We recently connected with Jacqueline DeLeon and have shared our conversation below.
Jacqueline , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?
3 years ago no one was an influencer or had a versatile blog in Bucks County PA. I craved so much more from social media, a platform to support & highlight local businesses, connect people, share places & events, spirituality, family, sobriety, & humor. 4 months into creating “Bucks County Mama” on Instagram, Covid hit the world. It quickly turned into people are terrified and feel alone. I kept my mission, & blogged 2 years, charging zero money, just helping my community. In many ways, I was making amends to my home for any wrongs I did in active alcoholism. I openly shared my blended family, that we are a foster home, a police family, a chronic illness family, & a sober home. Social media can be a place of darkness, but also a place of Light, & I was here to spread it. Through these years I have been nominated in the Bucks Happening, news paper articles in Philadelphia and Bucks County, developed Tik Tok, Facebook, a BCM office, LLC, branding, & more! I host classes on social media 101 for business owners, host events, became a brand ambassador, & speaker to hospitality groups. My Tik Tok went viral, my IG 10,000 followers, and I am a full time social media manager to local businesses as well. I built my brand on daily hard work, including a “Bucks County Mama of the Month” highlighting local mothers, IG Live interviews with businesses called “Moments with Mama”, & being incredibly proud that I never had anyone help me, I grew authentically and my reputation is now very respected throughout Bucks County and beyond. I grew minute one to this minute by never giving up, on good days & hard days.
Jacqueline , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I have my undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work, & worked in that field my entire career. Helping people, being honest, reading energy, using a mix of knowledge and gut is how I think I was prepared for social media blogging, influencing and managing. I love hard work, & I said “yes” to all work unless it conflicted with my sobriety. I surround myself with good people, & being on a podcast, interview, stage, I can still get scared but know I have No skeletons in the closet. My followers know they will get the truth-& I know in a filtered Kardashian world, people crave real. If it doesn’t exist, build it. I’m 44, a size 12, and a recovering alcoholic, I don’t exactly fit the influencer mold. So I created a new mold, & people are embracing me. Be you, don’t copy, recreate, be yourself.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
You can follow your passion, at any age, at any time, it’s never too late. With that being said you can make money, follow that & it still be aligned with your passion. Those do not need to be separate. I left social work to dive all into myself, my business. I found that absolutely terrifying – jump anyway. I’m proud, my kids are as well, & I feel God behind me every step. I believe pivot doesn’t mean follow every trend. Trends, I like some, others I hate, I’m true to me. Pivoting is the difference between growing or dying – it is the key to happiness and life…..adaptation. The world shifted from Covid to social media, phone, zoom, at home, and instead of hating that, I flowed in the current of grace & acceptance. I learned it, & made my own way. I love it. Flow, move, shift, but never lose yourself.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Bucks County Mama
- Facebook: Bucks County Mama
- Other: Tik tiok : Bucks County Mama