We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachelle Schuster a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Many years ago (in my mid thirties) I learned how to play the game Canasta. At the time, my children were young and prioritizing myself was at the bottom of my list. Canasta is a game with many rules so if you do not make a commitment to play on a regular basis it is hard to learn. The timing wasn’t right. In my late forties, my father passed away. It was a sad time for my family. My parents had been childhood sweathearts. I quickly noticed that my mother had an enormous amount of support from her female friends and socially she was able to stay connected through games like Mah Jongg and Canasta. She was a NYC city school teacher and even though a working parent she always knew that taking time for herself was important. These games and friendships helped her through a challenging time. It was then that I realized how little I had prioritzed my individually beyond work and parenting. I knew I was not the only one. A neighbor invited me to. join her weekly Canasta game and the rest is history. I made a decsion to have one day a week which was just for me and it helped improve all other parts of my life. As a teacher, when someone asked me a question I was able to answer them in a helpful way. Friends began to encourage me to teach through lessons but I wanted to break the stereotype that Canasta was a game for older women only. That is when I came up with the idea for Canasta Consultant. What began with 29 followers all of whom were friends I asked to follow me has turned into a community of almost 11K followers.

Rachelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

At the core I am a Canasta teacher. I offer instruction in person but also have mini tutorials on my social media platform. In additon, I host local events and travel to other cities to talk about starting a new career at this chapter of my life. I realized very quickly that people are looking to connect. It becomes challenging at a stage of life that you are no longer meeting others through school or your own children. I have many people call me and express dedicating their lives to their careers, children, husbands but now do not feel as needed. Canasta is a game played with four people but more importantly it is a partner game. So you need to work together to be a winner. Same goes in life. We need to support eachother to be happy and successful.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Prior to starting @Canasta_consultant my social media expertise consisted of posting family life events on Facebook. I had no idea how to make a post on instagram or Tik Tok. When I searched for content on Canasta there was truly nothing at the time. I turned to my adult daughters for a little guidance. I began with asking friends to follow me. I then committed to posting something Canasta related every single day since September 2024. By December 2024 I had 229 folloowers which I thought was great. My daughter who is in marketing came to me and explained that if I do not post pictures and videos of myself my algorithim would not change and my account would not grow. I was extremely uncomfortable with the idea but decided to put my worries aside and go for it. My first video was called “What’s your why?”. I told my story about how and why I learned the game and how gifting myself this time for myself has changed my life. The video was seen by many and my followers grew. Since then, I began posting tutorial videos on a regular basis. I still post something every single day. As of today, I have 10.8k followers and my videos are viewed 450,000 times a month. It has been the most incredible experience connecting with people from all over the country and Canada. I would tell anyone thinking about using social media to build their business to just be consistent and do not overthink every post.Some will be good and others will not be. That is okay.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think coming across as trustworthy and relatable has helped build my reputation in the world of Canasta. This is a game with a lot of rules. Some rules are the same across the board and some are “table” rules. I will never tell someone the way they play is wrong. I will share how I play. I will share documented rules from reputable resources but I will also thank them for sharing. I try my hardest to answer every person who reaches out to me. I feature players I teach, but I also share pictures of followers who share their story with me. When I am asked a good question, I make a tutorial video and share it with our Canasta Consultant Community. I like to think people view me as a friend. I now have thousands of wonderful friends.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canasta_consultant
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/rachelle-schuster

Image Credits

Josh Aaron Photograpy