40 Under 40: Nicole Emmert-Hamaker – Pinch My Salt

Nicole Emmert-Hamaker is the owner/founder of the very popular Pinch My Salt blog. She is a 2002 graduate from the University of Oregon who over the last few years came to realize that creating a meal in her own kitchen is not only healthier and more economical than eating out, but a lot more fun.

Nicole Emmert-Hamaker

The blog began when Nicole was living in Italy (the Island of Sicily).  She created Pinch My Salt in 2006 in Sicily. The blog began as a way for her to share the knowledge she obtained about food and cooking during her four-year stay there. In Sicily, there was fresh food for sale on, what seemed like, every corner. Emmert-Hamaker was inspired to avoid eating at fast food restaurants and cooked more. She lost weight and felt healthier as a result of her radical decision.

Emmert-Hamaker doesn’t blog for a hobby; it is her career. She spends anywhere from 8 to 12 hours a day on her blog. On an average day, you can find her cooking, washing dishes as much as six times, testing recipes, shopping, taking and editing photos, writing and editing posts, answering emails and social networking.

Emmert-Hamaker has also lived in Oregon, Florida and southern California before returning to Fresno two years ago.  In that short amount of time she has grown to be one of the top food bloggers in the region.  Nicole has 6,000 fans on Facebook and nearly 100,000 followers on Twitter. She is a featured blogger on the popular That Fresno Blog which highlights businesses, artists, events, people, revitalization and history of Fresno. Recently Nicole was honored as the 2011 Frebby Favorite Award at the 2nd Annual Frebby Awards Celebration.  Frebby Awards began to recognize Fresno area creatives who are setting high standards for how the web is used.

“40 Under 40″ The Ultimate Networking Event, honoring the Class of 2012, will be held Thursday, March 21 at the Skyroom Lounge in Holiday Inn Fresno Downtown.  Tickets to the event are now on sale, and are available for purchase on www.40u40.com.  

Each day leading up to the event, a different member of the Class of 2012 will be featured in a story on www.BusinessStreetOnline.com.  Be sure to sign up for our daily news alerts by visiting www.BusinessStreetOnline.com.