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

Lauren, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Growing up, I don’t remember being super interested in traveling or living anywhere different. In a weird kinda way I didn’t really know how one would actually go about moving, so I never really even thought about it. I was always kind of a “follow the path I was told to follow” kind of person.

But then, in my senior year of high school I fell in love with snowboarding. I spent countless weekends in college (where I went in southern New Jersey) going to bed at 7pm, waking up at 3am and driving myself 5-6 hours up to Vermont so I could snowboard for the whole day. Then I’d drive home, Sometimes I’d have friends along, but the majority of the time I just went alone. I loved it,

Upon graduating college, I found myself in a 2nd or 3rd round of interviews to work at this insurance agency, where surely I could put my math degree to good use. But during some almost surreal out of body-like experience, I stood up, looked the fat sweaty man behind the desk in the eye, and said thank you for your time but this isn’t for me, I then proceeded to go home, hope on craigslist, and within a few days, I had 2 jobs and a room in Salt Lake City, Utah. I told my parents I wanted to go spend a winter out there snowboarding before I did what I was supposed to do and get a “real job”. A month or so later, I drove myself from New Jersey to Salt Lake City, (which was the first of the 7 cross country drives I’ve since then.)

It was a big risk, leaving everything I’d ever known, all my family, all my friends, moving to a place I didn’t really know anyone in. But I had to do it, there was this pull that I couldn’t ignore. I lived there for 3 and a half years. I worked the most random jobs, and although I never really made much money (always just enough to get by), I always prioritized my freedom to do the things that really mattered to me.

From then on, I have always designed my life (to the detriment of my bank account) around the lifestyle that really lights me up – the freedom to live and work and play when and where I want to.

Flash forward to today, and I’ve lived in 7 states in the US, traveled to multiple different countries, and recently (somewhat by accident) moved to Indonesia (where I also didn’t know anyone) and started my virtual social media management, strategy, and video editing business.

Lauren, 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?

My story started with snowboarding, and at the time, “sponsor me” tapes were the big thing. So I started filming myself and editing together my shots. I was never bold enough to actually send them to any companies, but I did develop a love for editing and for telling a story through video. Each edit shared a little window into my life along with the actual snowboarding, whether it was getting ready to go ride (loooong before GRWM edits were cool), the drive through the canyon, meeting up with friends on the lift, there was always an element to it that added context to the edit as a whole. My favorite part of the process was picking the music, envisioning the shots I wanted to get, and working to bring the whole thing together. One of my edits won me 3rd place (and a new snowboard) in a national video contest!

Fast forward to a few months before COVID, I was teaching math and coaching snowboarding at a private academy in Vermont, where I filmed the kids riding, made edits for them and started posting on the school’s social media. It was a fun project, and I didn’t really have any goals for it, but I ended up growing the account by almost 30% before the world shut down mid-March 2020.

At that point, I decided to look for video editing jobs on Upwork since I didn’t know what else to do, and got hired by a Facebook Ads company, They needed someone to handle their socials, so I got put in charge of that, and so began my journey into social media management. I didn’t even know that was a job before then.

I quickly fell in love with the work, because I got to make videos and also look at data and spreadsheets (i’m still a math nerd, don’t forget!) so it was a really cool way of blending my talents and making money fully online. This was pretty much a dream come true.

From then, I went on to work for a few different agencies, and ended up making the decision to move back home to southern New Jersey to be closer to my family (and get shoulder surgery – snowboarding and surfing are not kind to shoulders 🤷‍♀️) I was working as a social media manager, strategist, and director for this agency that I loved, but shortly after my surgery, the agency had to shut down, and I lost my job. This hit me like a ton of bricks. I was frantically looking for another job, but was getting absolutely nowhere. I got two social media management clients though, and the first thoughts of starting my own business began to blossom.

The thought of marketing myself really gives me the ick… so I decided to make a brand, I learned how to build a website, picked out a name, learned enough to design my own logo and build myself a brand kit. I wanted my business to embody my free spirit, adaptability and grit, but also the spirit of the little south jersey beach town I grew up in. So HYTIDE Social was born.

Seagulls get a bad rap – rats of the sky, they’re often called. But I chose the seagull as my logo because they truly embody freedom – they do whatever they want, whenever they want. They are intelligent, adaptable, resourceful, and have a unique ability to thrive in diverse environments. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are quite iconic to the Jersey Shore.

In 2025, being on social media is a non-negotiable for most businesses, but so many business owners want nothing to do with actually posting on social media. I hear things like “it’s overwhelming”, “it’s a time suck”. Many of them at they just don’t know how to do it right, or they feel it’s addictive and toxic. Most people I have spoken to understand the importance of social media for their business, but just don’t have the knowledge, time, or resources to execute.

That’s where I come in. As we touched on before, I have a bachelors in math, which sets me apart from a lot of other social media managers out there. (… and there are a LOT of us out there) This gives me an acute edge when it comes to reading and interpreting the data and analytics, which I use to inform almost every part of my strategy. It also helps in analyzing pieces of content (whether it’s ones I created or competitors I’m researching) to find patterns in the ones that do well and why, While it’s pretty standard for social media managers to provide a monthly report to their clients, I take this multiple levels further. I keep track of some basic metrics weekly, and each month do a comprehensive report where I break down the results and explain it in easy to digest terms so the client knows exactly what’s going on, what’s working, what’s not, what decisions I’m making and why.

I offer full social media strategy & management, which is the core of my business, but along the way there have been a few other things I have found myself doing for people – so I have expanded to also offer basic website design, short-form video editing (mainly for other social media managers who want this off their plate and photographers who offer video to their clients) as well as strategy coaching with a little hand holding. This is for those who may be on a tighter budget and don’t mind doing it themselves, but need some guidance and help along the way. I also just recently included a monthly membership, that was mainly designed for those who did some coaching calls with me so they have an accountability buddy in their back pocket, access to me for any questions they have, monthly 30 minute strategy & data check-ins, and I’ll even edit 3 reels per month for each member enrolled.

Because the ocean and the delicate ecosystems in my home town are so important to me, I donate a portion of each sale to either Surfrider foundation or The American Littoral Society (which promotes the study and conservation of marine life and habitat, protects the coasts from harm, and empowers others to do the same).

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to unlearn is the belief that my worth is tied to how successful I am (at least as in a “traditional” career goes).

On a rational level, I know that’s not true. And yet, this belief was planted in me early and deeply. As a product of Western society, it’s hard not to internalize the message that success = money, status, job title, or some Instagrammable version of stability.

I got the degree, and then I veered off the “expected” path. No corporate ladder. No 401k. No marriage or mortgage or tidy little package of what a “successful adult” is supposed to look like.

Instead, I’ve lived about six lives in one. I’ve followed curiosity over convention. I’ve built resilience instead of resumes (I do have a resume, but its more about portfolios and case studies now) And now I’m building my business and living in alignment with what truly inspires me and lights me up. I still wrestle with the old programming on the daily, but something in me… maybe stubbornness, maybe a quiet knowing… keeps pulling me forward, reminding me that a life well-lived doesn’t have to look like a LinkedIn success story.

I’m still unlearning this every day; some days are easier than others. But that’s part of the lesson, too, no?

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Referrals! This comes up again and again in business, but it is true. The majority of clients come through referrals and I think it comes down simply to the fact that people trust people. I do this all the time in my personal life; I ask people in my network who they use for a certain service, and 9 times out of 10 I’ll go with the recommended person or business versus one I find on Google or Chat GPT.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hytide.social
• Instagram: sweepeverything
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/laurenbroomall

Image Credits
Surfing photo: Rob Weiss (@rob_waves)