We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Debbie Calabro a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Debbie, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My dad was the true definition of a workaholic. He never took vacations with us, would come home for dinner and then go back to work at the grocery store my grandfather owned. Even though it was a family owned business, he never took anything for free. If I brought friends after school for a snack, he would look at everything we got and go pay for it. He always followed the rules, worked hard, gave back to the community and helped everyone.
When I was little, before Instacart, there was Instadad where he would shop for older people and deliver their groceries to them, help them put them away and never took a tip! I would go with him and help him deliver them sometimes He taught me at a young age that work hard mentality.
My social media page, Debbie Discovers Atlanta and Beyond, was started to help people learn about fun places in the Atlanta area. I have worked many hours on this every day for over 13 years. My husband often jokes I get paid negative dollars per hour because I put so much time into it, but I can’t help it, I just love helping people. When I get a message or meet someone and they tell me how they would never do things with their family but because I posted about it they do, that is worth all the money in the world!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I have been a kindergarten teacher for almost 30 years and love exposing students to the word! After school hours, I am a mom to a now 13 year son and try to expose him to the world too. I grew up being exposed to all kinds of music, food, cultures and feel it has made me who I am today.
Some of my greatest life moments are not typical ones, running a marathon in Alaska for the Leukemia Society. ( I had never run more than a mile and said hey lets give this a try and 6 months later, I did it!) I was on the game show Deal or No Deal, took a hot air balloon ride over Berlin and many other great life adventures.
All of these adventures helped me to want to encourage others to do amazing things for themselves or with their families. When my son and I would go out on small adventures when he was young my friends always commented: How did you do that? How did you know about that? I began sending the same text over and over and soon my social media page was born.
I think my blog has been popular because I give tips about a place from first hand experience and share things like how to save tickets, is it grandparent friendly, or bring water and snacks so you don’t have to spend a it while at an event. All of these tips help parent’s feel confident in going places they might normally have not gone.
I care about my followers like they are all my friends and want them to have the best time.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think they three best qualities to have are be a hard worker, honest and positivity!
You have to work hard to find new places, stay on top of openings and put out the posts in timely manner. This takes away from my family time, but they know I love doing it to help others.
You have to be honest or people won’t follow you if you have fake followers, don’t give details about places ( I try to stay away from negativity and state facts). Your followers can tell, who just posts for money and who posts quality places.
Positivity is a must as many people try to tear you down and many times you feel alone in this because others don’t understand the business. The key is find friends in the same business who cheer you on and help you be the better version of you. I have made many friends from biologging some fake and some real. You need to find the real ones and stick with them! They are the ones who help you and you help them be the better version of themselves.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I am always looking to collaborate with other bloggers and new or small businesses. I love featuring them and letting the world know about their business. This is part f my joy is when I feature a business and they tell me they got lots of business from my post.
If anyone is looking to collaborate feel free to email me [email protected]
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.miltonmomsfamilyfunaroundtheatl.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbiediscoversatlanta/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DebbieDiscoversAtlantaandbeyond
- Yelp: Debbie C
Image Credits
On the game show Deal or No Deal, at food blogger events, at the Legoland reopening with my son. at a fashion show
