Pivoting careers: How @SanDiegoEats became more than just a hobby

When Nirit Wigdor ('15) pictured her life post-college, being a foodie influencer certainly wasn’t in her vision.

The San Diego State University alumna graduated from the Fowler College of Business with a degree in marketing and quickly launched into her post-grad career, working in the marketing field for companies like Sharp HealthCare.

But while working in the corporate world, Nirit later discovered that her creativity and passion for creating content of food could become something more than just a hobby.

Behind the Screen

As a student, Nirit felt like the food options on campus were limited, and being new to the area, she had no idea where to eat off campus. That’s when she had an idea to start creating content on social media of food for fun.

And thus, @SanDiegoEats was born.

“My senior year, I started taking photos of my food because I wanted somewhere where I could point at a picture and say this looks really good, and that’s how I would decide where to eat.”

At the time, Nirit was also working for an investment firm, so the social media food content was solely intended to be a hobby, not a business. After slowly gaining attraction on her account, Nirit started being invited by restaurants to come and review their food.

Not charging for her content and only receiving free meals, Nirit continued her side hustle with @SanDiegoEats and landed what she thought was her dream job post-graduation, working for Sharp HealthCare as a Digital Marketing Specialist.

After working for the company for almost a year, Nirit soon realized that working in the healthcare industry may not be for her.

Tapping into the creativity she uses for @SanDiegoEats, Nirit pivoted into the restaurant business, landing a social media job at Kelly Companies, a restaurant group located in San Diego.

“Through my time at the restaurant group, I met some really big people in the business and learned a ton,” said Nirit. “I started charging for my features, and I realized that I have a lot of potential customers to do their social media.”

While on maternity leave with her second child in 2021, Nirit signed four clients to her business to make up for her income. It was then she decided to take the leap and leave the restaurant group and pursue her own business full-time.

Fast forward to today, Nirit currently has 16 clients. Besides managing her client's social media and capturing food content, Nirit still stays active on her account @SanDiegoEats, where she makes time to try new restaurants, do features, attend festivals, and more.

“I never imagined this is what I would be doing,” said Nirit. “I always thought I’d be at a big brand, but when I saw there was potential to do it myself, I made the leap. It took guts.”

SDSU Journey

When the San Jose native first toured colleges during high school, she was instantly drawn to SDSU due to the palm trees and constant sunshine. But a few years down the road, she’d realize SDSU had much more to offer than that.

During her time as a student, Nirit says one course that was particularly valuable to her entrepreneurial career post-grad was an advertising course by Professor Steve Osinski.

“There were a lot of projects about how to approach sales, how to connect with the right people, how to establish relationships with businesses, and that has really helped me be prepared.”

Being involved with the American Marketing Association on campus, and having opportunities to network and connect with working professionals are other ways that Nirit says the university contributed to her success.

Nirit recently gave back some of the knowledge SDSU gave to her by taking the time to speak to current students in a marketing class on campus. After speaking with them, Nirit set up individual meetings with students who wanted to receive guidance on career paths post-graduation.

“After graduating, it’s a really scary place,” said Nirit. “I had mentors after graduating that helped guide me, so I am open to helping out.”

Looking Forward

Looking forward to the upcoming years, Nirit strives to focus on maintaining the quality of her work and not spreading herself too thin – quality over quantity.

As a now successful entrepreneur, Nirit can look back at the time when she felt stuck in her corporate business and see that the leap of faith to follow your true passion can work out.

Nirit advises current students and recent alumni not to be afraid to pivot their careers if it is not something they are truly happy with. It might take time, but it is worth it in the end.

“Say yes to every opportunity, connect with people, learn from them, and be humble.”