When Hilary Duff completed her second year of journalism at Carleton University, her roommates gave her a challenge for the summer: to learn how to cook.
Duff admitted that she used to be the type of girl who was making “grilled-cheese sandwiches and rice with nothing on it – completely plain meals.”
Yet the prospect of learning how to cook appealed to her, in part because she would be able to show off her skills to her mother. Armed with Canadian Living recipes, Duff started blogging about her cooking experiences. Now a fourth-year student, her cooking blog Hilary Makes has received over 69,000 hits and has garnered attention from the local media, as well as national publications.
Duff started out by posting her cooking experiences on Facebook, which led to a positive response from her classmates, members of the Ottawa food community, and even strangers from around the world.
“Whenever someone would comment from the United States or Europe, I would be shocked. How did people even end up getting here?” Duff wondered.
She is grateful to Ottawa food websites who redirected people to her blog, which eventually led to Canadian Living publishing some of her work.
“That was really sort of the ultimate accomplishment for me, because when I was learning how to cook I was relying almost primarily on Canadian Living recipes. To have this giant Canadian food magazine suddenly showing an interest in me when I was so interested in it was a cool feeling,” Duff said.
Besides maintaining her blog, Duff is also a food reviewer for Ottawa Xpress, a local weekly newspaper.
“I’m getting paid to eat and write about food, which is pretty much living the dream,” she smiled. This position also gives her the chance to visit restaurants that might otherwise be unaffordable.
“Student budgets aren’t particularly grand, so it’s a nice opportunity,” she explained.
Despite finding success with Hilary Makes, Duff explained that she still isn’t entirely sure about her career goals.
“I change my mind pretty much every week. I definitely want to stay in journalism, but whether I want to be a food journalist, I’m not too sure.” she said.
Currently, she’s hoping to move to Europe after her graduation to perhaps work in a bakery.
“I’d definitely like to keep up my blog regardless,” she said.
Duff is also interested in business reporting, particularly the stories of people who are starting out their own food businesses.
Although she shares a name with a famous singer/actress, Hilary Makes has certainly made Duff a star in her own right. Her name is also useful for promoting the blog:
“Now when you search ‘Hilary Duff Food’, or ‘Hilary Duff Ottawa’, it’s not her that comes up, it’s me. Score one for my food blog,” she said with a smile
It looks like Carleton’s own Hilary Duff has rightfully earned her celebrity status.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Carleton chapter.