Blogger Interview with Renata Leo

Below is my interview with blogger Renata Leo of Buffalo Sauce Everywhere, a millennial lifestyle blog where she can talk about all of her interests from Disney to curly fries. Find out why she started her blog, her blogging strengths and weaknesses, and her hopes for her blog’s future.

About the Blogger

Name: Renata Leo

Renata is just your typical open-minded, overly-sensitive, optimistically cynical feminist millennial whose passions are people and words.

Blog Name (links open in a new tab): Buffalo Sauce Everywhere

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Instagram 

Niche: Lifestyle, Millennial, Humor

Blog Summary:

I like to joke that I blog about “Millennial bullshit.” My blog is a sort of coming-of-age blog where I speak about my life experiences and the lessons I learn as I try (and even sometimes succeed!) to adult. I talk about anything from mental health, to Disney, to French fries!

Talking Shop

Why did you start your blog?

I love writing. I’ve always been a writer, from creating poetry and fiction as a child and young adult, to writing graduation speeches for high school and college. Writing is one of those activities that truly makes time stand still. Blogging has given me the chance to write regularly and share my thoughts with the world.

How often do you post on your blog? Do you schedule posts in advance?

I post once a week on my blog. As far as scheduling posts in advance, it depends on the week. Some weeks, I have 5 posts in my reserves to choose from. Other weeks I’m still trying to finish my post on the day-of. I would love to post more, but with a full-time job, it’s just not possible right now. I also struggle SO MUCH to come up with topics. If I had infinite topics and infinite time, I would probably post way more.

What’s the best review/compliment that you’ve received about your blog?

“Your tone is so consistent!” I feel as though this is the best compliment that a writer can receive. As a reader, nothing throws me out of a piece of writing quicker than an inconsistent voice. It feels wonderful to hear that I can not only write eloquently, but be consistent in my writing and my voice.

What is your day job? How, in any way, does it relate to your life as a blogger?

I’m a Supply Chain Analyst, so it’s not at all related to my blog or my blog topics. Blogging gives me a nice escape from my 9-to-5, but also indirectly helps me do my job. As a blogger, I’ve had to come up with different topics to write about and it has given me the ability to think outside the box better and more frequently in my daily life.

Do you have a writing ritual or any odd habits or superstitions?

No rituals per se, but I do write so much better when I get away from my house and my daily life. As someone who suffers from depression, it can be hard for me to get off my couch, but I always seem to come up with more topics when I leave my house. Vacations are definitely the time when ideas flow most easily. My poor fiancé spent most of our last vacation waiting for me as I typed up multiple blog posts repeatedly asking for “5 more minutes.”

What is the most fun part about writing? The most difficult?

The most fun part about writing is definitely finding exactly the right and the most colloquial words to express what I’m trying to say. I’m a freelance translator in my free time, and I absolutely love the challenge of finding exactly the right phrasing in English.

The most difficult is definitely coming up with blog topics. While inspiration can sometimes come easily, I’m often scrounging for topics. I’m learning to retrain my brain so that whenever I’m lost in thought and thinking through random things to consider the blog and whether or not I could make a blog post out of it. Then suddenly, I’m writing a post about curly fries!

‘What If’ Scenarios

Your blog becomes one of the most popular blogs on the Internet. What do you do next?

If my blog became super popular and I had a countless number of fans, I would definitely start asking them for topics regularly. I would go to my fan base to see what they wanted to hear from me and then write about it. I have such a difficult time coming up with blog topics as it is. I would love to have more people contributing ideas of what they would want to see so that I can focus mainly on just creating the content around a given topic.

You’re offered to write a book based on your blogging expertise. What is your book about?

I’m actually working on a book with similar themes to my blog! As a millennial coming-of-age blog, the easiest transition is a coming-of-age self-help book. I’m teaming up with an amazing GenX influencer to help create a multi-generational it’s-going-to-be-okay-just-love-yourself book. I’m so excited!

An assistant offers to work for you for free indefinitely. What do you have them do?

I’ve always wanted an assistant to record everything I say. I’m so certain that I have tons of material and thoughts for blog posts just within the random things I say on a daily basis, but they are lost when I move onto the next thing. I would have so much more material if I had someone following me and writing down all of the crazy stuff I say!

You have the time and energy to write another blog. What is it about?

I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a blog about my dating life before I met my fiancé. I really enjoyed my time dating, and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on modern dating. I feel like I had some fun and interesting experiences during my dating life, and I’d like to share them.

You’re offered a free trip to go anywhere in the world for a blog post. Where do you go and why?

I’ve always wanted to make it a goal to visit all of the Disney theme parks. I’ve already been to Disney World and Disneyland California and Paris. I would love to see the other parks and then write some comparison pieces. There’s so much to Disney that I’ll bet I could have weeks worth of content just comparing all of the different facets of the parks.

Just For Fun

Favorite band, musical artist, or genre/era of music.

Billy Joel will probably always be my favorite. My parents have attended every local Billy Joel concert in their lifetime and have passed that love onto me. Every time I listen through his entire repertoire, I find another song that I fall in love with, not to mention that some of my favorite memories with my friends and family are from Billy Joel concerts!

Your favorite podcast.

I’m really enjoying listening to Unhappy Hour with Matt Bellassai. The entire show is him and his producer complaining about things that they hate, and I think they’re hilarious. As someone who says that complaining is my favorite activity, I find it to be enjoyable and relatable! When my upcoming podcast Overrated/Underrated goes live, I hope to guest star on Unhappy Hour.

The topic you can’t shut up about/the topic you wish everyone would shut up about.

I can’t shut up about polyamory. I was poly my entire dating life and my fiancé and I began our relationship as a polyamorous partnership. I loved the polyamorous lifestyle and love talking to people all about it.

Your most unrealistic dream job.

I’ve always said that I would enjoy being a “professional networker.” I really enjoy connecting people to others who I know can fill their needs. Obviously, I can connect people to each other without it being a full-time job, but if I could make money and not wear pants while doing it, that would be perfect!

Favorite Halloween costume ever.

I am in LOVE with closet cosplay. I am amassing more and more Disney princess closet cosplay dresses each year because I (not-so-) secretly want to be a Disney princess, but I also don’t want to wear a scratchy costume or put any effort into dressing up for Halloween. I love the fact that I can wear a normal comfy dress and it just happens to look like a dress that a Disney princess wears.

Name a talent you have and a talent you wish you had.

For the past few years, I strive to become a more empathetic person, and with this effort, I also became more self-aware. I would consider my self-awareness to be one of my greatest talents. For a talent that I wish I had, I would love to be capable of any visual art, like drawing or painting. Being able to express myself with words is easy, but any time I try to put my thoughts into images, the end result looks like it belongs in a kindergarten classroom.

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