In Good Company with Lee from America

I ventured over to Red Hook — an industrial-but-homey feeling neighborhood in West Brooklyn — on a rainy early-summer Friday to meet Lee Tilghman, the ex-influencer behind @leefromamerica who’s writing a book about her experience behind the screen. Over some of her favorite TZP sips (keep reading!), we dove into it all — her background, how she fell into having over 200,000 followers on Instagram, and how she chose to fall OUT of that lifestyle — all while she buzzed around the apartment preparing for a dinner party she was hosting the next evening. Dive in, and follow along with us on Instagram (yes, we realize the irony) to find Lee’s go-to olive oil cake recipe and what TZP sip to pair it with.

A: Where are you from? What’s your background?

L: I'm from Fairfield, Connecticut, which is an hour and 20 minutes outside of the city. So New York has been part of my life since I was a baby. My grandmother is from here… My sister lives here… My parents lived here before they bought a house. It's very nice, being so close-by, but at the same time, I do sometimes envy people who come here with no roots, because they get a totally fresh start. I walk down the street Brooklyn Heights, and I see people from high school, and it's a little bit like… okay, we're all doing the same thing.

A: Nice. I feel that. I’m a newcomer myself and love the anonymity! So, what’s your connection to food and beverage?

L: I’ve always been around food. My aunt is a chef and cookbook author. She's in her 60s now, but back in the day, she really helped bring the vegetarian movement to Boston and to Harvard — she had a restaurant called Veggie Planet. And so I grew up with her bringing kale to Thanksgiving dinner in the 90s. We were like, what is this? 

My dad is also an amazing cook. We truly have a family of kitchen people. He had a conventional 9-to-5 job, but he was the cook of the family — it’s how he wound down at night. That's how I would spend time with him, in the kitchen. Now, I love it, too. I love cooking.

I always prefer eating at home than eating out, because I feel better when I know I have total control over what’s being prepared and served. And I also just love to feed people. I LOVE to host. And somehow, I turned that into my career. I had a blog in 2013 called Lee from America, where I started sharing my recipes. And it started growing substantially.

A: And what exactly was growing so much? What led you to that point?

L: Yeah, this was, like, a proper blog. We’re talking, before Substack. I did also have an Instagram. Those were the days, in 2013.

Before I was working full time on Lee from America, I was working in the restaurant industry at a hospitality group doing marketing, PR, and events. That’s where I got to experience the creative side of restaurants. Then I moved to LA before starting my blog, where I was working as a waitress for a year. And lest we forget that in college, I was working in a smoothie bar — so I've always been in or around the kitchen. I love it all. But always around food. Always around food. 

So by 2016 and through 2020, I worked on Lee from America full time. Four years. But I ended up closing it down because I felt I really needed to close that chapter. I was really burnt out… I was not taking breaks… *I* was the brand, really. I was just exhausted. I felt a little trapped in my niche… and felt pressure to be this perfect wellness girl.

I thought that was a really interesting story as social media just becomes more and more pervasive and we are surrounded by content creators and influencers online. I was like, okay, if I burnt out from this lifestyle, other people are gonna burn out, too. I'm gonna talk about being an influencer/blogger, how that felt in the beginning and towards the end, and how I ended up choosing to leave and go back to regular life. Like, I moved back to New York, cut my hair, went back to work… That’s when I knew I wanted to write a book. In the beginning, I didn't even have a book agent. 

A: Wow. So bold! So, how has that experience been?

L: Oh my God, it's been a journey. Yeah. I'm really excited for it to come out. Feels like I'm on a cliff and I'm about to jump. A memoir… let's just say, I understand why people write fiction. I'm about to share so many intimate parts of my life with the world. I just have to pretend that no one's gonna read it. I just hope that people see themselves in it, and that they feel seen and supported through this “influencer” experience. And I do think a lot of people will be able to relate to it. It's the FIRST influencer/social media memoir. I think these experiences need to be shared.

A: I can’t wait to read it! Alright, pivot! What brought you to NA drinking?

L: So, I used to drink. And I had some people in my life when I was young that didn’t drink, for their own personal reasons, which likely influenced me. I drank a lot in my early 20s, and let me just say, I enjoyed it. And eventually I was like, yikes, alcohol is prohibiting me from living the life I want to lead and living my full potential. I realized that I actually hate the way it made me feel. I thought, maybe those people who are not drinking in my life are making a really smart decision. It’s tough — when I moved to a new city, everybody was drinking. That's how you get to know people — it’s the status quo, right? It’s how you meet people, especially in New York or LA or Austin, like any of these social cities full of young people. And I just didn’t want to anymore. So I just made a decision six and a half years ago: No more. It’s off the table.

And at that point… it was all seltzer. Seltzer or Diet Coke. If I went out, I would drink, like, eight seltzers. I remember one night I went out for a friend's birthday party until like, four in the morning, and I drank so many lemon seltzers that I legitimately can't drink lemon seltzer anymore. 

A: Right — it’s so different now! What are some of your favorite products these days?

L: I mean, Ghia has been a favorite of mine for years. It was probably the first NA brand that I found out about, because they were kind of a part of the wellness world. I thought the packaging was just so cool and beautiful — and of course, it just tastes so good. I love the bitter flavors.

I also really like Woody's wine — or really any sparkling white wine — and beer. I’ve only really tried Athletic.

A: We just launched a ton of smaller indie beer brands — I’ll hook you up.
What are some ways that you incorporate some of these drinks in your life/routine/with your community?

L: Well, I definitely view it as a treat. You know, after I finish working, or on a Thursday or Friday night. Still very ritualistic.

And as I mentioned, I love to host, so I’ve started serving it when I have people over. My best friend, she still drinks, but she’ll often try my NA stuff and LOVES it. It’s such a joy to cook and serve my people, so it’s been cool to incorporate these drinks now that there’s so much available.

A: You’re evangelizing! You’re doing MY job! That’s great. Any closing thoughts?

L: My book’s coming out August 12th! I’m so excited, and think a lot of people who are even a little “online” will resonate with aspects of it — whether you make your living as a content creator, engage in it for fun, or barely have a presence online.

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Follow along with Lee here, and pre-order her memoir here.