Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michelle Felder, LCSW, MA. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Michelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you manage your own social media?
I manage my own social media and have created all of my content. It’s really important to me that what I post is not only unique and engaging, but that it also accurately expresses the information that I want to share and is an authentic reflection of me and my brand – I’ve found that the best way for me to ensure that all of these things happen is to create my content myself. I bring a unique voice and perspective to the information that’s found on my social media, so managing my pages allows me to be confident that it’s that voice that’s shared with the world.
Something that’s common to see on Instagram are accounts that use a consistent color palette, but I intentionally make all of my posts look very different from each other; it’s a reflection of how parenting can change each day, and the process of designing content in this way has shown me how limitless creativity really is. And in order to maintain more work/life harmony while managing this piece of my business, I take social media breaks or give myself a little time off from content creation when I need to recharge. I’m so grateful for all of the incredibly kind and encouraging feedback that I’ve received about my social media, especially my Instagram account; my posts are things that people really enjoy, connect with, learn from, and look forward to.
Michelle, 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?
I founded Parenting Pathfinders® in January of 2020 during my 10th year of working as a school social worker. I loved the work that I was doing and all of the ways that I was able to support the children and their families, but I had an overwhelming urge to help parents and caregivers in a bigger and broader way than only within the walls of my school community. There were so many effective tools and strategies that I had been able to share with the families that I worked with, and I wanted to design a convenient way for families everywhere to be able to access this information too. Parenting is one of the hardest and most important things that humans get to do, but there’s nothing that can truly prepare you for what the experience will be like; children come with no manual, no playbook, no guide. And something that I found to be one of the most unexpected things about being a parent is the immense amount of personal work that it requires; it’s often a process of reparenting the child that we were while parenting the child that we have – so, I set out to create a space that could offer parents support and guidance along their parenting journey.
Parenting Pathfinders® provides online parent coaching and psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and co-parents, as well as online and in-person workshops on a variety of topics related to parenting and child development. The goals of my work are to help parents and caregivers to intentionally and effectively navigate the challenges of raising children, to support their mental and emotional health, to deepen their understanding of their child’s social and emotional needs, and to encourage them to show themselves grace and self-compassion every step of the way.
I’m so grateful for all of the ways that Parenting Pathfinders® has grown and for the incredible opportunities I’ve received that have allowed me to share my insight and expertise with the world. I’ve had the honor of being featured in dozens of online and print publications such as Parents, Ebony, Well + Good, USA Today, National Geographic, and The Huffington Post, and was interviewed for two television segments on NBC LX. Some other career highlights include being invited to give keynote presentations for multiple organizations across the country (most recently at the 2023 NYSAIS Early Childhood and Lower School Leaders Conference), appearing on several podcasts, and being sought after to participate in a growing number of brand partnerships. One of the proudest moments in my career so far was when I released the Parenting Pathfinders® Daily Calendar, which is made up of 365 of my Instagram posts and offers insight, tools, and strategies that can help caregivers parent their best, one day at a time.
At the core of what I do is my passion for helping parents to recognize their strengths so that they can become more effective, connected, and confident caregivers.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I didn’t have any personal social media accounts before starting my business, so creating a social media presence for Parenting Pathfinders® was a daunting task at first, but instead of trying to figure out how to fit into what already existed, I let my goal be to figure out what could set me apart from what was already out there – and I believe that this mindset has contributed to my organic growth of over 64,000 followers. I spent a lot of time thinking about what type of content would be encouraging and inspiring to other parents, what my existing audience enjoyed seeing most, and what type of information they found most helpful.
The best piece of advice that I could offer anyone starting to build their social media presence is to be authentic and be consistent — consistency is essential, and especially at the beginning, getting into the habit of creating content daily can help you in the long run. And always stay true to who you are and what your brand stands for. I encourage people to take advantage of the data provided in your page’s insights – it’ll offer concrete information about what pieces of content your audience engages with most so that you can offer them more of what they like. Also, be sure that your social media is linked to your business website, and get comfortable with sharing about what your social media has to offer and how others can benefit from following you.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
I believe that the growth of any business is rooted in meeting their current client’s needs, and so providing excellent services that are convenient, effective, and offer a fresh perspective has been key to growing my clientele. One of the most satisfying things to me as a business owner is when someone reaches out because they were talking to a family member, friend, or colleague about an aspect of raising kids that’s feeling hard, and Parenting Pathfinders® was recommended as someplace that they could go to for support.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.parentingpathfinders.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parenting_pathfinders/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parentingpathfinders/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DW5g2nvKoYZuI81wg_svg
- Shop: https://parentingpathfinders.myshopify.com Daily Calendar on Amazon.com: https://a.co/d/23mza9n Linktree: https://linktr.ee/parentingpathfinders
Image Credits
Personal photo: Bill Wadman