We recently connected with Melissa Lewis and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, 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?

I suppose I view myself as someone that loves to discover and explore new things, places, and foods and I feel like social media is a great vehicle to share those experiences. While I definitely channel that through my international travels, I have never believed that I need to go abroad in order to have the experience of discovery and exploration. I think that is something we can all experience right here at home. I meet so many people that visit the same 5 restaurants and do the same 5 activities and they are the same people that claim that living in Ohio is boring.

Why are you going to the same 5 places?
Why aren’t you trying to be a tourist in your own city?

Why aren’t trying to see what else there is to do, see, and taste?
I see my Instagram account as a way to assist others on their journey to discovery in Cincinnati. There are so many small businesses that need our support that are doing an outstanding job curating high level food, events, and experiences right here. I use my Instagram page to collaborate with these businesses to spotlight them and inspire others to try something new and find a new favorite thing to do or restaurant to love. My culinary palette is diverse so I enjoy everything from food trucks to fine dining — and as long as it is good, I share it. Don’t get me wrong, I have major chains that I am a fan of too, but the little guy is where I have a soft spot in my heart for.

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

I am an east coast Puerto Rican chef from Connecticut that moved to Cincinnati to marry my high school sweetheart. Moving here motivated me to become a tourist in my city and helped me to fall in love with my new home! What I do is share my favorite things, places, bites, and events with my followers. I capture and edit video and photos that represents what my experience with them is like and share it on my Instagram page so that others are motivated to check them out too. As a smaller content creator, it is never lost on me when a business reaches out to collaborate with me. There are so many incredible local content creators with larger follower bases than myself so to choose me is always extremely flattering and not something I take lightly. I know that their business is their baby and I work hard to create high quality content to shine them in their best light and share what it’s like for a regular person like me to experience them. Between visiting the business, taking photos and video, editing them, writing copy for the post, choosing background music, and doing voiceover work, I can spend up to 4 hours creating each post I do and I post almost every day. So it really is a labor of love.

I have a goofy personality so my sense of humor is usually sprinkled into my content. I’m also not afraid to admit when I’m not good at something so I share that as well. For example, I went to a virtual golfing experience, and it turns out I am terrible at it! Despite that, I had so much fun and shared that honest, authentic experience with my followers which is something that I think a lot of people can connect with. Social media often presents these “perfect” experiences and moments. But few memories are perfect and you don’t have to be talented or an expert to have a good time. I find that the most memorable and hilarious experiences we have is when we goof up. So when I share an experience with my followers they know they are getting the real deal and what it was like for me.

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

At present, my following is small but I do experience steady, consistent growth and my audience is highly engaged. I think they stay engaged because I work hard to post consistently and at a high-quality level. I’m honest about what my favorite things are when I go there. The best thing you can do is be yourself. In the beginning I put a lot of pressure to be more like the other influencers that I admired. But you differentiate yourself and grow by being you, not by being like other people. That is what is going to attract your audience. People don’t want to see clones of other people. They want to see you. I think that can be a hard concept to personally accept, especially when you are starting because you don’t feel like you bring value when you are new and small. But once you do accept that people want to see you the way that you actually are, it is highly liberating. I think people get tired of seeing things that look “perfect.” Thankfully everything about me is highly imperfect! I have wild hair, a curvy plus size figure, I’m silly, athletically challenged, and I’m happy to share even the things that go wrong. So being able to laugh at myself and find a way to translate that into my content creation has been very helpful. Another key component for success and growth is connecting with others that are doing the same thing you are trying to do. I am extremely appreciative that the influencers in the Cincinnati community have been extremely kind to me and freely shared their tips, tricks, and have supported me. They did no gate-keeping and freely offered to help, assist, and even collaborate with me and mention my name in spaces that I was not a part of so I could be included too. I am forever grateful for them. So making sure that you support, connect, and engage with others doing what you are doing is absolutely integral to growing your space.

Another tip I was given was to have the courage to be the one to reach out first to collaborate with a business. That was hard to do because it requires more boldness than I naturally have. But once you realize that your work has value, that becomes easier to do. At some point you realize the businesses are reaching out to you more than you are reaching out to them and that is a beautiful, affirming moment because that’s the proof that it’s working.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I feel like I am always a little embarrassed when I’m out to eat and I’m taking all these pictures and video before I eat because I feel like it makes me look like I’m shallow and only care about Instagram. While it is possible that someone may be thinking that, I remind myself that what I am actually doing is helping my favorite small businesses by inspiring others to discover them for the first time or reminding them that it’s high time that they return. Thankfully, at this point most of my friends know this is my thing now so they understand that my camera eats first when we go out together! I’ve said in my last interview that I feel like my Instagram page is my love letter to Cincinnati and that is still true. I only share the things that I love and running this page has gifted me the opportunity to connect with the owners of large and small businesses and really get to see all the hard work they put in behind the scenes to create an amazing customer experience. I love when I am able to share that sneak peek with others.

Contact Info:

• Website: Cincycurlyfoodietravelgirl.com
• Instagram: @cincycurlyfoodietravelgirl

Image Credits
Arthur Lewis Jr