Editor, Jill Melton, Named Woman of Influence by Nashville Business Journal

It's not often we're recognized for doing something we love. But this May I was humbled and honored to be featured as a Women of Influence by the Nashville Business Journal. (Of course I’ve been telling my family this for years :) ) I was in great company with 34 other phenomenal women and honored at a breakfast on May 10th. Here is the unedited version of their questions and my answers. 

NBJ: What is your primary responsibility at your company? 

Shape and lead a 360-degree brand that connects consumers with their local food system, making our community stronger and food system more sustainable. 

We are a food magazine about people: our traditions, celebrations, cultures, habits and health. We celebrate all things local including but not limited to locally produced food (farms), the arts, nature and organizations that uplift and connect our community. Food is the common thread that unites us all and we celebrate it in all ways. 

We are a small business, so I wear all the hats. I guide, execute and produce our bi-monthly magazine, robust website, farm dinners and represent Edible in all ways with other organizations.

NBJ: What three professional accomplishments would people be most impressed to know?

I am a Registered Dietitian and spent six years as a public health nutritionist teaching high risk populations how to eat better, corporations how to have healthier employees and the public how to cook.  I have developed weight loss programs and healthy cooking classes for many communities and populations. 

I was on the inaugural editorial team that shaped and made Cooking Light magazine (an offshoot of Southern Living) a household name, taking it to millions in circulation. We were the first publication to show that healthy cooking could taste good and look even better. We were on the original lineup for HGTV, when they first started among many other milestones. 

I spent numerous years in professional kitchens and have taught cooking classes around the world, having had dinner with Julia Child, Graham Kerr and Jacque Pepin (among others) in the process.  

NBJ: Why do you think you were nominated in this category? 

After 25 years in the publishing business working for others, I started Edible Nashville on my own and with my own 401K. It is what I do and do well.  I am doing what I am called to do and have been prepared to do for 30 years: connect people with local food, their kitchens and each other. 

I am committed and passionate about helping the community support our local food system and eat better. We are dedicated to telling the stories of those committed to feeding the community from farmers to restauranteurs to entrepreneurs. 

I am a role model. There is no one too small to talk to or help. I mentor many interns, who stay and are still involved with our brand. 

I really do believe our greatest strength is in connecting with one another. (If anything can bring world peace, hummus can.) I have travelled the world From China, to Italy to Malaysia to France as a journalist and cook, and seen first-hand that there are no boundaries when you cook and eat together. Most of us want the same thing—kindness, respect and a place to raise our family. When we know one another--when we have a community that supports and helps each other this--can happen. 

I am a natural connector and a people person. I go to all the farmers markets, local restaurants, and am involved in as many charitable programs as possible. I write about underdogs, immigrant businesses and mom and pop restaurants. I shine a light on programs helping ex-convicts, the homeless and refugees. 

At my core, I’m a cook, and a good one. Our instagram, run by myself, has inspired thousands to cook better, eat better and shop local. It’s beautiful, inspiring, honest, educational and original. 

I know how to connect with the consumer. Our magazine is collected and saved on coffee tables region wide. My art background and eye for photography, coupled with my food knowledge and natural ability to sniff out a good story makes our magazine worlds above most. We are not pay-to-play, the model most magazines follow today, making our message real, and unbiased. I am loyal to the reader and our mission, not the advertiser. 

It’s ballsy to start a print magazine in the age of digital, but I was undeterred. And it has paid off. Today we realize all mediums can fit together. With a print magazine, I’m in charge. You turn the page and I tell you what you’re reading. You can’t click out of it or on something else. In the frenetic world, it’s an experience that everyone, from 18 to 80, wants and appreciates. Holding a magazine in your hands, the smell of print, will always resonate. 

NBJ:  What professional challenges in your past did you overcome?

My biggest challenge came with Edible Nashville and working for myself. It’s a tough environment selling advertising and a skill that has come slow for me. 

Since our first issue in March 2015, I have never missed an issue, not even through the pandemic, when many magazines folded or stopped printing for a year. We actually grew as folks were home cooking and needed us. We grew our digital products immensely which grew our readership and support. It was a key time for us, I think. 

NBJ:  Where do you find your inspiration?

Everywhere. On my trail runs in Percy Warner Park, other people, the seasons, the farmers markets, great ingredients, odd moments, snapshots of folks on the street, a sign, a gesture, the NYTimes, art. Acts of kindness by others. 

NBJ: What is the biggest challenge (local or national) no one is talking about, and what would you like to see done about it?

Technology. The Iphone. I see it everywhere. The lack of communication and fellowship because we are glued to our phones. Parents at the park, moms with strollers, 20-somethings walking down the street. When once you might have had a friendly conversation with the person in line at the post office, or in the Dentist waiting room, it’s all silent stares and scrolls.  Also TVs. It's Fahrenheit 451 realized. 

And it’s ironic in a time when folks are desperate for community. Now community is found on dating apps and other social networks, another reason we’re glued to our phones. 

I would like to think that getting folks in their kitchens cooking, gathering around the table and reading a magazine, all helps us unplug and connect with each other. 

NBJ: What’s one thing the city can do to better support you?

Recognize Edible Nashville as an important part of the local culture here. 

Support Edible with advertising and sponsor dollars. We am writing about and supporting everything the city offers as a draw for new business, tourists, and people relocating here: our great LOCAL culture. They are selling what we are nurturing and promoting. 

We want folks to come here to experience our great LOCAL culture. Food is a huge part of Nashville. And so is Edible Nashville. 

NBJ:  What do you wish schools were teaching more of?

I wish the lunch programs were better. The message we send in many school systems is that food doesn’t matter and isn’t important. The food is processed and bad and the lunchrooms dour and dark. Even at private schools. 

NBJ:  What keeps you in Nashville?