Meet Shalise Golden

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shalise Golden and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shalise, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
Where I’m from is always a question I hesitate on. The reason being, I am what we call a military brat. My father was in the Air Force, which typically caused us to move from place to place every 3-4 years. I was born in Chicago, AKA the Windy city. If you’ve been, you know the food scene here is CRAZY. I then relocated to Germany, then Delaware and lastly, the STL area where my dad retired. As an adult, I then decided to move to Dallas, which is the first time I was able to make the decision on my own. With moving to different areas, it made me diverse, a people person and someone who is willing to try new things. All of that plays a part of who I am today, a foodie. I enjoy trying new dishes and restaurants, and it’s even better when it’s with old friends or new friends.

On another spectrum, I believe working in retail also impacted me in being who I am today. When I worked at Macy’s, it was told to us in one of our morning huddles that people often write reviews on negative experiences vs. positive experiences. It didn’t matter how many times they had a good time shopping, if they had one bad time that’s what they would report. This led me to start writing reviews on Yelp, to highlight the good and the bad. From here, I was nominated to be a part of Yelp Elite, which introduced me to new restaurants and the opportunity to shed a positive light on those I enjoyed. 5 years later, and I am still writing reviews on Yelp.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Being a content creator is all about what you make it. I personally do it for fun. I enjoy sharing new places for people to go and try. Or even providing people who are visiting the Dallas area some great places to eat and enjoy. Often times the algorithm instagram has in place can make it stressful, as your engagement numbers decrease with no reason. When times like that occur, I have to remember why I started. It wasn’t for popularity, money or to get free items. Although those are great perks, it’s not my end goal. Before starting the page, I had co-workers, friends and family asking, “where can I go for _____”. At the time, I had no place to direct them. Now I can send them one of my IG guides and they can explore the page themselves. One thing I’m proud of, is the guide for black owned restaurants. Although it’s not a huge listing, it’s still growing and I’ve gotten great feedback on it.

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.
It all depends on the person and what they enjoy! I always like to give options, so I would say:

Food:
– Pangea
– Nawlins
– Legacy Hall

Areas for bar hopping fun:
– Deep Ellum
– Trinity Groves
– Village on the parkway (Addison area)

Shopping:
– Legacy West
– The outlet malls in Allen
– North Park Mall

Rooftops:
– Statler rooftop pool
– Clover Club
– Happiest Hour

Things to do:
– Dallas poetry slam
– Drag show @ The Trove
– Museum of Illusions

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
When I first started my foodie page, I had a few hundred followers. Amanda (cowgirlseat) reached out to me and added me to a small group titled, @DFWGrubClub . Here I learned more about IG algorithm, insights, foodie events and more. I was able to bond with other Dallas foodies, and although I have parted ways with the group, I still cherish the individuals I’ve met! I may have quit my page a long time ago if it wasn’t for them.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goldrated/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goldrated

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=_6BuACaybsYYrpLxQ7CoVQ