In this episode of Spill the Tea, Ralph and Malyn sit down with Teena Thach: a Seattle-based social media content creator. Teena is a storyteller and foodie, famous for her slogan “Hey Washington Foodies!” that has made waves on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

In this interview, Teena discusses her motivations for content creation and shares a bit about her background as she tells stories about her love of food stemming from experiences with her family. We also discuss how Teena manages to keep up with her social media hobbies all while maintaining a “regular” nine-to-five career, and how she is able to stay productive and confident as she navigates a busy schedule. Join us in this episode as we explore the delicious and inspiring world that Teena Thach has created with her online presence!

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“Hey Washington Foodies!”

If you frequent platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, we can almost guarantee that you’ve stumbled across Teena Thach’s bubbly narrations that follow her exploration of local Seattle restaurants you may have not discovered otherwise. As we sit down with Teena to explore her social media journey, she shares that her main focus when documenting her food discoveries are black and brown, underrepresented, BIPOC small businesses. Many of which, after discovering the power of social media, have reached out to her to try their own restaurants. Teena realizes the impact of her words and storytelling through her food reviews, and has in turn, helped numerous small businesses thrive in a post-pandemic environment.

While Washington Foodies has been an impactful passion project, she envisions herself growing beyond food in Washington State and is ready to expand her horizons into other areas.

Food and Family

Like many of those that have a similar background to Teena, growing up in a household with immigrant parents isn’t always the easiest experience. Teena discusses how although she may have felt out of touch with her parents in some ways, they are ultimately the root of her love for food and shares with us a few of her favorite childhood dishes. She also shares how her father inspired her to work hard as he did his entire life, but also inspired her to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, such as her hobby of food journalism.

From Day Jobs to Dinner Tables

Although Teena is most known for her presence on social media and the small businesses she is able to highlight through her videos, she also pursues a nine-to-five day job. Teena shares with us her experience with juggling a day job while also pursuing a time-consuming hobby, and how making time for simple activities in the day can be a challenge. However, Teena is passionate about making time for her hobbies and even shares, “Having your nine to five is cool, but I feel like I've learned: if you put all your time in your nine to five, where's the fun out of it? If one day.. what if that goes away? Did you actually do everything you ever wanted to do? I never want to look back and say, I wish I did this.” Teena believes that life should not be full of regrets, and strives to live each day with purpose and appreciation for the small enjoyments of life.