Meet Dafne Darlen | Food & Travel Vlogger
We had the good fortune of connecting with Dafne Darlen and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Dafne Darlen, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I believe taking risks is an important part of life. If we were to just sit around and stay in our comfort zone, we would never get to discover the potential that is inside all of us. Taking risks has helped me grow as a person and content creator. If I had not taken the risk of uploading my content on my social media platforms and continue to post new content regardless of the little engagement that I was receiving, I wouldn’t be where I am today, which is many steps ahead frim where I started.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started making food and travel content to help people discover places where they could enjoy themselves with their friends or family. When I was young, our dining out spots were very limited to the same few restaurants each month, and we wouldn’t try anything new unless we heard of another really good restaurant from a family member or friend. Once I started driving, and had my own money to spend, I started going to new restaurants with my friends, trying new food, posting it on my social media, and when I kept getting messages from my friends asking where I was, and if it was a good spot, I got the idea to take pictures and videos of my food and post it with the location of the restaurant. Definitely like Yelp except on my social media.
Going into this, my mentality was not, “I’m going to post so I can go viral and make money”, it was more, “I CANNOT BELIEVE SOME OF MY FRIENDS HAVE NEVER BEEN TO PLUCKERS”. Having little to none engagement was fine with me because my main goal was to put restaurants out there for people to try out, mostly my friends. I had no expectations to blow up. Until one day I did. My main platform is Tiktok. One random day I woke up to A LOT of notifications on the app. I went from having 102 followers to 2 thousand. Three. Four. The number kept getting higher each hour. I was so shocked. One of my videos had gone viral with over 1 million views. Experiencing that only made me want to take it more serious, and help even more people find new spots to check out, and here I am today, with over 50 recommendation spots and now able to get paid for a passion of mine that started as a hobby.
A lesson I have learned along the way is that if there is something that you’re truly passionate about and enjoy doing, you should definitely go for it, you never know what the outcome may be. Even if it is already being done by many others, no one can do it like you.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
MONDAY.
It’s Monday Morning and my friend just arrived at the DFW airport where I am picking her up from. Right before we head to my house, where she will be staying at for the week, we are stopping by Snooze an A.M Eatery for breakfast, because they have a delicious variety of things to choose from like pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, breakfast bowls and more.
Then, we are dropping off her luggage at my place and start getting ready for a tour of Downtown Dallas, where we will explore some landmarks and historical buildings like the giant eyeball. the reunion tower, the globe at the Discovery District and etc. so she can take some pictures to send to her family and post on her Facebook. Once we are finished walking everywhere, we will most likely be hungry again so we will get some lunch at Serious Pizza in Deep Ellum, because she just needs to eat a slice that is as big as her face while she’s in town! Then, we will head to my house to rest and catch up. At this point we are pretty tired from all the walking, so we eat dinner at home and watch a movie before bed.
TUESDAY.
It’s morning and we decide to eat some eggs and toast at home because balance. Lunch time comes around and we love Taco Tuesday, so we go to go to “Carnitas La Cotorra” in Garland to enjoy some delicious tacos de trompo/bistec and a large horchata and support small businesses. Then I take her to Strike + Reel in Garland, where we bowl and play games for a few hours because we are super competitive. Around 7pm we head over to Sundown at Granada on Greenville Ave. to watch a good chick flick because they have free rooftop movies every single Tuesday, and we decide to get dinner and maybe some drinks while there. After the movie is over, we cruise around Dallas because the skyline looks super pretty and then we head home.
WEDNESDAY.
Because “On Wednesdays we wear pink”, I have a super cute and girly day planned for us. I made a brunch reservation at XOXO Dining Room, so we get dressed up and enjoy some French toast or chicken and waffles and take some really cute pictures together. Then, because we are already dressed up, we head over to The Sweet Tooth Hotel, which is an immersive art venue, to take more photos! I then head home because I work in the afternoon, but I recommend her to visit the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, which is great to walk around and enjoy nature. At night, we decide we want to go out and party, so we check out Theory Night Club for a fun girl’s night out.
THURSDAY.
On Thursday we head over to The Biscuit Bar for brunch and then visit the Dallas Museum of Art because it’s free admission and an enjoyable activity for us. We love Instagram worthy spots so the next art museum we check out is Rainbow Vomit for another unique, immersive art experience. For Dinner, we decide to head over to Plano and visit Farm + Feed, where we can eat delicious burgers and play video games on the console of our choice.
FRIDAY.
For breakfast we decide to go to Yolk in Fort Worth, then walk around at the Fort Worth Water Gardens, where you can experience a variety of water features as you walk around the park. After a nice walk, we head over to the Fort Worth Stockyards to explore this Historic District. It’s Friday night, and we are ready to party, so I take her to Pour Decisions where we start by eating some food before we go down their slide and order some drinks!
SATURDAY.
After a fun Friday night, and sleeping in on a beautiful Saturday, it’s time to keep exploring and get some food. Today, I take her to the Rockwall Harbor where we can walk around and get a beautiful view of the lake, sit by the fountain, and enjoy the weather. There’s a good number of restaurants around but we decide on eating at Gloria’s Latin Cuisine and for dessert, we stop by Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream. It’s my friend’s last night in Dallas, so of course we are going to party one last time, once we get ready, we decide to head out to bar hop in Deep Ellum and stop by Yellow Rosa, Salsera’s and Bottled blonde and once the party is over, we stop by Whataburger for some late-night food.
SUNDAY.
Today my friend leaves Dallas, so I take her back to the airport, but on the way there we plan her next vacation back in Dallas because there is still so much more to explore.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate this shoutout to everyone that shows nonstop love & support by engaging with my content, but especially to my cousins. Denisse, for helping me with my logo and supporting my idea from the beginning, and Sergio for shouting me out and always trusting my recommendations for different things. Last but not least, to my best friends for accompanying me to new places and letting the camera eat before we do.
Instagram:Â https://www.instagram.com/foodandtravelbabe
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Other:Â TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@foodandtravelbabe?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
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