By: Ashlee Hall
Southern celebrity, Ivy Odom, is an example of how putting in hard work and having diverse experience will help you stand out when looking for a career in the media field.
Odom is a graduate from the University of Georgia with degrees in consumer journalism and spanish. She now works at Southern Living Magazine as a recipe developer and social media content creator.
Odom’s story
Odom is from Moultire Georgia, where some of her most fond memories from growing up are working with her family in the kitchen.
“I grew up cooking with my mom and my grandmother. My dad does competition barbecues so cooking is a family affair,” says Odom.
Odom originally wanted to become a Family & Consumer Sciences teacher but after starting college, she realized that there was something else in store for her. She learned about UGA’s consumer journalism degree and knew it was the perfect fit.
“I was able to take classes centered around journalism as well as classes about food and nutrition. The education classes that I had previously taken really helped me with what I am doing now as well,” says Odom.
Once she changed majors, Odom began an internship with a cookbook author in Athens. After graduation she attended culinary school at L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland. It was a year long program where she spent 6 months in the classroom and 6 months in a restaurant gaining culinary experience. “It was really rewarding. I learned so much,” says Odom.
After completing her degree she began an internship at Southern Living where she left her mark on the company.
While interning in the test kitchen at Southern Living, Odom was asked to make a recipe of her choice. She decided to make her Little Layer Chocolate Cake which has 10-18 layers. The cake was such a success that the Editor in Chief of Southern Living asked her to make a recipe video. Odom was hesitant to be in front of the camera at first, but ended up making one of Southern Living’s most successful videos of its kind at the time.
Click here to watch 18 Layer Chocolate Cake video.
After creating such a successful video, Odom was asked to create a video series about famous desserts in the south. Instead, she pitched the idea of a video series on old southern recipes. Thus, a new video series called “Hey Y’all” was born.
Hey Y’all is a video series that started out as Odom taking old southern recipes and bringing them back to life. However, over the years it has morphed into a series that includes topics such as outdoor gardening, home DIY and entertaining.
Southern Living
If you were raised in the south, you have more than likely heard of Southern Living Magazine, who’s target audience are people who celebrate the culture of the southern lifestyle. The content is centered around recipes, house plans, gardening, southern culture and travel.
Southern Living was founded in 1966 by The Progressive Farmer Company. They declared it the “Magazine of the Modern South,” according to southernlivingmag. It is now owned by Dot Dash Meredith which is America’s largest print and digital publisher. They own other brands such as PEOPLE and Better Homes and Gardens.
For Odom, no two days of working for the magazine are the same and she prefers it that way. In addition to Hey Y’all, she has a bi monthly column in the magazine where she develops recipes from scratch and writes an article on how the recipe came to be. She is the main talent for Southern Living’s Tik Tok channel and she represents the brands on shows like Good Morning America and local morning news shows.
“I have my hands in a lot of baskets but I like it that way,” says Odom.
When describing her favorite part of the job, Odom says it is getting to travel to different places around the south and tell stories about her experience. One of her favorite trips was one of her more recent, where she traveled to her college town of Athens. She filmed a Hey Y’all episode about her weekend guide to Athens.
Advice before entering the media field
For anyone wanting to enter the media field, Odom has some advice. She says to diversify your experience, say yes to the grunt work and always be open to opportunities that are presented to you.
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