Rising Stars: Meet Brittaney Bunjong

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittaney Bunjong.

Hi Brittaney, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My love for food and throwing events has always been a part of my life since I was a kid. In college at the University of Washington – Bothell I started a food blog called Plenty of Pineapples, highlighting recipes that I loved to cook. From there, I was featured in Allrecipes Magazine and was inspired to continue to cook, but more so as a hobby. After college, I started a podcast called Citrus Room in 2014, where I interviewed people from all different walks of life in Seattle. One day I interviewed two DJs Angelo and Jon who expressed their want to DJ more in the city, but there were not enough opportunities. Six years ago I decided to throw my first Citrus Room event at a dive bar with 50 of our friends and family. Fast forward to the present day and we have events in Seattle and LA at the biggest nightclubs and lounges with over 600 people that have attended at once. I didn’t know a podcast would turn into my life. Citrus Room is my baby. The people I’ve met, connected with one another, DJs I got to see, artists I managed, and watching my visions come to life with the community I’ve built.

At the same time I was working on Citrus Room, I turned to cooking as a form of therapy and a way to be creative. Especially when the pandemic hit, cooking was a huge outlet for me. Inspired by TikTok videos, I decided to create an account of my own and start a series called The Cookbook Album where I incorporate food and albums that my friends and I love. One day I had an opportunity to take my cooking to TV and auditioned for The Curious Chef, a show featuring Top Chef, Stephanie Izard that’s on Tastemade and Hulu. I got the gig and made my TV debut on December 6, 2022. It was life-changing. I got to teach Chef Stephanie my favorite dishes from my cultural background. Being Thai and Peruvian is something I am extremely proud of. Being on TV lit a fire under me, determined to make everything I’ve wanted in life come true and merge my two worlds together. Cooking and Citrus Room. 2023 was the year of growing pains, realizing I spent so much time on everything but myself. So determined to make a change I told myself before the year was over I was going to do something for me. And I did just that.

I showcased my first-ever pop-up dinner. I invited my friends and family to try out a four-course meal that highlighted my love for cooking and honored my Thai Peruvian culture. I was able to get sponsors through my connections from Citrus Room and even had a DJ bring Citrus Room to the dinner table. This brought me so much joy that 2024 will be the year I get to share my cooking with the world. My next pop-up will be for the public in January and I hope I can bring the series to Seattle and other cities. I am working on vending at establishments to expand my menu and just try everything out. Everything has really come full circle for me, and I’m so grateful I have been able to trust in the process. All the ups and downs have been so worth it to finally do what I love.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I always say being uncomfortable is the biggest opportunity for growth and when my friends remind me, I always ask myself why I ever said that to begin with. But it is so true. I’m very open about my struggles because to the internet it could look like I always have a smile on my face. I’m a huge advocate of vulnerability, and I hope that if there’s anything people can take away from this interview, it’s that there’s an empathy crisis in this world. I hope that we make more safe spaces for people to be vulnerable and share what they’re going through. I moved to LA five years ago and worked for two tech start-ups that I was heavily invested into that had quite the rise and fall. That’s all I knew. And with the pandemic, I had to adjust to a different way of life. A lot of us did.

Dealing with unemployment, asking myself “What am I doing with my life?” and going through waves of depression where I didn’t want to get out of bed. I even wanted to pack everything up and just go to a random city and start over. I wasn’t my best self, and I can do a really good job at hiding it when I focus on helping others. My biggest challenge was facing my anxiety head-on. I’m very honest; I have a fear of death. And because of that, it causes me to overthink and think about every little thing in my life and put a time limit on it. So when the pandemic hit, nothing went according to plan. I’ve gotten better at this since seeing a therapist which I hope everyone can get the opportunity to do so. But I think my need to be in control will always exist to some extent. It’s hard to trust in the process when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. So yes, the struggles? There will always be struggles.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
“What do you do?” is the question people in LA ask the most. It’s crazy! Because I really do everything. I exhaust myself talking about it. But it’s because I want to do it all. Why not? I do take pride in what I cannot do – sing, paint, bake, and so much more. I’m a home cook and soon to be confident in saying chef. I run a pop-up dinner series that will hopefully one day have a space in a food hall. I also will be taking the pop-up route into a brewery and showcasing other foods. I am a meal prep cook.

I also run a successful event series called Citrus Room that features DJs and really really great people. I get to incorporate my cooking into that too. I also do a little artist management and love producing events on the side. I’m most proud of the fact that I finally am doing what I love, and I am confident that I can do this as a lifestyle. I am a connector; I bring people together. I have the best support system in the world!

What sets me apart from others … I think it’s knowing that since I was a little kid, I was going to do something in life greater than myself. And it was going to involve people. So, at the end of the day, I do this for people!

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I spoke a lot about this in my struggles section. But here’s some important lessons:

1. Being uncomfortable is the biggest opportunity for growth.
2. Contrast creates clarity; you gotta do something different in order to see a different perspective.
3. Be yourself. Trust me, when you get recognized for being just simply you, it’s the greatest feeling.
4. Be vulnerable.
5. LEARN HOW TO COOK! Cooking is fun! Because if we ever enter another lockdown, you’ll wish you knew how to cook.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@brittaney.bunjong?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/brittaney.bunjong
• Other: www.instagram.com/citrus_room

Image Credits
James Chrosniak & Mau Trejo