Corporate 9-5 to Food Creator: LateNightAnna’s Journey | Ep 65
If you were to ask a year ago, I would've said by day, Anna works 9-5 as a finance manager, and by night, she's LateNightAnna. But since then, she is all in on LateNightAnna, cooking, creating and building a food content brand that started with a viral Basque cheesecake during Covid.
In this episode, I sit down with Anna to talk about her journey from competing in MasterChef as a teenager, to starting a home baking business from scratch, to documenting her life in her 30s through food, travel and content creation. We chat about how she balanced a corporate career with creative passion, growing up Chinese-Australian in Sydney, performing on stages from singing competitions to national finals, and what it really takes to stay consistent when you’re building something on the side.
If you've ever thought about starting a side hustle, chasing a creative dream, or just love food content, this one's for you.
---
Anna's Links
https://www.instagram.com/latenightannaa
https://www.tiktok.com/@late.night.anna
---
Items mentioned
Noodle bowl: https://www.amazon.com.au/Sets-Containers-Microwavable-Restaurants-Self-Adhesive/dp/B0DPJVT1NW/
What we made: https://bylatenightanna.com/fire-carbonara-instant-noodles/
Anna's singing channel: https://www.instagram.com/annabanana.mp3
---
Need a photobooth? Reach out to SonofaBooth
Want to get in touch? Send us an email at ricenmicspodcast@gmail.com
Follow us on our socials: https://linktr.ee/ricenmicspodcast
Music: aKu - Love Shine | aKu - The Final Blow
---
Chapters
0:00 Intro
2:07 Background, corporate life
6:42 Anna's singing journey, different languages
10:57 The basque cheesecake, covid business
17:26 How do you make a living?
21:54 Masterchef appearance
24:18 Why food content?
26:52 Mukbang, our relationship with food
31:37 Bao bae, starting a fast food brand
35:18 Growing up with food, inspiration
39:10 How did you learn to cook?
41:24 When was enough income to replace the corporate gig?
45:12 More followers =/= More income
49:27 Pivoting to long form content
51:43 Culinary Class Wars dishes
56:29 Travel content?
59:42 What is 'latenightanna'?
1:02:04 Son of a Booth ad
1:03:34 Cooking starts
1:06:53 Light vs dark soy sauce
1:12:58 Ingredient you can't live without
1:20:56 Are instant noodles your guilty pleasure food/personality?
1:23:47 Go to dish to impress someone
1:26:47 Drawing on cups
1:29:33 Advice for other content creators
1:37:14 Outro
Food Content Creator
Hello, I’m Anna from Late Night Anna! I’m an Australian-born Chinese food content creator based in Sydney. You may know me from my DIY instant noodles, or my fast food series where I build my own Asian-inspired fast food brand, Bao Bae.
I love transforming everyday ingredients into playful, Asian-fusion dishes that spark nostalgia and joy. My cooking is deeply influenced by my childhood years studying in Guangzhou, China, where I fell in love with the diversity of Chinese cuisine. Living abroad at a young age broadened my perspective on food, and today I’m obsessed with blending flavours from both the East and West.
Outside of the kitchen, music has always been a huge part of my life. Growing up, I’ve always dreamt of being a singer. I’ve performed at Korean music festivals across Sydney, and I’ve competed in the national finals of Chinese singing competitions including Sing! China (中国好声音) and The Singer (唱响星图).
From corporate girlie to content creator, I’m now on a mission to finally chase my dreams in my 30s. Growing up in a financially struggling Asian household, I followed the traditional path — studying a commerce and law degree and spending 8 years working in a 9-5 corporate career. But deep down, I always knew that I wanted to pursue something creative. In May 2025, I was made redundant, and that moment became the push I needed to pursue content creation full-time.
Today, my purpose is to spark joy through food and (hopefully) music, and to inspire others to find the courage to pursue their own dreams — no matter how big or small.…
