Today we’d like to introduce you to Trina-Jo Pardo.
Trina-Jo, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My love for travel and craft beer started while I was in the Navy. I was stationed in Boston and San Diego and both cities have a great craft beer scene. After I served for five years, I moved back home to Dallas and attended Southern Methodist University for journalism and public relations. After graduation, I received the opportunity of a lifetime to be a World of Beer DrinkIt Intern. I used the skills I learned in school to shoot and edit my own content and write about craft beer and traveling from all over the country and the world!
Hello, Trina-Jo started as a hobby and quickly grew into a passion. I try to not take myself too seriously and I always make sure that I have fun doing it.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
This path that I’m on may not always be smooth, but I make sure that it’s enjoyable! Some of the photos, you see on my feed are real quick snaps my husband or friends take, but the majority of the images are taken by me. It does get a little tricky setting up my tripod in the right spot or asking strangers to take a photo of me. It can get awkward at first, but people are helpful and generally interested in what I am doing. Nine times out of ten, I end up having a friendly conversation with someone I probably would have never met, and honestly, that is the whole point of this thing.
Engaging and having an actual dialogue with someone outside of my bubble. I love connecting with people beyond the screen. When people come up to me and say, “hey, I follow you and love what you’re doing,” or “I tried this new thing because of you,” then it makes all the awkward posing in front of people worth it.
Please tell us about Hello, Trina-Jo.
Hello, Trina-Jo started as a vehicle to introduce people to the Dallas craft beer scene and help non-craft beer drinkers feel more comfortable exploring the Dallas beer scene.
It has since evolved into a platform that showcases experiences from all over. I do still keep a certain percentage focused on craft beer, but this platform focuses more on the tiny adventures we tend to brush over.
It’s really easy to get wrapped into the idea of what a good Instagram has to look like, or the millions of things influencers need to do to stay relevant. That is not what my platform is about. It’s about highlighting the small pleasures in the things I’m already doing, even if that means telling my followers that I’m staying in for the weekend, doing chores and not putting real pants on… that’s real. I think that is one of the things that sets me apart from others. I’m a real person, doing real things, with real people. It’s my real life, not my Instagram life.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I don’t know, that’s a hard question. I wish I had gathered all the tools and resources together at the beginning and used them to their potential. I also wish that I had started my blog a lot earlier. I have a few published posts, but it should be more. It is a major project for myself this summer!
I know that I am slacking in marketing myself. So that is one thing that I want to improve on this year. I have a lot to offer and I’m an excellent person to partner with. I need to push myself more.
Contact Info:
- Website: hellotrinajo.com
- Email: hellotrinajo@gmail.com
- Instagram: @HelloTrinaJo
Image Credit:
Cristi Brinkman, Serena Rudman, Megan Stone
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