Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Bange
Hi Melanie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started ohiogirl.travelingworld as a way to blog experiences. To be fully honest, a friend talked me into documenting experiences because I enjoy staying busy. Full time, I work within the realms of social service, education, volunteerism, and juvenile justice; I see lots of families struggling to access experiences and want to be purposeful with how I present “fun”. I finally put some thought into content creation in 2019; at that point, I was a support parent and partner, while still living fully independently, and needed a hobby outlet. When I thought about creating ohiogirl.traveling world, my partner and I loved motorcycle trips, I appreciated highlighting local businesses, visiting community events, and wanted a way to highlight all of these things. I strived to keep the heart of my professional passions. Needless to say, I include cost because money is a stressor. Ohiogirl.traveling world launched in August of 2019; five years later, we continue to highlight free or low cost experiences, membership perks, budget friendly food, low cost fun, blended family life, and we are proud to call Central Ohio home (while doing a lot of roadtrips).
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
If I am honest, I do not really know what road I am on. Truly, that could be a struggle in itself! When I look at balancing professional roles, enjoying life at home, and being involved in different senses of community, I view content creation as a hobby. One of my mottos remains “time is the only currency that I cannot get back”. Some of my best friends at this season of life have come from social media connections. I continue to have so much gratitude for every collaboration, interview, and opportunity. Particularly within Central Ohio, the communities have shifted. But, I constantly love to be at the forefront of sharing new spaces or places that are worth a revisit. With that, content creation has pushed me to try many new things and 2025 for me is the year of simplicity. I am thirty-six years old with a two year old son, ten year old step-son, fourteen year old step-daughter, partner, career, and home; sometimes I juggle too many roles. Throughout my social media journey, I cannot express any more appreciation to life. While I may have no idea of what a smooth road is nor a struggle, I know next steps definitely include building tools to prioritize values that I want to remain in my life in five years (opposed to five minutes from today).
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Professionally in 2025, I oversee two mentoring programs and facilitate parenting programs for a County Juvenile Court. I thrive on being in the community, working with families, and educating others with new approaches (especially from a non-clinical view, with some life coaching philosophies). Ohiogirl.travelingworld is my personal hobby Instagram blog and The Court is fully aware of content. Ohiogirl.travelingworld focuses on accessible and lower cost lifestyle experiences. All of this to say, I do not feel comfortable opening to other forms of social media nor want to over pressure myself with marketing, platform algorithms, and continual media shifts. I am most proud of opportunities and relationships; our family has been able to to have new opportunities and I have been able to include professional clients in new-to-them experiences. One of my favorite stories involves a 17 year old mom. I received a gift card from a hosted event and we ate lunch at the restaurant. The 17 year old tried bubble tea for the first time and fell in love with it! After using the gift card that I received from the event, she realized that she could purchase a bubble tea kit with EBT money and supplement whole milk from WIC, making bubble tea at home utilizing two forms of benefits in productive manners. Had I not been given a gift card and she not had the opportunity to try a new restaurant, she would not have known what bubble tea was or that it was possible for her to make it! I do think one of the things that sets me apart from other content creators is highlighting cost or barriers. Sometimes, I feel that it could be “taboo” to discuss cost and I am not afraid to say if I splurge, what does an over-budget idea look like, how I choose who to share an activity with, or why I choose to take my family to a winery (which, yes almost all alcohol establishments are family friendly in some capacity).
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up in a very military family. The majority of my family lives in the Shreveport-Bossier City area of Louisiana, both of my grandfathers were Air Force officers, and my father was an officer in The Navy. My father’s whole career centered around Naval Aviation and logistics. My parents are still together and I have one sister who is fifteen months younger. Currently, my parents live about an hour and a half from Central Ohio; my sister lives in the Colorado Springs area and we have vastly different lifestyles. I am very much a juggling career woman who firmly believes in process, while my sister thrives on staying home with her children and caring for her husband. I was born in California, we moved to The Philippines and my father retired from the military in Rhode Island. After his retirement and when I was ten years old, my mother decided that we would live in Ohio. Holding her career as Children’s Librarian, she wanted Midwest roots for our family. Because my Mom was the primary caretaker for both my sister and I during our formative years and has an educational background of literacy, she exposed us to a lot of experiences most children could only dream about. Sometimes, I feel like I got my spark for travel and diving into culture through her. I do wish that she would have communicated a bit more about the needs of finances and location; blessings of experience were not something I connected until adulthood. The best example of that is my favorite food as a child; when we moved to Ohio, I was ten years old, living in Rhode Island, and my favorite food was fresh lobster. My mother actively tried to sell me on the idea that corn would be better than fresh lobster; however, when you are that young and can no longer walk to the beach to purchase lobster for $3/pound, the reality of losing your favorite food hits pretty quick! My father has always been a financially conscious individual and loves to center his life around food. I firmly believe that he taught me the value of exploring small businesses and what you eat helps fuel your feelings. As far as general personality goes, I consistently identify as an introverted-extrovert; my Mother is overly extroverted and opinionated, my Father is much more reserved. With ohiogirl.travelingworld, I constantly struggle to place myself in the center of posting and am much more comfortable behind the content creation, opposed to placing myself in front of any forms of media.
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