Speaker 1: 0:07

Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson, and today we are joined by the powerhouse duo behind one of the most followed and, let's be honest, most trusted local accounts in Dallas Dallas Sites 101. 101. So if you've ever asked yourself where should we eat tonight, what's happening this weekend or how do I meet new people in Dallas, chances are you've ended up scrolling their feed or checking their website. What started as two friends exploring their new city has turned into a full-blown movement, one that's connected thousands of people to local businesses, hidden gems and, most importantly, to each other.

Speaker 1: 0:45

Dallas Sites 101 isn't just about places. It's about people. It's becoming a go-to resource in a real-life community builder, from their wildly popular mixers and speed dating events to their neighborhood guides and curated recommendations. I am so excited to have the founders on the show today to hear the full story how it all started and what it's really like running one of the most influential platforms in town, and what's next for the brand that's helped so many feel at home in Dallas. Ladies, I am so excited to have you here today. This has been in the works for many months and I have been dying to meet you, and I can't wait to introduce you to our guest today. So welcome to the show. Thank you for having us. Well, please introduce yourselves, because there probably is a few people out there that may not know about Dallas Sites 101, and tell us what brought you to Dallas.

Speaker 2: 1:39

So I'm Lily Smith, formerly Cramley Taylor. My last name is like a little bit of a thing since I got married, but I am originally from California. I went to school on the East Coast, kara did as well, and we went to similar schools and we hooked up in Dallas when we both moved here for jobs. Kind of randomly. We ended up here without a huge community and that's what pretty much led to wanting to start Dallasites. We were finding our community here. We were exploring the city and having fun and wanted to show that off on Instagram.

Speaker 3: 2:13

Yeah, lily shared it beautifully. I'm Kara Sakala. Also, we got married around the same time, which is funny. We share a lot of similarities or milestones together, but just really excited to share our journey.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Okay, well, let's start from the beginning, because you literally started out as transplants from other states and then you came here. You started this amazing account. How did it all start?

Speaker 3: 2:37

Yeah, it's a great question. We moved here both for jobs, but Lily also had some friends through study abroad, a little bit of a sense of Dallas and wanting to be in the city. But honestly, we got here. We met each other within a month of moving here. We did not know each other prior to Dallas. We get that question a lot and we didn't. We just became fast friends. We both had in common going to school on the East Coast and wanting to just make Dallas feel like home since we had moved here and lived here now. So we started exploring about a year into just being really outgoing joining groups, trying lots of things. Did it dawn on us to start Dallas 8101 as a resource, just to encourage others to get to know the city too?

Speaker 1: 3:17

Well, I think you really had an advantage of being from out of town, because so often, when we live in a town for many, many years or all of our lives, we don't really get out and appreciate all the uniqueness and all the stuff that our town has to offer. And so I think you guys both did a really amazing job of jumping in there and just you have a zest for life and a zest for excitement to explore your new town, right?

Speaker 2: 3:44

a zest for life and a zest for excitement to explore your new town, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll never forget one of so. I had a lot of friends who went to SMU and when I was first here, I fell in love with Bishop Arts. I thought it was such a cool neighborhood and I remember I took everyone down there for brunch and one of my friends was like how did you even know about this neighborhood? Like I went to SMU for four years and didn't even know this place existed, and that just blew my mind. I was like this is what do you mean? This is like 20 minutes down the road. This is such a cute neighborhood. Like how do you live in Dallas for years and just not know this exists?

Speaker 1: 4:16

No, I agree a hundred percent. My daughter is at UT in Austin and she stays in her little sorority fraternity bubble and she does not explore the town. I constantly send her stuff from your account and I'm like you've got to go to this and you've got to see this. But she and I both love Bishop Arts and, like you said, it's only 20 minutes away.

Speaker 3: 4:36

Yeah, I think, starting off by not having that sense of belonging but being hungry for it, really wanting to make the city feel like home, we just we dove right in and we realized, gosh, now we could create that resource, we could be that bridge and encourage others to do the same.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Well, let's take it from the beginning. I know you started very small, just kind of posting things for fun with your experiences from being new in Dallas. But how did it all start?

Speaker 3: 5:03

Rip the bandaidAid off.

Speaker 3: 5:04

I mean really technically, how it started was. We had a conversation, I think, at the Starbucks in West Village. I wish it was a local business because that would make me happier about this, but it was the Starbucks, and Lily and I were just talking about our experience of discovering the city, wanting to create a resource, feeling like with our own friends, talking with real examples and people, this sense of wow we're recommending and what to do. Why don't we just do this on a larger scale? We got lucky.

Speaker 3: 5:33

We moved here in 2014, and I looked at some census data that said that Dallas had more people moving there every day than any other city in America. So we were a part of a huge moment. And still the domestic migration into Texas is huge, but in Dallas in that year it was palpable. So we kind of caught on to that momentum, realized, beyond our own friends and network, let's start something larger, reach more people and just help them discover the city. So I think Lily's like this is a lot. I'm like what about the name Dallas Heights 101? She's like this is sounding awesome. Do we post a lot of food? But it just was a big conversation, one conversation, and I think Lily literally said like let's sleep on it, and then in the morning we ripped that bandaid off and we just started posting and we went for it and we also got lucky with Instagram.

Speaker 2: 6:26

You know, in 2015, when we finally started, instagram was taking off. Everyone was jumping on. Having 10,000 followers was like having a million followers today. So we chose the right platform at the right time. As Kara mentioned, everyone was moving to Dallas too, so the stars just kind of aligned for us to have experience really fast growth right away. And, yeah, we just dove in headfirst and then we didn't stop. We started hosting events around town, we started a newsletter, we built a website. We just fell in love with the entrepreneurial side of it and also the side of just connecting with people and helping businesses and hearing from people that we'd help them find a community, meet friends, find their new favorite restaurant. So it just became became addicting.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Every spring in the park cities we all notice it, that funny taste in the water. It's that time of year when algae buildup takes over. And let's be real, the water quality in Dallas isn't exactly improving, With so many chemicals being added to the water to treat that algae. And it's not just about taste. Those chemicals can wreck your hair, dry out your skin and, worst of all, get absorbed into your child's body. That's where Mother Modern Plumbing comes in. They're one of the few certified water tech filtration distributors in Texas, which means they don't just install any filtration system, they install the best. Their expert plumbers genuinely care about your family's health and well-being, because clean water isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Protect your family before dry hair and questionable water becomes the norm. Call Mother today at callmothercom. So when you both came here, you actually had other jobs that you were working on, and then you just kind of started this right. Yes, how did you juggle both things?

Speaker 3: 8:16

It's a whirlwind. We're at our 10-year anniversary this year, so we started the account in 2015, and I'm processing the first five years. The first five years it was just me and Lily, and in 2019, so about four years into it is when we took the jump into full-time. But it was exhilarating as much as it was exhausting. I mean it was a really fun, explosive time. I worked at Teach for America. I started as an assistant to a phenomenal executive director, alex Hales, an incredible female role model, and I think the whole culture of that organization just role modeled for me what it looked like to care, be really passionate and work really hard too. So I'm so grateful. After assisting her, I moved into marketing and events there, and then Lily had a background in marketing, pr, in tech, if you kind of want to share a little bit about, yeah, your role too.

Speaker 2: 9:02

Yeah, I was at Hill Olson Strategies, which is a corporate communications firm, but my client was AT&T, so I was down at their headquarters which was on. It was a really cool experience. I did not think I was ever going to be put on this AT&T account, but getting you know cause when you're applying for jobs I wasn't applying to AT&T, I was applying to Hill Knowlton and then all of a sudden I was, you know, at a top 10, you know, one of the top 10 largest companies in the world getting to work on their communication. So that was a really cool experience. But I think we also again the stars just aligned.

Speaker 2: 9:35

We are at a time in our lives when we're in our young 20s, single, and could come home at night and pour, you know, hours into this, staying up until 1, 2 am, things that I just one physically you know my brain shuts down at like 11 pm now but also with a husband and with other priorities just don't have that immense amount of time that we did at the beginning. We were just like living in this dream state of building something so fast, pouring so much time into it waking up, going to a photo shoot before work, meeting up at lunch taking photos at lunch somewhere in downtown so we could get our posts ready, and then going back to work. And then after work, yeah again, just hopping online and staying online for hours until we fell asleep. So it was just day in and day out, but it was so worth it. It was really cool. I'm glad.

Speaker 3: 10:25

Lily shared that color because in my mind it's like I can see it, but I don't know if we necessarily don't say it, if it's really illustrating just the hustle and the heart that was behind it. Like I would pack extra clothes with me at work to go to the bathroom in the office building to do my hair change, to make it to like sometimes, two dinners in one night that we would go to just for the sake of networking content experiences. It was wild, Like I just unbelievable the fact that we kind of did it all and we excelled at our full-time roles as much as starting our own company at the same time.

Speaker 1: 10:58

Well, what was the very moment that you realized, hey, we've got something here and maybe we should, like you know, stop our normal jobs here and, like, focus on this 100%?

Speaker 3: 11:09

Yeah, no, that's a great question. I think there's layers to it and we'll each have unique responses. I think for me, I knew we had something when I pitched the idea. That's my personality, like if I get an idea and I'm obsessed with it or I'm all about it, like from day one. As soon as it's committing to the idea, I'm all in. But for leaving the jobs, I mean that was a financial one and really thoughtful, and we didn't know. What also comes with being a big idea person is I don't always think about the monetization side, and I was working at a nonprofit at the time. So actually getting to a point where there was security and confidence that the income of what we could be earning working for ourselves was truly equal or greater than what we were earning at our full-time jobs. We were really fortunate in that we had that proven at that point and, lily, I don't know if you have to add to that- I think the only thing to add is I think you know why 2019?

Speaker 2: 12:04

I think one it was financial. We were starting to see that, yeah, we're making more through Dallas sites than with our full-time jobs. But also we were getting to an inflection point in our own careers. You know, four years into the real world, we were observing, you know, a lot of our friends were starting to make career changes or moves. Or, four years in you, in you learn a lot about what I liked from my first few one or two jobs, what I liked about that city, those people, and you're ready to maybe try something else. I think it's just like a natural inflection point for a lot of people in their 20s. And we were getting to those points in our careers. I think we were both ready for the next step and it was just very obvious. Well, we have this company that's literally producing, you know, rivals income that we're making through our jobs. Why don't we just, if our next move is going to be anywhere, why wouldn't it be at least giving this a shot, right?

Speaker 1: 12:55

I wanted to give a personal thank you to our good friend and show sponsor, kathy Elwall State Farm Agency. We have known Kathy for more than 15 years and there is no person we trust more when it comes to insurance than Kathy Elwald. Kathy is always available to help you find the right insurance for your family needs, whether it's covering your home, auto or providing a life insurance policy tailored to the unique needs of families in Highland Park. My family trusts Kathy with our insurance and we hope you will too. Please visit kathylwallcom to learn more and let her know that Martha from the Bubble Lounge sent you. Well, what kept you both motivated when people weren't really paying attention yet? Because I just was talking with some high schoolers recently at our Highland Park Literary Fest and told them that, like when you first start something new, people really aren't paying attention. It's not until you get kind of good at it that they really pay attention. So what kept you going?

Speaker 3: 13:53

Yeah, it's a great point. I think part of it is just the belief and idea. One of our core values is conviction, and it's hard when someone feels that conviction to be unstoppable, right, it's hard to just kind of put the brakes on that. So I think part of the motivation was really the fire just behind believing in it. Another is being a co-founder. I don't take that for granted. We know a lot of entrepreneurs Shout out to EO Dallas, a group that we were part of and a network of entrepreneurs. But being a co-founder, I think it was as much of oh my gosh, I care about this thing, as I didn't want to let Lily down and being able to also talk about like did you post? What's the next post? Do you have an idea? Just having that shoulder to shoulder, equal stake and wanting to do this together, it honestly was a huge motivator just to feel like you have someone else in this too who cares just as much, who you don't really want to let down and you want to keep going with it.

Speaker 1: 14:48

Sure, Well, so you all have built quite the community. It's way beyond just a pretty Instagram page. What do you think motivates people to want to be a part of this and to engage with it? I mean, you have brought together people from all over the community.

Speaker 2: 15:08

I think you know we just and actually this is what I was going to say before again, stars aligned right place, right time. We were, you know, when Instagram was really starting out, everyone was jumping on to be fashion bloggers. We were really the first city blogger. There was also a lot of food accounts, but they were food only. So we were one of the first kind of big accounts that really took what, you know, newspapers and traditional media were doing for a city and put it on Instagram, and so I think that is like what rallied people around it.

Speaker 2: 15:36

You know, when the winter storm came, we were a huge resource. People engaged massively with us to help others in the community. You know, we would throw stories day in and day out where can you get groceries right now? Like what gas stations are open and people were engaged with us because they knew that that information didn't just go to us, but it went back to the community, and I think we see that all the time.

Speaker 2: 15:57

People are always sending us restaurant recommendations. They know the type of places that we want to feature and they want to see us feature because they want to see that love given to their favorite places or their family's places. So I think we've just built a great relationship with our audience that we hear them, we listen to them and we do really engage with them. We answer every single DM we ever get. Of course there are some, we get a lot of DMs, so if we don't respond to one, it's because we accidentally missed it, not because we intentionally missed it. But yeah, we really do care and I think people see that authenticity come through.

Speaker 3: 16:32

Yeah, we treat people as our friends, not our followers. It's just always been the guiding voice and kind of value that we've brought. We, early on, would write our captions and we would say just write it like you're texting a friend, just write it like you're texting a friend. So I think, acknowledging that we're humans, not just handles, we're attracting people who truly want to dive into their community and get more involved, want this information and to act on it. That's also what brought us to dive into events right, realizing wow, these are real people who are following this account, who live here and who want to discover this city. Let's not just tell them what to do. Let's invite them to do it with us. Let's start hosting events.

Speaker 1: 17:10

Yeah, I love that you do that and I love looking at your website and see what you have going on. I mean, that Barbie bar crawl looked amazing. I mean, I know I'm not exactly the demographic that you guys typically have at your events, but that sounded so fun. And then this upcoming White Lotus event yeah, I mean, that's all the rage. Everyone my husband and I are watching it, my daughter's watching it, everyone's watching it. So why wouldn't you want to have a party?

Speaker 2: 17:37

Yeah. Yeah, that is a new angle that we've taken on with our events is really honing in on culturally relevant topics.

Speaker 1: 17:44

Sure.

Speaker 2: 17:45

Again, talking about engagement, what are people going to want to do? We even saw that with our silent discos.

Speaker 1: 18:03

Let's not just have it be a silent disco, but let's make it relevant to the time in which we're in right now, and so our latest silent disco that did sell out was Kendrick versus Drake. Okay, I have to tell you I don't understand silent discos and I am much older than you, so there's that. But I did walk by one at a music festival several years ago and I said to my friend I don't get that Like you have your headphones on, everyone's listening to the same music, but you can't hear it out loud.

Speaker 3: 18:21

Different channels. Sometimes it's all the same music, but sometimes you can pick a different channel. So, like at our silent discos at Clyde Warren Park, there's actually multiple DJs, so you can like tune into whoever's channel you're vibing with most, but otherwise, yeah, you've got it actually.

Speaker 2: 18:37

I know it looks funny if you're not participating, but people love them and it's definitely been something. I think what I've been the most surprised about with Silent Discos is you know, we see trends come and go, but Silent Discos have been relevant now for a long time I was in college.

Speaker 3: 18:54

It was a huge party in college, like I would go to the soccer field in Silent Disco and some person on campus would send the playlist around day of it was fun. Oh, wow, wow wow.

Speaker 1: 19:05

Imagine owning a second home that's not just a lakefront getaway, but a reflection of your family style, built exactly the way you want. At Long Cove, you can make that dream a reality. Just over an hour from Dallas, long Cove offers exclusive lakefront lots where you can build a custom home with hand-picked details, upscale amenities and stunning views. They've curated a list of top architects and builders who specialize in luxury lake homes, making the process seamless from start to finish. Whether you envision a modern retreat or a timeless lakeside estate, your dream home is within reach. Start designing your perfect lake escape today. Book a tour at longcovetexascom or call 214-919-3719. Well, so people see the pretty pictures. You have an amazing, beautiful Instagram, but I would imagine there's a whole lot more going on behind the scenes. What does a typical day look like?

Speaker 2: 20:05

for you guys. So their day very much looks like producing events, going to those events, making sure they happen, like you know, bringing our Silent Disco's White Lotus events to life. We have a marketing team. We support clients on a B2B basis, where we are actually behind the scenes, curating their Instagram accounts, helping them with social media management. We're aligning them with influencers who might be a great partner in marketing their goods and services, as a few examples of some of the services we offer. So they're really bringing those brands to life. And then we have our communities team, which is how most people know us as bringing Dallasites, austinites, fort Worthians and Texans to life, whether it's on our Instagram or website newsletter. So, yeah, we have a big team and, yeah, everyone has kind of their own role, but it's really beautiful how everyone comes together to really create this one. Yeah, really like what we now call in events and marketing agency.

Speaker 1: 21:08

Well, I actually that was a list of questions is how many employees you have, because in my head you have like hundreds, because you have boots on the ground, you're like at every event, every event, every new business, like you're just everywhere, like you're covering the whole place yeah, yeah, and I think what's true for anyone in any role is our core values.

Speaker 3: 21:30

Transparency is one of them. Was is not just owning your words, it's also owning your work, like when you have such a spirit of figure out ability. Conviction is one of our core values. You can, you will, I can, I will. I think that in the same time, we're so many people across so many different places and we're also a lean, mighty machine at the same time, because of the amount of just ownership that we all have, and we're a one-stop shop in many ways, which is really cool, like when we are posting.

Speaker 3: 21:57

Let's take an event as an example. We are securing the sponsors, we're creating the kits for those sponsors, figuring out the right value, assessing A lot of research goes into that. We are making sure that we are planning the event concept, we are attracting the vendors, we're finding the venue, we are the marketing arm, we're taking the photos and videos. We're using our own channels on social and digital to promote it and drive all the attendance, whether it's 100 people or 5,000 people, like some of our biggest bar crawls and then we're on site. We're doing check-in right, we're executing that event, we're covering the live footage of the event and then afterwards we're making sure that we're closing it out and we're still honoring our bottom line and we're both able to do what we love and stay in business at the same time. So I think it's incredible in every person's role just the sense of ownership they have and then how we really are a one-stop shop.

Speaker 1: 22:47

Well, in regards to your events, do you feel like that? You have it on your side that you are kind of skewed towards a younger audience Because I see all these amazing events, that you are kind of skewed towards a younger audience because I see all these amazing events that you have out there and I would love to do some of those for my audience, which tends to be heavy in the 35 to 55 category and most of them are parents. It's really hard to get that audience to motivate to do anything. I feel like you have that on your side.

Speaker 3: 23:14

Yeah, it's interesting. We definitely see our content being relevant and engaging with all ages. Just, I would say the common denominator is are you interested in exploring or sitting open to trying something new, whether you're a newcomer or native, but with events, so we have speed dating I've got to shout it out for all different age ranges, which is worth keeping an eye on. If you're a single, no matter what age you are, do we have like 35 to 50? I think we have an age range coming up, like you just discussed.

Speaker 2: 23:43

Actually, yeah, we've definitely been experimenting with different age ranges, but I do think you hit the nail on the head, like our core audience, especially the core audience that engages with us consistently, especially with the experiential offerings that we have, are the Gen Z, millennial, young millennials, even age range. Something happened, I think, at this point a year and a half ago with our events. Our ticket sales really started slowing down and we spent a lot of time digging in what is happening, what's going on. We've been hosting these same fun events that we've always hosted. Why are they all of a sudden stalling?

Speaker 2: 24:21

And one of the things we ended up determining was happening is that we were marketing towards the millennials. The events that we were producing were for millennials, and millennials were aging out of participating in events, and so we really had to redefine what our events were for a Gen Z audience. What type of events do they want to go to? What's fun for them? And they really do love those, like, in the moment, cultural experiences like White Lotus, and we definitely still appeal to other age ranges as well, but our core audience that does go off the gram with us on a consistent basis are the 20 to-year-old, 20 to 30-year-olds who are still single and running around the city and all the time having fun, living their best life.

Speaker 3: 25:02

Yeah, but I'll also say the venue really dictates it too. Like we used to host a bunch of brunch and food crawls at Trinity Groves and we would always see and it was so interesting to us a much older demographic come out for that. So it is interesting kind of depending on where you're hosting, not just the theme or concept that you're hosting who will show up.

Speaker 1: 25:22

Oh, that's so interesting. I want to share an experience we had with SA Oral Surgeons because it made such a difference for us. Last holiday break, my daughter, who's in college, needed her wisdom teeth out, so we booked with SA Oral Surgeons. From the very start, I felt like we were in the best hands possible. I can't say enough about how comforting it was to know that they don't use opioids. It really put my mind at ease. Walking into the office, it felt so warm and welcoming. The staff was fantastic so kind, patient and reassuring. They just have this way of making you feel like you're at home, which was such a relief for both of us. Watching my daughter go through the procedure without worry and seeing how smoothly everything went, it was just a huge weight lifted.

Speaker 1: 26:04

Dr Stewart and Dr Arango have such an impressive reputation and it's clear why they're best in Big D winners. They offer a full range of services from both kids and adults, and they're right here in the neighborhood located at Northwest Highway and Hillcrest Avenue. If you're looking for top-notch care and skilled hands you can trust. I really recommend Essay Oral Surgeons. Just head to EssaySurgeonscom to learn more or book an appointment. That's EssaySurgeonscom. It made all the difference for us. Well, you guys are out and about more than most of us, definitely and very plugged in. What's your current go-to spot for Girls' Night Out?

Speaker 2: 26:45

I love Beverly's. I know it's been around for a minute, but I just think they have great food, great drinks. It's so cute and right now it's my favorite time to go because their patio is so wonderful. Their patio, to me, is so unique. We don't have a lot of spaces that feel like they've been around for a long time, but their kind of brick filled patio that's lined with plants makes me feel like I'm like in New York or you know Europe somewhere. Yeah, that's a little more aged than Dallas can be. I love that.

Speaker 3: 27:14

Lily said Beverly's. I love Beverly so much but I agree with her that I feel a little bad bringing it up because it's been around forever. But I thought she was going to honestly say like one of the newly opened, very aesthetic spots, because Lily's great at like being one of the first when places open. But I love that you said Beverly.

Speaker 1: 27:34

Well, I am actually invited to an event there tomorrow night, so I'm trying to work that out, the logistics if I'm going to be able to go, but I haven't been in a bit, so I'm super excited. What about the most underrated spot in Dallas?

Speaker 3: 27:48

Okay, I think if you've been, this place is not underrated, but if you haven't been, it's like underrated. I don't know why you haven't been. So Uchiba it's above Uchi, it's in uptown. It's just like I don't know if it's hidden gem territory to me or underrated, but it is fantastic. Also been around for a minute, but really worth going. They have a happy hour with awesome deals. Happy hour or not, though, just quality food sharing a kitchen with Uchi, so really great quality fish, but they also do buns, fun cocktails, like a yuzu spritz. It's very vibey and I think it's a great spot.

Speaker 1: 28:23

Okay, that sounds really interesting. I'd love to know about that. What about best date night? Like something unique and different. Like you tend to always go for dinner and drinks for a date night Anything interesting that you guys have discovered?

Speaker 2: 28:35

Last night I checked out the brand new Evelyn and that's really cool because it's essentially three concepts in one. When I first heard a new steakhouse in Dallas I did roll my eyes, especially when I saw just like how upscale it was. I was like, oh my gosh, not another hyper expensive bougie steakhouse. But actually it's really cool and I will actually be going back. It has three concepts, so like one of their spaces, it's really beautiful, would actually be great for a girl's night. It definitely leans more feminine.

Speaker 2: 29:04

Their other space is like full, just like dark reds. It's called the Ruby Room. It would definitely be very nice for a date night. And then their other room is all about disco. They have this massively beautiful disco ball in the middle of the room and then their bar is designed to look like a disco ball. It's really beautifully done and that so I mean if you go there for a date night, then the whole idea is that you stay there for the rest of the night. You can continue on to their disco room and have a drink and dance. It's open till 2 am. There's a DJ, so it'll be. I'm excited to go back for more of that dancing vibe to see how that comes together.

Speaker 1: 29:38

OK, I think that is brilliant to have kind of like a progressive situation and like you start out here and you end with the dancing. I love that. I think that's awesome. Something big that I really admire about you guys is that you really empower our local businesses. We are all about supporting small local businesses here at the Bubble Lounge, and you guys are doing that as well, and I mean that's really what makes our city so unique and so different is the local businesses I love that you guys are supporting. How do you choose how to partner with, because I'm sure you get a lot of requests.

Speaker 2: 30:18

Yeah, so we have two sides. We do have a sales team and we do have, you know, people who reach out to us and that funnels through them. And you know they know our mission we are, everything we do is mission forward. So they really do a great job examining what that partnership is and how we can really best bring it to life on our Instagram. It doesn't honor, you know, what our audience is used to seeing from us. But then we also do and reinvest.

Speaker 2: 30:40

About 50 to 70% of our content is what we call organic, so it is going out into the community, finding hidden gems, finding things that are relevant going on in that moment and covering them. And that is like a really one of my like favorite parts of what we do, because it does give us space to just get to go out. And you know we hear from people, we get press releases, we're invited to things like the Evelyn we were invited in last night. But we also, you know, have done a great job training our team to just find, hop around Google Maps or talk to people in the local, the different communities, and whether it's talking to someone who loves gaming or talking to someone who is very entrenched in the Hispanic food scene and just finding things that might not be obvious to cover.

Speaker 3: 31:28

I think crowdsourcing local recs is always the best. And then imagine a triangle and essentially there's three points on it. Like you need to be engaging. It's social media. We've got it. We want our photos and content. Hopefully it does look really engaging and aesthetic and nice. We want it to also be on brand mission forward for us about discovering your city being a local business. Even if you're a national brand or a new location here we just want to know that you're creating community for a certain person.

Speaker 3: 32:00

And then the other point on this would be if it's sponsored and if it can be paid. And the reality is we have had to now. We've employed a certain amount of people, but not all of our content, as Lily spoke to, is paid and we really love protecting that. The paid content literally funds the unpaid and that, honestly, can be more of those minority-owned super small local businesses that simply don't have the marketing budget at all or means maybe to be getting featured. But that point of paid really can be important too. And so if you are a business that is in a great position to have marketing budget or interest in social digital advertising, you know, I would love to be considered for that because it literally funds us and allows us to have this be our jobs, sure.

Speaker 1: 32:48

Well, we absolutely love sharing stories on the Bubble Lounge. Do you have any success stories, as some of the small local businesses you feature that, because of your feature, really made an impact in their business?

Speaker 3: 33:02

Oh my gosh, so many. It's our 10-year anniversary and so we've been kind of nostalgic this year and I was thinking about Julian with Whisk Crepes. This is an oldie but a goodie story where he was opening his first Whisk Crepe location near the Sylvan 30 area and he wasn't sure if he would keep it going. Honestly, he wasn't seeing the customers and the interest that he expected. Takes a lot, you know, to open your restaurant and he was at a point where he wasn't sure and I think he was on someone's podcast or had some other kind of media feature, in addition to getting Instagram posts on Dallas sites that day and he said the combination of the two made him feel I will remain open and the post and other media helped drive enough traffic that not only today does he still have that location.

Speaker 3: 33:50

He's in DFW Airport. You might've seen Whiskey and Eggs. I think he's in Legacy Food Hall with another location. He's thriving. He does catering, so at your house, if you want, like a crepe party, they can come and do that. But it's just really meaningful to think you can be a part of someone's make it or break it moment.

Speaker 1: 34:09

Okay, I absolutely love those stories and I personally have had at least two or three friends who have said being featured on your account has, like done wonders for this business. So thank you so much for what you're doing for small businesses. I absolutely love that and it's so on board. But you guys have really built something incredible here. I mean, to be here for 10 years doing this thing is just incredible. And are there anything new on the horizon? You've expanded to some other cities that you definitely share that and what's coming up.

Speaker 3: 34:43

Yeah, we're really lucky that we kind of have this ecosystem of events, digital and social offerings. So we have Fort Worthians 101.

Speaker 1: 34:50

Yay.

Speaker 3: 34:52

And then we have Texans 101, all about exploring the state Really really awesome travel content on that page Also celebrated a year, both on Texas Independence Day easy to remember when we launched those communities. But let's use Fort Worth as an example. So we have Fort Worthians, but we have the Instagram and so the potential of revving up or introducing a website or we have events there. We have started sprinkling in some events, but revving up our events programming what's kind of cool is, beyond just launching new cities or new markets, where I think a lot of it might be obvious enthusiasm, there is actually launching some of the things we already do really great within the cities we're currently in.

Speaker 1: 35:31

Well, I just love that you went to Austin because, like I said earlier, my daughter goes to school there, and so I'm always sending her things from your account. Like you've got to do this. Well, thank you, austinite 101 says you need to go. Okay, so I've actually never done this before, but like, let's kind of wrap up with a rapid fire question thing here what is your favorite brunch spot?

Speaker 2: 35:53

I actually love the Rustic. I think they have their brunch where it's. I guess this is rapid fire so I'm not supposed to explain more, but their family style brunch is really cute.

Speaker 1: 36:03

Okay, I've never been there for brunch. I love that you recommended that.

Speaker 3: 36:07

I walk to the Jose's food truck and get breakfast tacos. It's not brunch, where you're sitting down and getting served, but usually during normal brunch hours.

Speaker 1: 36:14

you'll find me there, one of my best friends literally told me the same thing yesterday.

Speaker 3: 36:20

It's between 8 am and 11 am breakfast tacos.

Speaker 1: 36:22

Okay, best patio in Dallas, because it's patio time right now.

Speaker 3: 36:26

I'm really excited for Clark's to open this summer on the Katy Trail. It is the most anticipated patio for me. I'm really looking forward to it.

Speaker 2: 36:36

It does not look like they've done any work yet, though so fingers crossed. But speaking of the Katy Trail, I do love Rose Cafe. Their patio is really cute, and then at night Le Passage for dinner also faces the Katy Trail. I've always been waiting for more to open along the Katy Trail, so I'm glad that's finally happening and we have the Auberge that will open whenever that does, so it will also likely feature patios on the Katy Trail, so that's exciting.

Speaker 3: 37:01

And Rose is in our passport yeah, our coffee passport, which I'd love to share about our passport. So our passports are these physical little products we made. They look like passport booklets where we actually curate invite-only businesses to feature whatever is their best impression. So the coffee they make really well, the latte they make really well, or we have passports beyond coffee for margaritas, date night, like you were talking about. So it's really cool. We sell them to customers but we do not charge businesses to participate. It's just an incredible, tangible way to get out and explore your city and feel motivated to go collect those local stamps, share some local love and explore new spots.

Speaker 1: 37:41

I love that you guys are doing that because I think it does, like what you just said, motivate you. You've got to get those stamps and go down the list and experience all the things that you guys are recommending. What about go-to local boutique?

Speaker 3: 37:53

I am wearing today exclusively Ann Mashburn and Her Story and I will shout those both out. So Her Story is so cool. It's an Inwood Village. They're known for investment pieces that invest in women, so they can be a little bit more higher price but just beautifully handmade a lot of international goods. So I think it's a stunning spot and worth checking out.

Speaker 1: 38:16

Yes, I was in there recently dropping off some donations for the Los Angeles fires and then they told me their whole story and I was just blown away. It really is amazing, everything that they're doing there. Well, guys, this has been so fun. I have been dying to meet you both and I'm just like literally like on cloud nine, like I've met my celebrities for the year. I'm super happy, super excited. But tell people where they can find you so they can learn more.

Speaker 2: 38:50

Yes, so 101 Media is our overarching company, so y'all can follow us on Instagram there or our website. But of course, as most people know us publicly Dallasites, fort Worthians, austinites and Texans on Instagram, a few have websites dallasites101.com, austinites101.com. We also have newsletters for all of them. So you can subscribe.

Speaker 3: 39:06

If you go to our website, you'll see a link to be able to do so um, yeah, but I would say the newsletter, the events, the instagrams, and then howdy at 101.com or 101mediacom, howdy at 101mediacom. Honestly, just give us a shout.

Speaker 2: 39:21

we are real people behind all of this, all of these cool channels and emails, and we'd love to just get in touch yeah, ultimately the best way to see all the things we have going on is just going to 101mediacom or on Instagram, and it pulls everything there, so that's probably a nice little resource. To wrap it all up, Well, perfect.

Speaker 1: 39:41

Well, thank you both so much for being here today. I really appreciate your time.

Speaker 2: 39:45

Yeah, thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 39:47

That's been another episode of the bubble lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I will see you next time.