Meet Maddie Humbert | Digital Creator, BNA Best Bites

We had the good fortune of connecting with Maddie Humbert and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Maddie, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor is consistency. I believe that if you have a vision or a driving force continuously pushing forward with that and not wavering is key. There have been times where I don’t feel particularly inspired and I think that can be hard with continuous ideas/output. I think it’s okay to take breaks when you’re not feeling productive but trying to figure out what the issue was (as in was it burnout, external factors, slow partnerships, etc.) and if it’s in my control then I will do what I can to move forward. When I have hesitations sometimes I’ll talk about it with others so they can help me get out of my own head too.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My career has always been people-driven. I have always been in helping careers as my main goal has been to positively influence others. Currently my full-time position is in higher education, which is not an easy career because there are always new challenges that arise especially navigating how COVID-19 changed everything. When I graduated with my undergraduate degree, it was towards the end of the Great Recession which was economically such a difficult time to be trying to start a career. That terrible timing ultimately let me to higher education and to a helping career. I wanted to help college students find a pathway that would help them as well so they wouldn’t have the same struggle I had.

My work with BNA Best Bites is part-time and again it ties in with the theme I’ve had my whole life of helping others and having a positive influence. BNA Best Bites is all about celebrating my life here in Nashville, and building community relationships/connections.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
While I love this question it’s also very hard because I have SO many places that it’d be impossible to fit it into a week long visit. For breakfast or brunch we’d definitely go to Dozen Bakery, Germantown Cafe or the Butter Milk Ranch, would love to take them for lunch at Red Headed Stranger or Peg Leg Porker and dinner at Margot Cafe, Black Dynasty Secret Ramen House/Bearded Iris or City House and maybe post dinner drinks at Chopper (with tacos at Maiz de la Vida), Patterson House, or live music/burger at Brown’s Diner. Now that food is covered, I’d take them to 12 South for some shopping, downtown for a show at the Ryman or a Preds game at Bridgestone, East Nashville for entertainment (hello karoke at the Lipstick Lounge!) Bonus is if they would like to see bluegrass at Station Inn.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The hands behind a lot of my photographs belong to my life partner, James Humbert. He lifts me up and always is encouraging. He’s the first one I go to when I am questioning myself and he is the one who always believes in me. Part of why I do what I do with BNA Best Bites is because I know I have his support when things get hard.

Website: https://linktr.ee/bnabestbites

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bnabestbites/

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@bnabestbites