Conversations with Melissa Lewis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Lewis.

Hi Melissa, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I am not from Cincinnati. I grew up in Connecticut and relocated to Cincinnati to marry my high school sweetheart. When you live on the East Coast so close to New York, many have the idea that the Mid West is all just farmland and that there isn’t much to do. In addition, my husband, as someone born and raised here, he had always felt like there wasn’t anything to do. For me, I had just moved to a brand-new state, and I wanted see, taste, and do everything to get to know my new city! That eagerness to take it all in has helped me to get to know and truly love Cincinnati and to make it feel like home to me. I love people, and I have a passion for food. I graduated from culinary school, so that deep love for food combined with always being down to travel–I feel like it put me in an ideal position to really dive in. I’ve gotten to know it so well that my friends and coworkers, who are native Cincinnatians, would start coming to me asking for food or event recommendations. While telling a story about your favorite restaurant or event is good, it can only go so far. People want to know, was it really that cool? Did it really taste that delicious? So, I thought it would be a good idea to create an Instagram account to add a visual component to my favorite places and things to do.

My Instagram account is essentially a love letter to Cincinnati and its vibrant culinary scene. I feel like with social media, the way you post a picture or the way you film a restaurant or event is a way to show what a fan you are. And if I’m a fan, why wouldn’t I want to do my part to help see your business thrive? I believe my Instagram is an excellent way to help support local businesses, especially since so many were impacted during COVID.

Instagram helped me to find events and what’s happening in the city, and I hope with my account I am able to return the favor and help others discover something new too. Whether it’s to help a native fall back in love with their city or help another out-of-state transplant discover their new favorite spot, or help build up local businesses, I want to be a part of that journey for others.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I suppose one of my biggest challenges is that I decided to take on food and travel influencing without a lot of photo or video editing knowledge. I am literally learning as I go, and I hope I’m getting better with time!

Another challenge is making sure I am true to myself and only share things that I truly love. I have so many establishments and restaurants I love, but the reality is that not every single thing I eat or every event I go to is amazing. Sometimes there is pressure to post how you feel about every little thing, good or bad. But I feel like one of the greatest and most challenging things a person can do is be kind. I believe that part of being kind is following mama’s rules, which is, if you ain’t got anything good to say, don’t say it at all!

So, whenever I share something on my page, I only share what are truly my favorite things. If there is something I don’t like, I simply won’t recommend or post about it. I may try 5 different things at a restaurant, but I will only share what I absolutely love.

Just like people, restaurants aren’t perfect, but that doesn’t mean they are all bad if one item on their menu doesn’t blow my mind. So, I make sure I highlight the best part of any business I choose to post. I recognize the power that social media holds to help or harm a business, so it’s important to me to be honest about what I love so I can build trust within the community and businesses. And if I don’t like it, I simply won’t share it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m generally pretty wordy as person–in real life and on paper. I find that many Instagram bloggers write less, which makes sense since people want to scroll through Instagram and find what they need quickly. I tried to simplify my reviews and my thoughts but realized that it wasn’t me. I love storytelling, and it’s a big part of what I do on my Instagram page, so I try hard to be true to me and share how I feel, whether it takes me 2 sentences or 4 loaded paragraphs. I have found that it has helped me to build a following that trusts and appreciates me because of it. I would rather have 200 loyal followers that love my content and blogging style than a thousand that I just appease.

It brings me a lot of pride and joy when I see an email or a DM from a follower and they say, ‘you were so right, that restaurant was delicious!’ There are so many Instagram pages to follow, but to hear that I have earned their trust and then they go spend their hard-earned money based on my recommendation means the world to me and makes feel good about supporting our local businesses.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think that putting yourself out there publicly on social media for anyone to follow is always a risk. By definition, an influencer account is you sharing your opinion, and there is no shortage of those! You are opening yourself up to a world of criticism and comparison to others. You might even do it to yourself. How does my page compare to theirs? Why do they have more followers or more engagement on their page? Maybe I should dress or look like them. I have a strong sense of self, and I don’t view myself as “in competition” with others. I see myself as one small piece of an incredible Cincinnati influencer pie that works hard to add value in my own way but not at the expense of others. I believe that everyone brings value and uniqueness in their own way and that there is room for everyone at the table to celebrate those differences.

I don’t consider myself a risk taker, but I also believe that you miss out on 100% of the chances you don’t take. I believe in making decisions in a thoughtful, well-informed way. If decisions are made in this type of way, I don’t think it feels so much as risk as it does an intention which I can feel good about.

I picked up blogging as a hobby but if I’m able to create income from something that I love doing then that would be amazing. I’m interested in trying to monetize my page but that is a whole new world for me with lots of learning curves which would definitely be risky for me. But at the end of the day, I do this because it’s fun to me. If it stays a hobby, that’s fine, if it becomes a business then that would just be a cherry on top of something I already love.