Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Summers.
Hi Lisa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I went to school at Norfolk State University for Marketing as I always had a joy of pitching concepts and selling products. I worked in the corporate arena for over 20 years and in March 2023, I was told that my job of almost 10 years was being eliminated. I took this period to re-evaluate what I wanted to do and realized I love to be on the go and try new experiences and if I could share those places with the world, it would be my dream career.
Everyone is always telling me I know so many places to go local and abroad. All of my friends come to me for ideas every week therefore I started sharing this through social media and realized when I posted unique experiences around Baltimore and the DMV area, those posts got the most views. I quickly realized that this was something many people wanted. They wanted more things to do that were not food or bar centered. They wanted more date night ideas and places to take their children to! Many parents were wanting to go out but didn’t have the time or know how to find out what was happening this weekend and I could give them just that.
I want to share light on unique experiences offered by locals such as the picnic crush business I recently shared who will set up a romantic picnic for you or companies who do sunset cruises on the harbor. I want to use this platform to bring more business to our local businesses in the area to support our region and give back to my community. There is so much here but so many people do not even know about it or where to find it.
Although some tourists are loving my post to find things to do when they visit, I want the locals to act as tourists in their towns and find new and hidden gems they never knew existed! Many are commenting saying that I am showing them places they didn’t know existed and they have lived here their whole lives.
Living in Baltimore, I focus on many Baltimore places to go and things to do but I realize there are places within a 1-2 hour drive that many Baltimoreans didn’t even know about so that is why I ended up expanding to all of Maryland. There are so many amazing things to do here and I just want people to step out of their day-to-day, same old routine and do something new and unique. My ItsSummersSomewhere motto is: Just Go!
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It was not smooth due to 8 months ago, I didn’t know how to work Instagram or Tiktok, so I had to take classes and get help on that. Then being that I am from the corporate world, people said I sounded like a commercial for businesses vs. a person who experienced it and wanted you to just know about it.
It took some months for me to understand what the audience wanted and my voice/brand. Many days I felt mentally exhausted and wondered if I could ever do it because I was pushing out so much with so few views in return but with anything, it only took that 1 video to hit a million views and that pushed me forward.
Another thing is people’s comments blew me away. One video, I did about a wine festival at the Baltimore Harbor was well received and people appreciated it but I got a lot of no one wants to come to Baltimore due to violence or other negativity. This revved me up to keep pushing Baltimore content to show people that Baltimore is amazing and it’s a lot of positive people and events happening here.
There are some racist statements on some of my posts and hatred but I cannot control other people’s actions, only my own so I am taking a stance to just keep everything positive and push forward. The positive comments and followers far outweigh the negative ones so I would say positivity is winning!
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?
I specialize in content creation on social media. What I am known for is showing unique experiences and fun places to go.
What sets me apart is that I talk on most of my videos give my recommendations and show family content. When I say family I do not mean just for kids but things for the parents to go do for a date night away for kids or a relaxing day for mom to just get some me time. I prefer being a well-balanced mom and showing a wide range of activities to do.
I think many others in my field niched down to only date night or only kid-friendly and I combined those things which seem to work well on Instagram the most.
I started posting consistently on Instagram 5 weeks ago and grew from 2200 followers to 40k because of how much people have been wanting and needing content similar to this and are happy to get new fresh ideas on where to go and what to do.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I did not have this business during covid and actually, my son was born Feb. 2020 so I was on maternity leave and raising a newborn during the beginning of covid.
I wanted to get out and be free yet we were trapped homebound. If anything, life is too short and we all need to live it while we can. We should be sure to take care of ourselves and try new things when we can. Go to as many places as you want because you never know when it can all shut down again or be gone.
Contact Info:
- Website: Itssummerssomewhere.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/itssummerssomewhere
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/itssummerssomewhere
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SummersSomewhere
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@itssummerssomewhere?_t=8bDIDjDxdCI&_r=1
