Carla Lalli Music is the cookbook author, recipe developer, and video host behind
. She recently shared The True Costs of Being on YouTube, a deep dive into the challenges of being a YouTube creator, from monthly expenses to grueling production schedules. Now, she’s going all-in on her Substack, where she’s built a strong community and a sustainable business. Substack’s Austin Tedesco caught up with Carla to talk about escaping the algorithm, learning to embrace imperfection, and the importance of owning your work. Here are a few highlights from their conversation.
On escaping the algorithm
Carla Lalli Music: I think early on I was more preoccupied with SEO, with trying to figure out what was gonna do well, and a little bit more attached to—like, if a video did well, I really felt it emotionally. And if a video didn’t, it hit me personally. I got better about that over time because I realized you can’t figure out the algorithm, and you’re gonna screw yourself over trying to. And at that point, I was like, I’m just going to make the videos for the food that I love, that I’m excited to talk about, where there’s a story, there’s learnings, it’s beautiful, or whatever. And that helped a lot.
On owning your work
Carla: I think the most important thing about being a creator is owning your IP, right? You are executive producing your work, all of it, all the time. And these platforms, much like any other corporation, they’re going to change the algorithm on you. They’re going to introduce shorts. They’re going to be prioritizing reels. They’re going to ding you for trying to link out.
Instagram is not friendly to creators, because if you try to promote your work, you’re penalized for it. So take [social] with a grain of salt. Social doesn’t have to be core to your career.
On the freedom of live videos
Carla: I mean, it’s exciting, the idea of being able to hop on and do a live. And it reminds me of something my producer has been saying from the beginning: “Carla, people just want to watch you cook. Just watching you cook is awesome.” And I have to take that and believe it. And so there is something super-appealing [about live videos].
Also, for a live, you set up, you do it, and if you screw up in the middle, honestly, that’s cool.
Austin Tedesco: It’s cool, right? I would love to watch you be like, “Oh, I overcooked this component, and now you’re going to watch me fix it.” Because that’s a thing that happens to me when I cook.
On creative video strategies
Carla: I’ve had this idea in the past of a cook-along that happens over multiple days.
So that’s a good example, the duck confit. To be able to go on, talk about butchering the duck, seasoning the duck, setting it up, and being like “Okay, we’re gonna be back in 48 hours, and we’ll talk about what it looks like and how to put it in the oven.” Do that, show how it changed, setting up the oven, and putting it in. And then being like, “Great, we’ll be back tomorrow to show what it looks like when it’s coming out.” That would be really fun.
I would do it as a live that then could be uploaded. So to go back to the duck confit example, we can plan: “Here’s the ingredients you’ll need tonight at 5 p.m. ET. I’m going to cure the duck, so get your duck and meet me there.”
But then, because you can save the video and upload it, anybody who missed [it live] can also just follow along in [their own] time.
On embracing imperfection
Austin: What do you hope to accomplish in video specifically as you think about this new chapter for you?
Carla: In video, I think longevity and sustainability are really important.
I’m used to, like, a $4,000 production that’s very polished where, you know, you can see the food, and we work hard on angles, and all that stuff. Being okay with a different format, and how that affects things, and accepting it. And I’m not saying one is better than the other, [but] this is going to be different. The whole setup is going to be different. The mindset is going to be different. And maybe the payoff is going to be different, but being okay with that.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
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