We run a web-based business, and we can still occasionally find a reason to grumble about all the ways that technology has changed our lives. It can be hard to accept change - even harder to truly roll with it - but one thing we do love about the changing job market and the culture of employment these days is the fact that you can put the word 'ninja' in your job title. As for online meal subscriptions, like Alex's PeachDish, we couldn't be more excited about all the current options for finding great food at your fingertips.

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

In my parents' house, there's a picture of me gnawing on a T-Bone steak instead of a birthday cake on my 6th birthday- I would say my life has always been deeply intertwined with food.

I realized that I wanted to make a career out of it when I studied abroad in Florence, Italy during my junior year of college, though. I fell hard into food blogging, cooking with fresh ingredients straight from the markets and enjoying the regional cuisine. After that, I came home and petitioned at UNC to create my own Food and the Media course because nothing like it was formally offered, and it only took off from there. Once the idea entered my head, there was really no stopping it.

How did you get your current good food job?

I found it by accident, actually. I have been following meal subscription companies online for awhile, and I've always been fascinated with the concept. Pre-planned, pre-portioned meals in the mail that I can still prepare for myself? Yes, please! Cooking is so cathartic, but the planning is a headache sometimes.

When I moved to Atlanta to intern with a local restaurant group, I did a quick Google search to see if a similar meal subscription opportunity was available for me to use each week. (If not, I wanted to start it myself in a couple of years). I found PeachDish, and they happened to only be looking for a full-time Marketing Coordinator at the time. It all just fell into place a month later.

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?

There weren't any traditional food education opportunities available to me in college, so i just created them myself! I studied abroad to take a food writing course, petitioned to create my own upon return and I always tried to take any communications job with a food twist. (I even did a brief stint handing out pimiento cheese samples just for the exposure to the business). I learned something different at each stop, but I think more than anything the passion for the industry that kept building at each one helped me prepare for the job most.

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?

When I was preparing to apply for jobs, I had a lot of people tell me that I was packaging myself too narrowly, only going after "food communications." My resume is formatted to look like a menu, and some advisors said that it was a big risk only prepping myself to go after that niche market instead of applying to any available Public Relations or Marketing jobs.

I had doubts about branding myself so narrowly, especially before going on a networking trip to New York, but I went with my gut, slid my menu resume into the plastic menu covers I'd purchased from a restaurant supplier in North Carolina and handed them out everywhere! They ended up being a huge hit. I think it helped going with my gut instinct. After all, it is my stomach that led me to this industry from the beginning!

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?

There are so many! That's the beauty of this industry. It's almost like fashion in the way that it's always changing. Fad diets surge in and out, restaurants are always evolving, and it's a fun thing to keep track of. Right now, I would have to subjectively say that examining the way that we obtain our food is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to enter the market. With new technology coming at every turn, traditional grocery shopping could become a thing of the past. Leveraging new methods could make groceries more affordable, accessible and help solve problems like food deserts.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

Cheese, Potatoes and Pinot Noir. Maybe full tuition to get my Master's in Food Culture at NYU.