We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mana Shaw-Rodriguez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mana, 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?

My page and mission is to bring more visibility of the LGBTQ+ community. I want to show that you can live a “normal” life as a same-sex married couple with kid(s). I want to help that person that is struggling with themselves to see they are able to be unapologetically themselves! While coming out in a a process and isn’t always easy, it does get better!
You can live the life you’ve always dreamed of! There’s an amazing community ready to accept you when you are ready!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Mana and I moved to Maui 7 years ago. I started sharing my life and my adventures around Maui. This beautiful island has so much beauty that I wanted to share it with the world. At the same time, I began connecting with my LGBTQ community online.
It felt good to connect with so many amazing individuals , couples, and family’s all over the globe!
Visibility is so important. It’s important to help those that might be struggling with who they are and also know they are not alone.
As an LGBTQ person, I want my audience to know that you can be yourself, still have the same dreams as everyone else, still have a family, while being gay.

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

Building my social media presence started gradually. I really enjoyed posting photos of my adventures and connecting with other LGBTQ+ individuals, couples, and families. Consistency, engagement and collaborations are important for building an audience.
First find your niche, are you going to talk about recipes? Are you going to show travels?
It’s important to stick with your niche when you are building your social media presence. Engage with accounts that are doing similar things. Connect with the people that comment on your posts/followers.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The community that’s out there! I love connecting with the people and followed that are on my page! I feel like we can learn so much about people all over the world. A lot of the individuals I connect with are within the same niche of LGBTQ+ families and lifestyle. It’s been great to make friends through Instagram.
I’ve also connecting with different people that I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t this page. I connect as some come to Maui or I travel to other parts of the world.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/manacs1
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manacs1?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Wedding photo : Savannah Glasgow @savannahglasgowphoto NYC: flytographer – Sehee