Here’s where you’ll find the recordings from many of our past Mastermind Meetings!
If you’re new here, there are two meetings every month to accommodate the fact that we are scattered all over the world. Find the date and time that works best for you or join them both!
Meetings are usually on Wednesdays and last 90 minutes. The North America/ Europe meeting is at 11am EST. The Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific Meeting is at 8am GMT.
North America/ Europe meeting is usually recorded. You’ll find many of those recordings below.
All meetings are free to attend but require registration. Here’s where to find information on this month’s meeting.
Recording from the August Meeting
This was such a good meeting! We talked about the classes coming up in The Food Writers Business Lab as well as how to navigate this publication and find what you’re looking for. Then we dove into Substack’s new Audience Specific Blocks. Rebecca shared how she’s using them in her own publication as well as how she’s using them here, on Mastermind for Food Writers. We talked about the different ways this feature can be used to improve the reader experience.
We also talked about the many perspectives and decisions around turning on paid subscriptions, the value of our work, and how each of us are thinking about whether we offer a paid tier. We also talked about growth in general and the value of doing this work for the sake of it, because it makes us better. If structuring a paid option for your subscribers is something you find challenging, join the club. :-) You’ll find some good stuff in here.
Recording and Notes From The July Meeting
Changes to the Food Writers Business Lab, Substack Recipe Cards, the new Audience Specific Content Block, and more!
June Mastermind Meeting with guest speaker Felicity Spector
June 17, 2026
Notes and Recording from the June 17 meeting
We had a wonderful call this morning for the Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific group. It was extra special as this was the first call for this group that featured a special guest speaker. And what a fabulous guest we had: Felicity Spector, who is the author of the book Bread and War, a journalist with over 30 years of experience and a Substack writer who writes Flour Power: by Felicity Spector.
Creative Recipe Writing
May 13, 2026
In this meeting Betty Williams, Kelsey Erin Shipman and Rebecca Blackwell discuss:
How being yourself is your unfair advantage
Creative recipe writing is: your point of view, your values, your expertise, your experience, your personality
Experience, opinions, and personal insight makes your work harder to replicate
How recipes can be genre mashups
How to harness your voice to write recipes that are distinctly YOU
More on this topic: Eat Your Feelings (Recipes are more about how we feel than what we make)
Bonus! Creating a Values Led Brand for Food Writers
This is a free class that Rebecca Blackwell taught for The food Writers Business Lab.
What if building your brand didn’t begin with strategy, visibility, or keeping up with everyone else, but with a clearer understanding of who you are and what actually matters to you?
For many food writers, branding can start to feel external and performative: the right bio, the right niche, the right content pillars, the right way to show up online. But the strongest brands are not built from the outside in. They are rooted in something deeper: your values, your strengths, your voice, your boundaries, and the kind of work you want to create over time.
More on this topic: In this LIVE discussion, Rebecca Blackwell and Liza Debevec discuss how values influence your voice, your messaging, your boundaries, and the kinds of opportunities you choose to pursue.
We also talk about the importance of being able to communicate your values to your audience, the difference between your values, strengths and talents, how to know when to push through and when to re-evaluate and pivot, how discomfort and fear can be indicators that you’re on the right track and why building your brand around who you are and what you really care about takes courage.
Bonus! Introduction to SEO For Food Writers
This is a free class that Rebecca Blackwell taught for The food Writers Business Lab.
Your audience is everywhere. They are scattered around the world and across the internet. You know they’re out there, but finding them can feel overwhelming. You feel like you’re publishing into the void, pouring your heart and soul into your work and then hoping the right people will discover it. And, sometimes they do! But, our job as food writers isn’t just to create good work. It’s also to help people find it.
More on this topic: How To Build a Bridge From Your Work To Your Readers
All about Substack Recipe Cards and creating a strategy that goes beyond Substack
April 1, 2026
We talked Substack’s new recipe card functionality and its benefits for food writers. A few of the topics we covered:
How to use recipe cards to create a dedicated, reader friendly recipe section.
How using the recipe cards can improve SEO and make content more discoverable on platforms like Pinterest and Google.
The process of extracting existing recipes from newsletters to create standalone recipe posts.
Challenges with the recipe card feature including limited print functionality in the app
We also talked about our individual reasons for being on Substack and our desire to build something real in an increasingly AI driven world.
Besides the recording, I assembled my notes and some additional thoughts into this article: Using Substack Recipe Cards to Organize Recipes, Improve Discoverability, and Build a Long-Term Strategy
Editorial Planning for your Substack
March 4, 2026
In this month’s meeting, Mira Dessy shared her process for editorial planning and scheduling, and the tools she uses to significantly cut the amount of time she spends on administrative and repetitive tasks. It was incredibly valuable.
We also talked about scheduling, the pros and cons of sending newsletters on a set day and time, finding a rhythm between scheduled writing and inspired flexibility, the significance and insignificance of open rates, Substack’s new recipe card feature, how to embed one post within a different post, and more!
Building Community Beyond the Platform
Building your community and brand platform across different technology platforms without burning out!
February 18, 2026
In this month’s meeting, Barbara at Projectkin and Stephanie Moon taught us about building our audience across platforms and doing it without burning out.
If you weren’t able to join us, you’ll find the recording below. It’s packed with ideas, inspiration, and valuable information! Here are just a few highlights from my notes:
Be yourself. Be yourself. Be yourself.
Do what works for you, not the platform.
It’s important to own your content, your domain, and your list. Export your list and your content on a regular basis and keep it somewhere safe.
Substack is an email distribution platform for your work. Substack is not your work.
If you are attracting readers off-Substack, it’s important to teach those readers how to use and navigate Substack.
Sometimes it feels like we are putting stuff out there into the void, but it’s important to remember that we don’t know who it’s reaching and we often don’t know who they are sharing it with.
Platforms aren’t about numbers, they are about trust. A small, highly engaged audience is more valuable than a huge audience with low engagement.
Consistency beats perfection.
On that last point, Stephanie wrote a great post last December about just getting started: Start Now.
Pitching to Magazines + Organizing a Writing Schedule + Collaboration Opportunities
January 21, 2026
A HUGE thank you to this month’s mini-masterclass teachers Halona Black and Amie McGraham, and to Mira Dessy and Elizabeth Pizzinato who are working to create collaboration opportunities for interested members of this group!
If you weren’t able to join us this week, you’ll find the recording below and it’s packed with great information!
Halona started us off with a meaty class about what it takes to successfully pitch articles to magazines and other publications. Then Amie showed us how she organizes her schedule to write TWO substacks, a book, freelance projects, and still take time off every week.
How to Write a Cookbook Proposal
December 10, 2025
A HUGE thanks to Kelsey Erin Shipman who somehow managed to teach us an incredible amount about how to write a cookbook proposal in under 90 minutes.
The Dream to Deal: Book Proposal Intensive: I (Rebecca Blackwell) took this workshop and it was incredible. If you’re interested in hearing more about my experience, feel free to reach out.
If you’re not subscribed to Kelsey’s substack, Cheese Toast with White People, it’s truly one of the best things I’ve read all year.
What Is The Core Value Of Your Brand?
This week’s mini-masterclass was all about clarity. We set out to answer questions such as… What am I about? What is my message? Is my message reflected in my bio? Who is my message for? What do they feel and what do they want?
Here is the slide show from Rebecca Blackwell’s presentation:
How To Get Published with Dianne Jacob
This month’s meeting was so, so good, thanks to our special guest, Dianne Jacob!
Dianne spent the entire 90 minutes with us, answering questions about how to get published in major publications outside of Substack, what it takes to publish a cookbook, the importance of author platforms, the future of food writing, and finding your voice, audience, and niche.
If you are not already subscribed to Dianne’s Substack, where she shares trends, best practices, advice and more about food writing, here’s where to do that: Dianne Jacob’s Newsletter
About your meeting hosts
Rebecca Blackwell is a writer, recipe developer and food photographer who publishes two recipe websites and a Substack newsletter. Her and her husband are nomads without a home base but with many modes of transportation, namely an RV, a motorcycle, and a sailboat. Rebecca write recipes and stories for curious people who believe experiences are more important than things and who want more adventure.
Liza Debevec is a social anthropologist, African studies specialist, and career/life coach. She writes two Substack publications that bring together her love of stories, food, languages, and personal growth. Originally from Slovenia, Liza now lives in Lisbon, Portugal, after many years in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and other corners of the world. Her work is inspired by the ways people connect through meals, words, and meaningful conversations.
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