EPISODE SUMMARY – Lead Food Stylist
When you’re a food stylist, the pressure is on. Lead food stylists has to make the food look delicious and appetizing, but also make sure it’s not too overdone. It’s a fine line to walk—and one that Olivia Caminiti has walked time and time again.
Caminiti began her career as an assistant food stylist, working for six years before taking on more responsibility as a lead stylist. After the pandemic rocked her world (like so many freelancers), she decided it was time to make the leap.
In this episode, we sit down with food stylist Olivia Caminiti to learn how she became a lead food stylist and what it takes to have a successful career as one. After sharing some of her personal stories, she talks about the importance of having an important mentor in your life. We also get an inside look into the challenges of being a food stylist, such as coordinating with photographers, figuring out how much time is needed for set-up and shoot prep, and navigating client expectations.
We hope you enjoy this episode!
About Olivia
Olivia is a food stylist based in Austin, Texas and San Francisco, CA who loves working with color and texture to create intriguing images that have a sense of motion and life to them. She worked as an assistant food stylist for six years before taking on the role of lead stylist.
Episode Breakdown
- Olivia discusses her first job as the lead food stylist.
- Energy having a ripple effect on the team.
- Olivia talks about the one thing people don’t know about food styling, which is building out a kit and how food stylists get their jobs.
- What drew Olivia to food styling
- Olivia talks about what it was like having a mentor.
- How Olivia knew it was time to strike out on her own.
- Olivia explains what test shoots are.
- Olivia discusses why prep day is the most important day of a shoot.
- What it’s like living in two cities.
- Why Austin will always be Olivia’s home and what “home” means to her.
- Olivia discusses the most important thing to know when working on a team at a photoshoot.
- The challenges of leading your team as a lead food stylist
- Roles that are present for a shoot.
- Olivia talks about whether she would be a mentor herself.
- How social media changed the way she styles food for the camera.
