PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Digital creator Emily Daugherty, better known as Foodie Snitch, has become a local authority with her finger on the pulse of Portland’s restaurant scene.
Across her various platforms, she has garnered an audience of over 100,000 followers who look for her latest recommendations on the area’s best eats and experiences.
Daugherty studied visual journalism at the University of Oregon before graduating in 2015. Afterward, she spent some years working as a photographer and content creator for various local businesses and publications.
“And then during the pandemic, a lot of my work got put on hold,” she explained. “For pretty much all of 2020, I wasn’t working very much. Most marketing efforts had been paused.”
In November of 2020, Daugherty’s partner — and now husband — questioned what would happen if she pulled clips from her Instagram stories and used them for TikTok videos. Soon, she realized that people wanted to know which restaurants hadn’t been closed due to COVID-19.
“I had always been talking about food, but that was like the first time that I had been able to really reach an audience with my recommendations,” she said. “A lot of people were looking for what was open, what businesses were still around, were they doing takeout, did they have outdoor dining. A lot of those questions were still in the unknown during that phase, and people were really turning to TikTok and Instagram for those answers.”
Portlanders’ questions on local restaurants may not sound the same as they did in November 2020, but they still count on Daugherty for answers. As of December 2022, the influencer has over 30,000 followers on Instagram and over 80,000 followers on TikTok.
One topic of conversation that Daugherty hadn’t anticipated from her growing following was that of Portland’s livability.
“If I post something generic about Portland, it will pretty much spur a conversation of why am I not showcasing the bad things in Portland,” Daugherty said. She was born and raised in Medford before living in Eugene during her college years and now resides in Portland.
“The good and bad exists everywhere that you live,” she said. “Portland has gotten quite a bit of negative media attention and I often get a lot of feedback saying, ‘You give me hope.’ How are people supposed to be excited and invest in their community [and] want to make it better, if all we see is the negative of a place we live?”
In addition to featuring the best of what the Rose City has to offer, Foodie Snitch wants to expand her reach across the community starting next year, by organizing food tours or partnering with local businesses for ticketed events.
“As much as I consider myself an internet person, the whole reason I started this was because I love connecting with people,” she said. “I luckily have a lot of amazing connections in the city so there’s definitely some spaces I have in mind, and chefs and restaurant programs that I’m excited about that I want to help highlight and further their name.”