Meet Jessica Bailey – World Traveler, Master Pinterest Board Organizer and Mom-To-Be

Jessica Bailey lives and breathes the philosophy of “Eat well. Travel often.” This California native started her blog to document her travels, food recipes, and much more. Her travel aspirations and well-organized food and fashion boards have helped her acquire 300,000+ followers on Pinterest.

We recently caught up with Jessica to ask about her recent adventures, what’s next on her bucket list, her love of Pinterest and how she’s excited to be a mother!

When did you start using Pinterest and what was it that caught your interest as a social platform?

I first started using Pinterest in September 2011. At first when I heard about it, I was a little bit confused- but it only took about two minutes for me to be completely hooked. I started blogging around the same time. If I didn’t know what to post on my blog that day, Pinterest became my inspiration, and I would post something I found on Pinterest that day.

Were you on any other social platforms before Pinterest?

No, I was just on Pinterest. Then I started my blog and joined twitter later. I’m a pretty visual person. I really liked the layout of Pinterest and how easy it was to customize it to my taste and what I wanted. I didn’t have to necessarily interact with anyone else on a personal level. It was only me and I liked that.

When did you notice your following go up? Was there any correlation between your Pinterest following and the traffic to your blog?

I noticed in January 2012 that my following went up. I didn’t notice a correlation between my Pinterest following and blog traffic until I started to pin images from my blog posts.

What inspired you to start your travel blog?

I had a previous travel blog that was just for my family to look at when I was traveling in Asia. But, when I got back, I decided that I wanted to broaden the content a bit and include lifestyle posts, but still keep it focused on travel. I didn’t know where my blog would go; it was just my way of having a record of my memories from traveling. I love to scrapbook, but it’s an expensive investment and takes up time. Blogging is my inexpensive way of scrapbooking.

What’s your favorite place you’ve traveled to?

Image via [goodfon.com]

This is a hard question! I would say probably Nepal. I didn’t appreciate it as much at the time while I was there. I did a long trek in the mountains, and it was my first long outdoor experience without the luxuries of everyday life. But being in the Himalayas was so incredible. It changed my life.

Where to next?

Probably nowhere too far for a while since I’m pregnant. However, my fiancé and I can’t sit still for too long – I anticipate some road trips within the U.S. and Canada over the next couple years. The U.S. National Parks are incredible, and right in our backyard.

What inspired you to start your bucket list? What is next on your list to cross off?

I started my bucket list mostly because I found myself saying to people “I need to do this” and “I have to do this.” So, I wrote it down to have them organized in one place.

Next on my list is being a mom!

We absolutely love your fashion and food boards and how niche they are — how do you stay so organized!?!?

I cook a lot. My fiancé and I rarely ever eat out. Back in college, I was training for a marathon and studying all the time, so cooking became my escape. My cooking boards are organized the way I would store them in a notebook – with dividers between soups, appetizers, etc. It was pretty obvious in the beginning, to me at least, to organize my food boards that way. Sometimes I sit there and ask myself why didn’t I make a chicken board? Or a beef board? But at this point it would take me forever to transfer recipes to a new board. I also organize my boards in a way to help my followers out. I wouldn’t want my feed to be blown up with recipes I’m not interested in.

Fashion didn’t start that way. I just like things in their place. Once I started figuring out how I wanted things to be organized, I hoped it would make it easier on people who follow me too.

Do you find you think about what your fans or audience would love and posting content based on that?

Not in terms of what I pin. I pin what I like. But I do organize things in a way that would make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for.

You also studied molecular, cellular, and developmental biology – what’s your dream job?

My dream job has always been to be a mother. Although I have a lot of interests– science, travel, and photography– I feel like I was put here to be a mom. I couldn’t think of any better job.

If you would like to follow Jessica and her travels, visit her social links below.

• Blog – Pinterest – Twitter – Facebook – Google+