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

Martha, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?

My hero is actually someone most people from the 1980’s/1990’s would know. I met her online in twitter over 14 years ago when I helped her learn how to navigate how to use twitter. She gave me the nickname Twitter Hero, which has stuck. We have been friends til this day, even though we have never got the chance to meet in person. I’m hoping one day we will.
My hero is Kathy Ireland, former Supermodel turned Entrepreneur, Super Mogul. Her first job was delivering newspapers, at 16 she was scouted and became a model. In 1993 she created kiWW- Kathy Ireland Worldwide. She started her entrepreneurial with a pair of socks for Kmart. Now she has everything you could ever need, for you home, or accessories for just about anything. Kathy has a pet line as well, children’s line, furniture, etc. You name it. She is an Inspiration to many. She has written several books, a couple I have that she sent me inscribed when I went through breast cancer in 2012. All her employees and her have the most amazing hearts. I am friends with quite a few of them as well. I’ve received flowers when my mom passed, and when my twin passed and many more times over the years. She & her husband Greg are both Truly Amazing. Greg gave me some good advice when I had Covid really bad in 2019, he is an ER doctor. So his suggestions helped me on what to do to get better. Kathy also has many wedding destinations and vacation destinations that can be booked too. But the biggest thing that makes me love her the most. Her love for people, mankind. Kathy’s relationship with Elizabeth Taylor is one of the most cherished experiences she said in her entire life. “Like many people, her family supported HIV/AIDS fundraising, and Elizabeth revolutionized our worldview. She made suffering so personal, and she taught everyone new ways to express love.”
Kathy is a big advocate for Elizabeth Taylor’s aids foundation. So, Yes, my hero is truly Kathy Ireland. She is an Angel on earth.
There is just soooo much more she does. You just cannot list it all here. Our birthdays are 8 days apart and we are the same age. I’m just 8 days older. LoL

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a 60 year old Mom of 3 adult children, 41, 39 & 37.. I have 7 grandchildren ages 9 to 18 and 1 great grandchild age 1. I grew up in a Detroit suburb of Michigan in a large family. I had a twin brother who passed away in June 2019.

I’ve always been creative, I drew cartoon characters on my bedroom walls as a child, in elementary school starting in 7th grade a group of my friends and I started writing a book together. But in 8th grade our teacher Sister Rogers took it saying it was a waste of energy she promised to return it at the end of the school year. But she destroyed it instead. I attended catholic school from pre-k through 8th grade. Some years experiences were not bad, and some were not good. Not all the nuns were pleasant.
But the best thing that came from all those years is I still have friends from 1st grade and up to this day. We have bbq’s and gatherings. We call each other brothers and sisters. We grew up together and have each others backs. 55 years of friendship, and I’m not talking just 1 or 2 people. There are over 40 of us. I’m blessed to have these people in my life so long from elementary school. Plus the same for almost 40 years of high school friends, there are 17 of us who regularly get together for dinners. I try to make it to each monthly dinner. But that isn’t easy, everyone has crazy schedules. But the dinners are scheduled every month.

Even though I was born and raised in Michigan. I have lived in 9 states and been to 37. I love traveling. I love road-trips.
I have 2 motto’s I live by.
1: Life is an adventure, enjoy the journey with every step on the way!
2: Life is about helping others, even if it’s only one person at a time.

I got into Social Media Marketing & Advertising by chance. My youngest son created my business name and made the first logo because I was helping to book him for music gigs. I had worked in the movie industry in New York for a movie producer and thought ok. I can do this. So I taught myself how to make creative advertising videos and ads. Being color blind to dark colors kinda sets me apart from others as this was a challenge, but I figured it out through different programs and apps I use. People commented how much they liked the videos I was creating and so I thought I could use that talent in my volunteer work that I do. It just took off from there.
I use my creative ads & networking talents to help small businesses, especially in my community.
I am on the Millington Michigan Chamber of Commerce I created and I run their social media and set up the grand opening/ribbon cuttings for new businesses, plus take videos and photos for their events and created their website. Plus help with fundraisers and whatever they need.
I am on the Board of the Millington Michigan Downtown Development Authority and I created and run their social media, helping bring awareness to what a DDA does for businesses in our community.
I am on the Board of Directors at New Light Child & Family Institute. I created them a new website, help run their social media. They provide Foster Care and Adoption services across several mid-Michigan communities. Their goal is to strengthen individuals and families through education, advocacy and family centered treatments. They are a 501c3 non-profit corporation. I am proud to be a volunteer board member that helps with their fundraising and bringing awareness to the need for foster parents for children.
I am the Marketing director for Warriors Hope a 501c3 non-profit organization that is totally funded by donation, they provide free services for all Michigan veterans through many programs.

I provide many of the local businesses with advertising services. I have had clientele from all over Michigan through word of mouth recommendations leading to clientele in different states to even Spain (yes, Spain). I’ve had clients from restaurants, hair salons, comedians, small grocery stores, quilting store, massage therapy spa, wood working shop, heating and cooling, recreational vehicle sales, musicians, veteran’s non-profit organizations, vacuum store, Lawncare & pressure washing company, semi trailer building & welding business, Certified life coaches, beauty product sales, eyebrow micro blading business, and several non-profit organizations that I volunteer with. Whew, that is a lot when you see it in writing, lol. My mind rarely shuts down, so even when I’m contacted by a new client and it’s a business I’ve never done an ad about. My mind just jumps in gear. I request clear photos and videos of their services they provide so I can incorporate that into a creative video or ad that match their exact services. My newest client is Dump the Stump, LLC in Ortonville MI. They do tree stump removal. This was a new industry to me, but my mind came up with ideas and catchy ads for them. I love creating and my mind just takes over. A few months ago I helped a former client recover her Facebook business page that got taken over by scammers/hackers who tagged her page that her page content was compromised and she needed to verify her info through a link they provided as they were pretended to be from Meta/Facebook security. Unfortunately she clicked the link and they took over her business page, removed her as an administrator and changed a lot of things on her business page, business name, picture, info, posts, etc. She contacted me & since I was still an administrator on her page, they had not deleted me. Only her as the owner and I was able to remove them, report them & block them, and recover the business page and change everything back. Facebook took 7 days to change business name back per their guidelines of a recent name change already done, plus they did nothing regarding the scammers. I always tell my clients to ALWAYS have another full access administrator you trust to stay on your page even if they don’t do anything. It can save you a headache if something like this happens to your business page. My clients know they can trust me to save them when needed. Everyone should be about helping others. Our world needs more of that.
As someone who deals with seizures, I have days where my head says not today Martha. It’s bedrest for you. Those days I sleep and give my brain a recoup, sometimes I will sleep nearly 24 hrs. Everyone is great in understanding that I am disabled, but I refuse to let it completely disable me. But there are days I have no choice, weather changes, stress, doing too much can set my head off as I say. Leaving me down for the count and in bed for a day or two. But I do not let it deter me from being able to do my best for others and the volunteer work I do. So I guess you could say I am most proud of that fact.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I would say listening to what my client wants. By providing clear advertising of what their business services are that they offer and making the ads creative to draw attention to a clients business. To me, It’s a partnership in business to help them grow! I’m alway checking with them on how they are liking my services, if they need anything changed, if they have any upcoming special offers, etc.

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

Most people think building an audience on Social media is going to be easy. It’s not. You have to work at it. Figure out what works and what doesn’t to draw people to your page. Yeah, you invite all your family and friends to follow/like your page. But you have to get your page shared out there. Just having your family and friend follow or like your page is not going to draw in more business. There is that saying. It takes $0 to support local small businesses by sharing their page or suggesting their products. Ask your current customers to write a review and to share and recommend you on their own pages. It’s all about word of mouth that helps build your presence and business. Heck even having a clear photo of your business card shared, is still something. It’s Share, Share, Share!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.swartzmanagement.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/swartz_management?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SwartzManagement/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marthaswartz
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/swartzmgmt
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@swartzmanagement1161
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@swartzmanagement?_t=8d9PAUaBWV0&_r=1
• Kathy Ireland Worldwide: www.kathyireland.com
• New Light Child & Family Institute: www.newlightchildfamily.com
• Warriors Hope: www.warriors-hope.org

Image Credits
Martha Swartz