Meet Dana Escamilla of Taste of Reality in South Bay

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Escamilla.

Dana, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Living in Orange County, CA at the time, I saw a trend with my friends choosing to go to restaurants they saw in their favorite shows like The Hills and Real Housewives of Orange County. As a confessed RHOC fan, I started noticing the cameras were taking fans to more than just restaurants, but also to bars, shops, hotels and even into the doctor’s office and med spas. Once the seed was planted, all I could see was the data behind the drama!

As cameras follow the stars’ day-to-day lives, I realized they’re also giving virtual tours of the places they go and experiences they have. While most people were wrapped up in the storylines, I watched the franchises on BRAVO TV, E! and VH1 expand into more cities and the database of locations growing. The idea gnawed at me for a couple years. I finally started what was to become Taste of Reality, a site where fans could easily find the various businesses they saw on their favorite shows.

The “startup” got off to a very slow start as a solo act. My friend and fellow reality TV fanatic, Troy Turner, later became a partner and brought fresh creative ideas, a new perspective and a second pair of hands to help with the heavy lifting of data collection. Together we ultimately launched Taste of Reality and became a business.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No! But where’s the fun in that? I initially thought since I worked for a web agency as a digital producer that I could easily manage the design and development of the site. It turned out one of the biggest challenges was finding the right developer. First I hired an independent freelancer that ended up being a big flake and had to scrap the work he initially did. Then I hired a U.S. based development firm to start from scratch. They put a producer and a developer on the project, but it turned out the company wasn’t being managed. The company was in the red and about ¾ into the build they put the project on hold and tried to extort us for more money to finish the project. Suddenly work that had already been done they claimed was out of scope. Given my experience I had us covered in writing on all scope items. But it got ugly with legal starting to get involved. Ultimately we walked away with the code and not paying a dime more. This was a pretty stressful moment because the site wasn’t in a place to launch, we couldn’t afford to start over again and had to find a developer to come in on someone else’s code. Thankfully I was able to find the right partner who helped us launch and they have been with us ever since.

Today our struggle is the workload for two people to just keeping up with the sheer volume of shows, growing the site traffic and brand. We are actively recruiting more writers and team members so we can stay current and relevant with content.

Taste of Reality – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Taste of Reality is the only resource created by fans for fans to find businesses on popular reality TV franchises like Real Housewives, Southern Charm, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, WAGS, Love & Hip Hop and more. We catalog each of these businesses in an episode with its contact information, a summary of “what went down” on the show at each spot and who was there. We curate self-guided tours by city and show as well as lists of top things to-do, in-depth reviews, interviews and a roundup of the latest reality TV gossip.

Reality TV is accessible TV tourism. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Vanderpump Rules star Lisa Vanderpump’s three LA-based restaurants are proof of this as large tourist draws. We receive the most traffic for Charleston as a destination because of Southern Charm and independent businesses in Atlanta because of Love & Hip Hop Atlanta and Real Housewives of Atlanta.

We’re the only brand currently connecting the show, the city and the fans who want to experience a restaurant or boutique they saw or learn more about a Hoodoo doll maker or life coach. I love when fans reach out to us with questions about finding places and the relationships we’re developing with the businesses that want to extend the exposure they receive from the show. I’m incredibly proud of the collaborative effort with my business partner and the work we’re doing to bring reality TV to real life!

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My personal definition of success is setting a goal and actively working towards it. The criteria is to have high participation in the effort and low attachment to the outcome. The outcome or timing may or may not be what I envisioned when I set the goal, but if I know I’m trying the best I can or made the proper effort, then it’s a success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tasteofreality.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @tasteof_reality
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tastereality/
• Twitter: @tasteof_reality
• Other: https://tasteofreality.com/show/love-hip-hop-atlanta/

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.