IAM765- Food Writer Advocates for Black-Owned Restaurants

Anela Malik is the food writer and advocate behind the local blog Feed the Malik. Anela is best known for her advocacy for restaurants owned by marginalized people, particularly Black-owned restaurants. She created a widely used directory of Black-owned restaurants open in the DC area and has been working to match Black-owned restaurants with free services to help them survive and thrive during the pandemic.

• CEO Hack: Cleaning out the messages and staying on top of the inbox
• CEO Nugget: Shake off the pressure to be like everyone else
• CEO Defined: Making my own rules and decisions

Website: http://feedthemalik.com/

Directory of Black-owned restaurants in the DMV: https://www.feedthemalik.com/post/dc-black-owned-open-covid-19

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[00:00:02.39] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:29.69] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Anela Malik of Feed the Malik. Anela, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:38.50] – Anela Malik

Thanks for having me. I'm excited.

[00:00:40.50] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Manila so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Manila is the food writer and advocate behind the local blog Feed Them a Link. Anela is best known for her advocacy for restaurants owned by marginalized people, particularly black-owned restaurants. She created a widely used directory of black-owned restaurants open in the DC area and has been working to match black-owned restaurants with free services to help them survive and thrive during the pandemic. Anela, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:12.79] – Anela Malik

Absolutely.

[00:01:13.79] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and and hear more about what I call your CEO story. We'll let you get started with all the awesome things you're working on.

[00:01:23.00] – Anela Malik

I actually was living abroad, and I wanted to push myself. when you're an American living abroad, I think the easiest way to go about your life is to hang out with other English speakers, to hang out with other Americans, and to do the things that are pretty, pretty widely covered on travel blogs or travel guides. And I wanted something more. if I wanted to only get to know Americans, I would have stayed in the United States. And so I started blogging. I started teaching myself about photography and videography, as an avenue to further explore my community. And that's really how I got started.

I saw that the work I was doing was really powerful when I had friends who came to visit me, I was in the Middle East at the time and admitted that because of the common perception of the Middle East as being really unsafe and unfriendly, they would have never travelled in this region. But they decided to come after they, as my friends, followed my blog and saw kind of the generous hospitality of the people in my community, the depth of, friendships and relationships I had built there, and just the amazing things to do and the incredible food. So that was the moment that I realized that what I was doing as just a fun project could be powerful. And I continued that project when I came back to the United States, and I moved back to Washington DC about a year ago.

[00:02:50.30] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I definitely appreciate you, for doing that and helping your friends and now helping so many other people out there. And I think the strongest word that I heard, was that exploration part. And I think so many times that if we just kind of sometimes do the things that we're passionate about, things that we're interested in, a whole entire world not only opens up for us, but I think as you've been able to do, it opens up for so many other people.

[00:03:12.19] – Anela Malik

Yeah. That's definitely true.

[00:03:14.30] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about your blog and all the awesome things that we can find there. Could you take us through exactly what we can find there and what exactly it does to serve the community?

[00:03:24.50] – Anela Malik

Absolutely. So I blog primarily through Instagram. My handle is to feed them a leak, and I also have a website feed them a leak dot com. And now that I'm based in Washington DC, I focus on highlighting the work of marginalized peoples in food. Be that, women, minorities, or undocumented folks, who frankly really make up the underpinnings of our food system, but so often are not lauded or given awards. So, that's the work that I do in general. But what you're going to find on my Instagram page and on my blog are reviews of places you might not ever see anywhere else. they're not going to be an eater. They're not going to be edible. These are places without, budgets for PR teams. There are mom-and-pop shops most often.

You're gonna hear the stories of the people who created these businesses, who, really followed their dreams to feed people. So often what leads, folks to work in food is that they love food, and then it becomes, a career for them. And now because of this particular moment we've been in since the outgrowth of, you know, the civil rights movement that we've seen in response to George Floyd's death and the deaths of others, I have focused a lot on, promoting and supporting local black-owned businesses. As we know historically in America, black-owned businesses, lack the same access to capital and lending that other businesses might have access to. So if we think about them starting from an unequal position, then the COVID crisis has a dramatic impact on that business community. And so I've been trying to use my platform to fill the gap however I can, whether that's to drive customers or to share their stories, or now to help, align these business owners with resources.

[00:05:21.30] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. And, you know, as you said so well, I think so many times, especially, like, during this pandemic, organizations, businesses, restaurants, very specifically, get overlooked sometimes in those opportunities. So I think one of the big things that, you're reminding us of is that we sometimes have a platform by which we can use to to be the change we hope to see in the world. And I think so many times, those organizations and those businesses, black-owned organizations, those, marginalized people, they've started their business in order to give a gift to the world. And, I appreciate you by being in a way by which they're able to do that to even more people than they could have because I think, you know, it's a shame because they have such a passion and gift for the businesses and things that they create. And being able to kinda have that opportunity to share it more with everybody else is definitely up to the phenomena you're doing.

[00:06:11.30] – Anela Malik

Absolutely. Thank you. I do my best.

[00:06:13.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yes.

[00:06:14.10] – Anela Malik

I do what I can.

[00:06:14.89] -Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that's, you know, the thing that we all have on our forefront. And that's the beauty of this ton of day and age is that we have the opportunities. We have more tools than we've ever had, I should say, to get those names out there, whether it be Instagram or your blog and all the awesome things you've been able to do there.

[00:06:31.50] – Anela Malik
Mhmm.

[00:06:34.80] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself or your business or a combination of both. But what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:06:43.80] – Anela Malik

Oh, I've never been asked this question.

[00:06:47.39] – Gresham Harkless

Yes.

[00:06:48.30] – Anela Malik

I would say in the food blogging space, my secret sauce has been that I've been explicitly political and outspoken in a space where, for so long, the narrative has been dominated by trends. And so I do think that set me apart where primarily what you're going to see in the food blogging speed, scene or food writing scene is simple reviews, backstories of chefs, and what I call food porn, which is melted cheese, things with lots of sauce. Like, if you can pour the syrup over a stack of pancakes slowly, that does well. And all of that's beautiful. Right? It speaks to us because we can we can see it and then we can almost taste it and that's what you want. But I think what set me apart was that I acknowledge these trends are powerful, but I also acknowledge that the very human stories that make up the food industry are also powerful.

And I've been really satisfied to see that people want more than just pancake syrup and fried cheese. And people do want to hear and learn about where their food comes from and who makes it and how they learn to make it. And I think that particularly in the food space, that's really powerful because we all like food. And we all have personal stories connected to food. Either an incredible meal we had with friends or a dish we learned to make, from our parents at home or even the way that food kind of a carries historical memory. Right? The dishes we make now are informed by generations of folks before us who made similar things or perfected this technique. So in the food space, I've really set myself apart by embracing the fact that food is complicated and at times very politicized, and also very human.

[00:08:55.50] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a what I call a what I call a what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:09:05.29] – Anela Malik

Mine is gonna be something probably controversial. Clean out your messages. As your business grows your side hustle grows or your hobby grows, you're going to receive more and more correspondence from other people who either want to work with you or they want part of your expertise, or they have a suggestion, or they have a question. And that's because your profile has grown. And I have seen and heard a lot of folks who are like, oh if it doesn't seem worth my time, I don't reply to these messages. I just deleted them. Or I know other, other folks who, hey let their inboxes pile up. And I have come across, I kid you not, some of the most incredible, life-altering opportunities in my inbox that at first seemed like nothing. They seemed like the things that you would push to the bottom or maybe not reply to.

And even if it's a quick no, even if it's an ask where you're asking how exactly do you view my participation in this project? I think staying on top of your inbox is essential because you never know what you're gonna miss. And you never know who the person on the other end is. If you ignore a message that you think isn't worth your time and I really speak as someone who operates in kind of the the social media space because I think this is more common in social media than it is for traditional businesses that operate primarily through email.

But if you ignore a message from someone because you don't think it's worth your time and you don't know who that is, you never know in the future if that person is going to be someone you want to work with. And even a quick, hey, I don't think this aligns with the project we're working on right now, but thanks so much for reaching out. That type of professional communication builds relationships, and it helps position you to others as someone that they'll keep in mind for projects in the future.

[00:11:05.29] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Absolutely. So I love that. Thanks for that reminder. And, now I'll ask you for what I call a CEO nugget, And that could be a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It might be something you would tell yourself if you were to hop into a time machine.

[00:11:18.50] – Anela Malik

I would tell myself at the beginning that I should just shake off the pressure to be like everyone else. Especially when you're first starting out with a project, you want to learn from others who have done similar things successfully. But, I hesitate because I think in the early stages, it's easy to want to become those people and to emulate them so much that you follow in their footsteps without kind of listening to your inner direction. And you can build a similar project. You can work in the same niche, but you will never be that person because your background is different, your education is different, and even your leadership style is going to be different. So, learn from others, network, ask questions, don't be afraid of sounding dumb, just keep asking questions, but don't feel pressure to become someone else or to do exactly what they're doing. Because there is always space for a new idea.

[00:12:22.20] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Anela, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:31.79] – Anela Malik

Making my own rules. And I say that as someone who has this this blog, this project that has grown from me figuring out how to make my own website to now I'm looking towards, okay, in the near future, I'm going to need to hire, staff. And that is an incredible feeling, but, I've done that from the beginning by saying, okay. I'm gonna do this my way, and I want to do this because I wanna work for myself. I want to make my own rules. And I want the person who I check in with at the end of the day to see, hey, was this work satisfactory? Should I do this differently? Should I push harder? I wanted that to be me at the end of the day. And I've had a lot of a lot of jobs. I was I worked in the restaurant industry for almost ten years. I was a server for a long time and a hostess and a busser and all the things. And what I learned from those experiences is that, ultimately, I wanted to be the one to make the decisions at the end of the day.

[00:13:45.00] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I absolutely, you know, love that definition, that perspective. And you're absolutely right. I think when I mean, I think that, obviously, you can take steps. You can follow trends. You can do all those things as we kinda spoke to during the interview. But I think that when you look in the mirror, can you honestly say that you are, quote, unquote, free? Do you really have that opportunity to play by your own rules, to create those rules and set those rules? And I think that what you speak to is something that I think when we kind of look at ourselves in the mirror and understand exactly what we're hoping to accomplish, if you can't answer to yourself, then are you really free? And I think that's an incredible perspective and definition that we all need to remind ourselves of.

[00:14:22.29] – Anela Malik

I still remind myself of it every day.

[00:14:24.39] – Gresham Harkless

Okay. And you absolutely have to. Right? So, Anela, I truly appreciate that definition and that perspective. I appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and, of course, how best they can get over you and find out about all about some things you're working on.

[00:14:41.20] – Anela Malik

So I would say my final note to your readers and listeners I wasn't a photographer. I wasn't a videographer. I didn't have these skills. I wasn't a photographer. I wasn't a videographer. I didn't have these skills. I didn't know anything about SEO or all of the other things you need to be a successful blogger and writer. And I learned so much from free resources that were primarily podcasts. So don't discount the expertise that's available just because it's packaged in a free form. Don't think you always have to pay for a class, though there might be times when that is most appropriate.

So that's me, that's my final note. I always try to remind people that there is a wealth of free information on the internet if you do a little bit of digging or on your phone. And if you want to find me, I'm on Instagram feedthemalik or my web page is feedthemalik.com. You're gonna find good food there. You're gonna find, some historical stories, some funny stories, and a whole lot of humanity.

[00:15:48.29] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, I definitely appreciate that, Anela. We will have the links and information in the show notes, but we definitely, appreciate that reminder.  I always say that when you peel back down, a business, sometimes you forget about that human aspect, but each of the businesses and organizations are made up of people, and understanding that human aspect. And I appreciate you for highlighting that as well, and, of course, reminding us of the University of Google and the University of YouTube and the University of Podcasts as well, where there's loads and loads of great content and information that can make us bigger and better, in so many different aspects. So thank you so much again, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

[00:16:22.39] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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