We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle White. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.

Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

The mission of Texas Mama Musts is multifaceted and contrived from my own life experience. “The objective of Texas Mama Musts is to inspire awe, strengthen relationships, and support businesses.”
1. Inspire awe:
As a child I recall feeling rushed. A lot. I needed to rush to school, sports, church, appointments, etc. Life seemed to be always in a hurry. As I entered adulthood, I observed patterns of anxiety. I have since done a lot of research on managing anxiety and what can help to overcome/manage it. One principle that I have personally seen benefits from is slowing down and taking in the surroundings. There is so much beauty all around us, and we are often too rushed to see it. My hope with the Texas Mama Musts content, is that people will intentionally seek and experience both the natural and manmade art available to us. And that I can play a small part in shifting our culture more towards awe and wonder.
2. Strengthen relationships
A lot of my content is geared towards familial experiences. By showcasing fun, wholesome activities for families to enjoy together, I hope that memories can be made, and bonds strengthened. I also create reels focused on date ideas. As a mother to four busy boys, I know that it is easy to put a marriage on the backburner. However, my husband and I intentionally make time to get meaningful one-on-one time together. It isn’t always easy to come up with a plan (which seems to be more than half the battle). So I hope these date ideas make it more manageable and exciting for couples to create time together.
3. Support businesses
After I had my third son, and third c-section, I decided to create a business designing and selling postpartum friendly lounge dresses (that I had been searching for but never could find). I poured my whole soul (and a lot of money) in order to create that company. I loved the creation part of starting a business, but I struggled with knowing how to market my products. The whole marketing world was a puzzle to me for a good while. However, I started working with a few social media influencers, and saw some traction from that. During that experience, I was able to notice what is and what isn’t helpful in marketing someone else’s business. As a small business owner, every marketing dollar was so precious to me. With this personal insight and experience, my intention is to provide local businesses with the best value possible and the greatest reach. I know how much hard work goes into creating and running a business, and I want to be their cheerleader and supporter of their worthwhile pursuits.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

There are A LOT of content creators out there, and there is so much information being added to the internet every single day. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of negative content out there, and I wanted to do my part to add positivity to the social media space. I started Texas Mama Musts as a resource for parents in Texas to learn about the musts this great state has to offer. Based on my own experience with moving with young kids, I know it can be hard to know what things to do, and what to see in a new city. I took my experience gained from running my small business’ social media account and put it towards creating content mostly for the San Antonio area. It has taken a few years to see growth with the account, but over the last year the Instagram Texas Mama Musts community grew by nearly 30,000 followers. My hope is that viewers feel that they have a trusted source for recommendations in regards to local experiences, food, and travel.

Have you ever had to pivot?

As mentioned earlier, I started my own business selling lounge dresses that were designed to meet the needs of motherhood. The dresses were both skin-to-skin and nursing friendly. For years, I worked hard in bringing that idea to life. However, due to our manufacturer unexpectedly closing, and the high costs of restarting, I eventually decided it was time to close that business. This was a hard thing to accept since I invested so much time, energy, and money into that pursuit. However, since I mostly ran the business’ Instagram account, I was able to gain a lot of experience and insight which has helped me immensely with content creation for Texas Mama Musts. I found it to be true that when one door closes, another opens. And each door provides an opportunity to learn and grow to help with future endeavors.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

You hear it over and over again (so much that I know it can be annoying), but consistency truly is important. That doesn’t mean that you need to post every day or even several times a week, but viewers need to know that they can trust you with providing helpful information related to your account topic on a regular basis. I also have found that any help you can give the algorithm, the better. For example, I always add a location to the reels that I post so that it can help to identify the targeted audience. Lastly, analyzing past successes from your own account as well as similar accounts, can help you learn where to focus your efforts.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/texasmamamusts/

Image Credits

Chelsea Larsen (personal photo)
The rest of the images are my own. Michelle White