Building a Brand on Instagram:

A Q&A with Evelina Edens

A recent college graduate faced with a global pandemic and no end in sight, Evelina Edens needed something to occupy her mind, and Wear Your Snacks was born. Initially, a line of fun food-themed bracelets, Wear Your Snacks gained massive early online success with mentions from influencers like Pippa Allen and collaborations with brands like Fishwife, Challah Dolly, and Seed and Mill, to name a few. Since 2020, Wear Your Snacks has expanded to include apparel, accessories, and prints, all with a food focus. Evelina opens up about what it’s like to build a brand on social media, the future of food content, and what we can expect next from Wear Your Snacks.

So tell me a little bit about Wear Your Snacks and how you got started. What made you decide to start selling jewelry on Instagram?

Evelina: So Wear Your Snacks came out of pandemic boredom, for sure. I graduated college in the famous year 2020 and had literally no idea what to do. Obviously, I wasn't going to apply for a job in May 2020, when the world was fully shut down. So I was like, oh, let's find a fun project. I've always been kind of crafty. I studied a lot of art in high school in college. I'm also equally obsessed with food and art. So I was like, oh, it could be fun to make snack bracelets, and maybe some of my friends would buy them. Maybe, I could donate some of the proceeds to organizations, etc. So yeah, I started selling them on Instagram. It took me three weeks to decide on what I wanted the name to be, which is so stupid. Right? I was like, maybe one or two people will buy them and then yeah, I literally did it full time for a year, which was crazy. So it kept me very occupied.

You talk a little bit about being passionate about food. Where does that passion come from?

Evelina: Ever since I was little, I've just been obsessed with cooking, and eating, and feeding people, and baking for people. I never wanted to watch cartoons. I would watch Martha Stewart's Home Show and Emeril on Food Channel etc. I would be concocting gross things in the kitchen, trying to combine every ingredient I could get my hands on. In middle school, I had a little baking business where I would, like, I don't know, bake cakes for events for people, that sort of thing. Yeah, it's always just been so fun [for me] to see people connect over food and share your love through food. All that good stuff.

Was building a brand something that you kind of were always considering or did it kind of just happened?

Evelina: I wouldn't say building a brand was necessarily part of the plan, but I have known forever that I would not do well in a typical desk job situation. My parents both worked for themselves growing up, so I always had that as an example [that] you don't have to sit in a cubicle for eight hours a day. So I don't know if I necessarily thought I would start a brand, but I think that it was always kind of an option. I certainly never thought I would be able to do something that would keep me occupied for two years and then become a successful side project.

What are some of the pluses and minuses of using a platform like Instagram to build a brand and what is your strategy when it comes to marketing online?

Evelina: I think Instagram was probably the primary social platform [where] I spent the most time when I created Wear Your Snacks, and I was like this, this feels like the best way to reach the largest audience, and then definitely not so slowly saw that pivot to Tik Tok. Now I feel like we are in this weird, liminal space of like everyone is a little mad at all social media at all times, and everyone has tried to pull back. In terms of using [Instagram] as a basis for business, it does feel a little scary, just because it's so nebulous and constantly changing. It is a great way to reach people, and it does feel a little more personal. As far as strategy goes, there was definitely no strategy behind it when I started. I would say I don't have a ton of strategy at the moment other than knowing that getting products into larger accounts and more influential people's hands is definitely, definitely the way to do it. It's become so hard. So many creators now are realizing that they can charge a lot of money for product posting. I think everything feels a little bit less genuine, because so many things are paid. It's so difficult to find anyone who won’t charge you like a million dollars to post something. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out because i'm sure the bubble will burst at some point. But who's to say when?

Collaborations are huge right now, and you've had a ton of success with that. What's your favorite part about collaborating with brands?

Evelina: There's something different about being creative with another person or  group of people. I think it kind of pushes you out of your comfort zone a little bit or forces you to explore new ideas or new methods. It's getting an outsider perspective, especially because I run Wear Your Snacks by myself. I feel like I can get very much in my own head and my own little bubble when I'm doing things, so, it's always fun to kind of hear what other people want to do or what they think would be fun.

Do you have a dream brand that you want to collaborate with or creator?

Evelina: A dream brand would be—oh, man probably something tin fish related. I feel lame saying Fishwife because before they were cool, we did a bracelet collaboration together. So I would say maybe, Fishwife, or honestly, Hendrick's gin or an olive company, something martini related. As far as people go, I do have a soft spot for Carla Lalli Music. She'd probably be my girl.

I feel like food-themed apparel and accessories are having a moment right now. I feel like a lot of brands are getting in on that. Susan Alexandra—even McDonald's. Why do you think that is?

Evelina: It's so funny to me. No, it's definitely such a thing. Like either experience coming out with merch, or like, I don't know, one thing that I noticed a lot like companies that have nothing to do with food somehow creating a cooking video just so they can be relevant. It doesn't bother me necessarily. It just feels weird to see GEICO showing you how to bake a cake or something. At the same time, it's so clear that people are obsessed with watching people cook and watching food and food porn, that sort of thing. So, it makes sense to me that brands would pivot towards doing that for sure. Yeah, at some point, I feel like we're all going to be like, Oh my God, if I see one more video of people tossing pasta or something, I'm going to throw up.

Where do you see kind of food media going in general and especially with platforms pivoting towards kind of more of a marketing platform than just purely social?

Evelina: Yeah. I mean, it's such a tough question. I think it's funny because we went from such highly produced weird tasty videos to then, I don't know, kind of more formal, highly produced videos to now like people filming themselves in their kitchen Tik Tok style and Emily Mariko videos, but now everything's pivoting to long form. So it's like, is everyone going to revamp their YouTube channel? I don't know where we're going from here, but it is like, it is wild to watch the transition like and see what happens so clearly.

What can we expect next from Wear Your Snacks? Where are you looking in 2023

Evelina: I think coming from Wear Your Snacks in 2023 would definitely be several pop ups. I'm very excited to say I already have something in the books. I'm doing two pop ups in Nantucket which will be really fun and a very good excuse to go to Nantucket. Definitely more prints. I think some more collaborations or curated products by friends of mine who are in the industry and are a little bit more influential. Not full blown influencers, but fun if you're in the food world people that you would know. Yeah, I think being more collaborative is definitely definitely a big one.