Meet Cynthia Smoot of Gangway Advertising and OhSoCynthia.com

Cynthia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I majored in Clothing and Textiles and had fantasies of traveling the globe buying apparel for a clothing store and sitting front row at fashion shows. Instead, I fell into advertising sales at the Dallas Observer. I had always been very skilled at talking my parents out of money. I was pleasantly surprised that this was a skill that I could use effectively on others and I quickly became one of the top salespeople for Village Voice media company-wide.

In 2008, I started my blog (OhSoCynthia.com) to talk about my family and our life in Dallas. As a first-time Mother, it was rewarding to find a like-minded community that could sympathize with my potty-training efforts and give me support and advice when I needed it. I quickly realized that creative writing and photography were something I truly enjoyed and as a marketer by profession, I easily saw the business application and knew how to monetize my efforts. In 2008, no one was blogging for a living. It was just a hobby and I loved the social aspect of it.

In 2008, two things happened: the economy crashed and social media exploded. After 15 years in the print advertising world, it was the perfect time to make my hobby my profession and I left D Magazine to join my husband’s marketing firm, Gangway Advertising. Before my arrival, the firm offered graphic design, media buying and marketing consultation services. I brought social media marketing and digital marketing services to the table to make Gangway more of a full-service firm.

So, in 2010, I am cruising along with my mommy blog and my social media work and my son enters middle school. About two weeks into the school year, he stomps into my office and asks, “Why am I on the internet?!”. Apparently, his homeroom teacher had asked the student to Google their names to show them how a search worked. Nothing came up for anyone – except my son – who’s search was met with pages and pages of stories, videos and articles chronicling his childhood. He told me that day, in his 10-year old way, that this party I was having was over. I was ruining whatever street-cred he was trying to create and if I wanted to keep blogging I needed a new subject. The mom in me completely understood his position and had to respect his wishes, but the businesswoman inside me was screaming, “Wait! You have advertisers! You have readers! You LOVE this blog!” I took a few days to ponder my options and in the end, decided to things much the same. I would still talk about my life in Dallas and show what gave the city its flavor, I just decided to flip the camera around. Instead of my family being the star of the show I started spotlighting the people I met and the places I went. and that’s when the whole thing exploded and evolved into the lifestyle format you see today.

Next year will mark 10 years of blogging. I call myself “the OG of Dallas bloggers” and I am proud of the work I’ve done to shine a light on the people, brands and events that make Dallas such an amazing city to live, work and raise a family. The agency has evolved to offer Public Relations services and it’s been interesting to see how the blog has become such a great networking source for the agency. What I’ve come to realize about myself is that what brings me passion is to tell stories about the people and brands that are changing not only Dallas, but the world. And whether it’s a blog post or through my PR efforts, that’s exactly what I am doing. Shining light on Dallas, one story at a time.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My career path has not been a straight line. Things never happened the way I thought they would and in the end, I think one of my biggest strengths is my ability to be flexible and fearless. It was a huge leap of faith to leave a six-figure corporate job to pursue my belief that social media was where marketing was headed and join Gangway. I truly believe the adage of “Do what you love and the money will follow”.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Gangway Advertising and OhSoCynthia.com – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Gangway is a full-service marketing agency that connects clients to consumers and businesses to partners. We create buzz for your brand through graphic design, social media marketing, public relations, blogger/influencer outreach, website design, media buying, marketing consultation and brand development.

Oh So Cynthia is a lifestyle blog about Dallas and what makes it a fabulous place to live. From food to fashion, reality TV to movie premiers, cultural events to business deals, this city is happening and Cynthia Smoot likes to be right in the middle of the action! Bravo TV’s Real Housewives of Dallas called this site “the TMZ of the (Dallas) charity world.”

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Marketing is constantly changing and you have to be adaptable. At Gangway, we constantly try new things, experiment with new platforms, and network to meet new vendors and partners to keep things fresh and give our clients the best options to market their products and services.

2018 will mark the 10-year anniversary of OhSoCynthia.com. I am currently redesigning the website to reflect my current status as more than just a blog. I am an influencer in the truest sense: I freelance for other publications, appear regularly on TV shows and am toying with the idea of launching a podcast. The best is yet to come!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gangwayadvertising.com and www.ohsocynthia.com
• Email:cynthia@gangwayadvertising.com and cynthia@ohsocynthia.com
• Instagram:@gangwayadv @ohsocynthia
• Facebook:@gangwayadv @ohsocynthia
• Twitter:@gangwayadv @ohsocynthia

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.