Beau Ciolino Is A Quitter

Fohr
May 18, 2016
Updated Sep 29, 2023
SHARE

Beau Ciolino Is A Quitter

Member Name: Beau Ciolino

Occupation: Food and Lifestyle Blogger

Job He Quit: Gallery Manager

Beau Ciolino joined Fohr Card’s Quitter’s Club earlier this year when he ditched his gallery manager position to kickstart the food blogging career he began while still a college student. Now, as one half of the team behind the food and lifestyle blog Probably This, Beau has built a rapidly growing community eager to get a taste of the good life.

Must Love Cakes: “I remember taking a random cake decorating class that my stepmom signed me up for because I needed something to do during the summer and I didn’t want to go to summer camp. That’s when I first started getting my hands really dirty in the kitchen and creating my own things. And I loved it. I was the youngest person in the class by 20 years. And the instructor loved me because I was a sassy, chubby 10-year-old boy who loved decorating cakes.”

Cooking For Two: “When I was 19, I met my boyfriend Matt who does the blog with me, and we quickly dove into a relationship and started living together really soon after meeting -- probably irresponsibly -- but it just fit really well, and no one could tell me what to do, so we did it and it was awesome. And suddenly I had this other person that I could cook for and that was really fun and it kind of reinvigorated my desire to be creative in the kitchen.”

This I Promise You: “I remember sitting in my Judaism class – I went to a liberal art college so I had to take a bunch of religion classes -- and I was sitting next to one of my best friends and I was looking at food blogs. And I looked at her and I was like, ‘I need to do this, I can do this.’ And she was like, ‘Well, then do it.’ And I was like, ‘OK.’”

Never Too Late To Bake: “I worked at this fine dining restaurant when I started the website. I would go to school in the morning, go to work at 4pm and then I would go home from work at 10 or 11pm and drink wine and bake. And then at 8am I’d get up and practice shooting some stuff and I’d do it all over again. I’m lucky because I have a really great community. I never felt like I was alone with this crazy schedule. It was tiring but I enjoyed everything I was doing which I think is super important because with the blog especially if you hate doing it or get too burnt out then what you make isn’t going to be very good.”

The Quit Decision: “I started working as an art gallery manager, and I was feeling so empty while I was there because even though I was still in the arts world, it was someone else’s vision. I was in New York and I had all these ideas for a post I wanted to do and I had huge sponsorships coming up for the blog. And I remember thinking I won’t be able to do any of this for two weeks because I was on a trip and once I got back I’d have to manage the gallery for an entire week and I was going to have to cancel one of the sponsorship jobs. So I was checking my finances and I was basically like, would I rather make less money -- which I’m definitely making less money by doing this for myself -- instead of doing both this and the gallery? I just took a plunge and decided to focus on trying to grow my own thing.”

A Little More Time On Food: “Keep in the mind that with a food blog you’re testing so much stuff that the amount of money that we had to spend on groceries is pretty insane. For the six months after we had monetized the website through sponsorships, all that money was just going into buying enough to make, you know, 10 batches of hummus to make sure the recipe is right.”

Just The Way You Are: “Sometimes I might say something revealing, like not even in a negative way but kind of embarrassing. Like, ‘Oh I slept in until 11:30 today because I was too wine drunk last night again. Or, “I was a fat gay baking 12-year-old.’ That stuff isn’t the beautiful things you see on an Instagram feed but they make things way more interesting. And it’s just so beautiful when you have a community to share that with.”

It’s Gonna Be Me: “I don’t think I was made for working a nine to five and it’s just given me so much more freedom. There are days where I work 12 hours and there are times where I take a random Tuesday off. And it’s been really great to feel like I’m in charge of creating my own life. I’m in a position where I’m already creating this thing -- this brand -- and having control over how my life is structured around that is really amazing.”

My Cupcake Brings All The Boys To the Yard: “I didn’t really think we’d have a following other than people who were already interested in food and cooking. What ended up happening is a lot of our followers are young men -- and gay men too -- who are interested in the lifestyle aspect of the blog. I get quite a few emails from young guys who will say things like, ‘I’ve never really been interested in being in the kitchen and I started following you guys because you seem interesting, but now I’m driven to make cupcakes.’”

Break The Mold: “I was really afraid at first that me being young, male and gay would not fit the mold of a food blogger. There wasn’t much of that out there and there really still isn’t. And it was really hard to tell myself that this was OK and that’s what you want to do, and that these things that you perceive in yourself as weakness are probably going to be one of the stronger things that attracts people because it is different.”

No items found.
Read More
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left
Book a demo
arrow left