggers Plus an Open Q&A to Get Clear, Personalized Answers to the Questions That Actually Apply to You
As both a Certified Public Accountant and full-time food blogger, Ansley knows better than anyone how crucial it is to stay on top of your accounting—also know how frustrating it is to work with a CPA who doesn’t understand anything about ins and outs of your business.
This is exactly why Ansley founded Peach Perfect Financials: to help creators like you level up your business, to empower you to gain control of your finances, and to provide you with the clarity you need to feel good about where your blogging brand is headed.
As both a CPA and a food blogger herself, Ansley Beutler brings a rare blend of technical expertise and real world understanding to this session. She’ll start by highlighting any new or important updates in the world of taxes and business that specifically impact food bloggers and online creators, helping you stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
From there, the focus shifts to what attendees have consistently valued most in past years: direct access to Ansley and the chance to ask highly specific questions.
This session will open into an extended Q&A, allowing you to get clarity on your own business setup, deductions, income streams, write offs, and tax related decisions. If you’ve ever left a tax conversation thinking “but what about my situation,” this is your chance to get thoughtful, practical guidance tailored to exactly where you are right now.
Sarah Franklin
PR Manager at Lulu
Topic: The Secret Ingredient: Building a Book That Feeds Your Business
Sarah is the Public Relations Manager for Lulu.com, the publishing and print on demand company started in 2002 by Red Hat Founder Bob Young. Her primary role is to educate creators about the benefits of Lulu.
With over 16 years experience in the publishing industry, Sarah is passionate about helping authors find ways to connect with their audience. In previous roles, she led author public relations campaigns and coached many more in preparation for their book launches. She lives in Raleigh with her family.
Building on last year’s session about choosing a publishing path and using a book to strengthen your brand, Sarah Franklin returns to go deeper into the practical and strategic side of self-publishing, with a clear focus on direct sales.
This session reframes a book not just as a finished product, but as a powerful business asset. Attendees will explore how publishing decisions impact ownership, margins, audience relationships, and long-term revenue, and how selling direct can support authority, audience growth, and multiple income streams. Sarah will guide participants through choosing the publishing path that truly fits their goals, timeline, and bandwidth, while also opening the door to live workshopping of book ideas, positioning, and concepts.
Whether you’re sitting on a half formed idea, actively writing, or wondering how a book could fit into your broader business, this session is designed to help you gain clarity, momentum, and confidence around taking the next step.
Joe Rodichok
Co-Founder at Phynite Solutions
Topic: How to Use Analytics to Make Confident Data Driven Decisions, Understand What Your Numbers Are Actually Telling You, and Get Your Most Pressing Tech Questions Answered
Joe is the Co-Founder of Phynite Solutions with over 20 years in tech, including 15 years professionally in roles from engineer to Chief Technology Officer at start-ups and later with FAANG companies, solving complex challenges. I’m passionate about helping small business owners grow their websites through clear, straightforward support—something that’s personal to me as the son of two small business owners. My goal is simple: to help you succeed with no BS, just honest solutions.
Joe Rodichok is known for his ability to take the technical side of online business off your plate and out of your head, and this session is designed to do exactly that.
He’ll break down how to use analytics in a practical, approachable way so you can stop staring at numbers and start making decisions with confidence. Joe will walk through what data is worth paying attention to, how to interpret what you’re seeing, and how to translate analytics into clear next steps for your content and business.
The session will also open up for attendee questions, giving you the opportunity to get clarity on the tech issues that have been slowing you down or living rent free in your mind. If analytics or tech has ever felt intimidating or heavy, this session is about making it feel manageable, useful, and supportive instead.
Christine Wheeler
Founder at Pinnovation Media
Topic: What to Do When Pinterest Traffic Drops and How Food Bloggers Can Adapt to Regain Reach, Traffic, and Confidence on the Platform
Christine Wheeler is the owner of Pinnovation Media and Live Love Run Travel. She has been in the blogging world since 2017, leaving her job as a middle and high school English teacher in 2019 to grow it even further. After being asked to manage a few Pinterest accounts other than her own that year, she started Pinnovation Media in early 2020.
Christine continues to travel and work on her travel blog in her spare time thanks to a team of five amazing women who now work at Pinnovation Media with her.
Pinterest has felt like a wild world lately, and Christine Wheeler is here to help make sense of it all. In this session, Christine will break down how to understand the different types of traffic drops on Pinterest.
She’ll walk through how to understand and use your analytics to understand where the losses came from and how to use that data to adjust your strategy going forward.
Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, Christine focuses on helping creators understand how to adapt intentionally, stay flexible, and build a Pinterest strategy that supports long term success even as the platform evolves.
This session is designed to leave you feeling informed, grounded, and empowered to make smart decisions about Pinterest moving forward.
Matt Molen
CEO of Email Crush and Creator of Email on Autopilot
Topic: Why the Email Fundamentals You Already Know Still Matter Most, How to Monetize Your List More Intentionally, and What’s Actually Working for Bloggers Right Now
Matt Molen is the CEO of Email Crush (emailcrush.com) and the creator of Email on Autopilot (emailonautopilot.com), the course that helps creators grow email lists fast, send stuff people actually open, and automate the rest so it runs while you sleep.
He’s helped hundreds of bloggers go from “Ugh, I should really send a newsletter…” to “Whoa, email is an awesome traffic driver!”
These days, Matt runs a full-service, done-for-you email agency built specifically for food bloggers. Strategy, writing, automation, execution. All of it handled.
Whether you want to DIY your email strategy or hand it off completely, Matt is your guy. His boutique agency manages email for some of the biggest creators online. The kind whose content you have read, saved, or scrolled through at 2 a.m.
When he’s not deep in subject lines, Matt dreams of having a dolphin as a best friend, brings up his fantasy football trophy without being asked, and – fun fact – faints during blood tests. Like, every time.
This session is designed for advanced bloggers who already understand email marketing fundamentals but want to tighten execution and see better results.
Matt Molen will start by revisiting the core building blocks of effective email marketing and highlighting where creators often drift, overcomplicate or stop implementing what they already know works.
He’ll then focus on practical, proven ways to make money through email, helping you better connect list growth, content and monetization.
The session will wrap with a facilitated group discussion led by Matt, where attendees will openly share what’s working, what they’re testing, and what’s driving results right now. This collaborative format creates space for honest conversation, peer learning, and fresh ideas you can take back and apply immediately.
Jenne Claiborne
Food blogger at Sweet Potato Soul
Topic: How to Grow and Monetize a YouTube Channel by Understanding What’s Working Right Now, Creating the Right Content, and Optimizing the Details That Drive Clicks and Watch Time
Jenné Claiborne is a vegan chef, content creator, and author of two cookbooks,"Sweet Potato Soul" and "Vegan Vibes."
Since 2010 she has been sharing delicious, nutritious and Southern-inspired vegan recipes on her blog, Sweet Potato Soul and her YouTube channel.
Jenné's work has been featured in major outlets from The New York Times to the Today Show. When she’s not creating yummy recipes, she spends most of her time being a mother, practicing yoga, and playing tennis.
In this session, Jenne Claiborne breaks down what’s currently working on YouTube, both across the platform and specifically on her own channel, offering real world insights you can apply immediately.
She’ll walk through the nitty gritty details that creators often overthink or overlook, including how important thumbnails really are, how to craft titles and descriptions that attract clicks without feeling gimmicky, and how to decide what content is actually worth creating.
Jenne will also cover practical strategies for growing your channel and turning long form video into a meaningful revenue stream, helping you connect the dots between content, audience growth, and monetization. Whether you’re just getting started on YouTube or looking to refine what you’re already doing, this session is designed to bring clarity, confidence, and direction to your long form video strategy.
Jeremy Vest
Founder of Video Niche King
Topic: Become the King or Queen of Your Food Niche on YouTube
Jeremy Vest is the founder of Video Niche King. With 19 years of experience and over 50 billion organic views generated through his strategies, Jeremy helps creators and companies build YouTube channels that grow on purpose—not by luck.
He’s worked with Roger Wakefield, dozens of Fortune 100 companies, Grant Cardone, and vidIQ. Jeremy created the D.O.M.I.N.A.T.E. Framework, a clear game plan for turning YouTube into consistent attention, leads, and revenue.
In this session, Jeremy Vest breaks down the real science behind food channels that blow up on YouTube—what gets the click, what keeps people watching, and what drives likes, comments and binge-worthy growth.
You’ll learn how to stop guessing and build a niche strategy with titles, thumbnails, hooks and storytelling that YouTube actually pushes.
Mika Kinney
Food Blogger at Joy to the Food
Topic: How to Create High-Quality Short Form Videos That Hook Viewers Fast, Follow Trends Intentionally, and Turn Instagram Reels Into Traffic and Revenue Across Platforms
Instagram Panel – What’s Actually Working Right Now
Mika Kinney is a food blogger turned Instagram fanatic. After being crushed by the helpful content update last year, she turned to the social media platform and honed in on her niche to grow her Instagram from 1300 followers to well over 230,000 followers in just 6 months. By using her background as a civil engineer and her love of creativity, she crafts attention-grabbing content that also converts followers and builds an engaged audience.
In this session, Mika Kinney dives deep into what actually makes short form video perform on Instagram, while also covering how the same strategies translate to TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
She’ll walk through the often overlooked technical details that impact reach, including upload quality and key settings that can quietly make or break your reels.
Mika will share her proven list of effective hooks, show you how to identify what’s trending in your niche, and teach you how to emulate trends in a way that still feels authentic to your brand.
You’ll also learn how creators are turning Instagram into a real driver of traffic and income, not just vanity metrics.
To bring it all together, Mika will workshop attendee reels live during the session, offering real time feedback and actionable tweaks you can implement immediately.
Annie Holmes
Food Blogger at Sweet Peas and Saffron
Topic: How to Fix the Business Behind the Blog by Identifying Hidden Bottlenecks That Lead to Burnout, Inconsistency and Stalled Growth
Annie Holmes is a multi-site content business owner who has been blogging since 2014. She operates and grows several profitable websites using systems that prioritize efficiency, sustainability, and revenue growth without large teams.
Annie runs the business with her husband, Clayton, and they live outside Nashville, where they balance work, travel and building a business designed to support real life.
Many of the biggest challenges in a blogging business never show up in Google Analytics, they show up as burnout, inconsistency and the feeling that growth has quietly stalled.
In this session, Annie Holmes shares what she has learned from operating and growing multiple profitable websites since 2014, all without large teams or unsustainable systems.
She will help attendees identify the real bottlenecks behind the scenes, whether those live in workflows, decision making, content processes or capacity.
Annie will walk through a practical framework for scaling a content business in a way that prioritizes efficiency, sustainability and revenue growth while still supporting real life.
This session is designed to help advanced bloggers step back, simplify and build a business that can grow without constantly demanding more energy, time or sacrifice.
Josh Gale
Food Blogger at The Chef Out West
Topic: The Facebook Monetization Playbook: Turning Simple Content into a Scalable Revenue Stream
Josh Gale is a chef, content creator, and the voice behind @thechefoutwest, where he shares bold, crave-worthy recipes with a global audience of over one million followers. Driven by a deep love of food and the joy of cooking for others, Josh’s work is all about turning everyday meals into something exciting, satisfying, and worth sharing.
After starting his career in business, a life-changing injury led him to pursue cooking full-time, launching him onto MasterChef and into top restaurant kitchens. He has since appeared on Chopped and Firemasters, and famously defeated Bobby Flay on Beat Bobby Flay.
Following his television success, Josh worked as a private chef for high-profile clients including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Emily Blunt, and Owen Wilson, further refining his craft at the highest level.
Today, he creates high-performing food content that blends chef-level technique with pure passion, inspiring people to cook more, share more, and fall in love with food the way he did.
In this session, Josh shares how he accidentally unlocked a powerful new revenue stream by simply cross-posting his Instagram content to Facebook. What started as a passive afterthought quickly turned into explosive growth, with one viral video driving his Facebook following from 100 to 100,000 overnight and opening the door to built-in monetization. Within just a few months, this shift generated thousands of dollars per month without changing his core content strategy.
Josh breaks down exactly how Facebook differs from other platforms and why it’s uniquely positioned right now for creators to capitalize. He dives into the mechanics of Facebook monetization, including how to qualify, how payouts work, and how bonus programs can significantly increase earnings. Attendees will learn why longer watch time, volume of posting, and consistency matter more than perfection and how Facebook’s algorithm rewards experimentation over curation.
Most importantly, this talk reframes how creators think about content production. Josh emphasizes leveraging existing assets, repurposing old content, and identifying repeatable “winning formats” to scale output without burnout. His core message is simple but powerful: stop overthinking, start posting consistently, and let data guide your strategy. This session will leave attendees with a clear, actionable path to adding a meaningful, scalable income stream to their business.
Ashlea Carver
Food Blogger at All The Healthy Things
Topic: Instagram Panel – What’s Actually Working Right Now
Ashlea Carver is Virginia-based recipe developer and founder of the popular blog All the Healthy Things, known for creating easy, healthy, family-friendly recipes.
A blogger of 10 years, she's grown her blog into a successful six-figure brand with an engaged audience that appreciates her unique perspective on "health," focused on balance not restriction.
Let’s talk all things Instagram. The hooks that stop the scroll. The content formats that are gaining traction. The small shifts that lead to real growth.
In this dynamic panel conversation, experienced creators share what’s working on Reels, how they’re thinking about strategy in 2026, and the mindset shifts that keep them consistent even when the algorithm feels unpredictable.
You’ll walk away with practical ideas you can implement immediately plus a clearer understanding of how to create content that connects, converts, and actually grows your account.
If you’d like, I can also tighten it up even more or give you a slightly edgier version.
Emily Christensen
Food Blogger at Country Roads Sourdough
Topic: Instagram Panel – What’s Actually Working Right Now
Emily Christensen is the founder of Country Roads Sourdough and author of Same Day Sourdough. After leaving her career in brand management and social media marketing, she built her own business from the ground up, growing a community of over 800,000 across social platforms in just under 3 years.
Through her blog and social channels, she shares approachable sourdough bread and discard recipes, baking tips, and simple ways to make from-scratch baking feel doable for busy families.
Join Emily on the Instagram panel where you will learn what is currently working on the platform and how to grow your own account.