Shelley Simmons-Bloom is the creator of The Beacon Beacon.
What inspired the site?
My husband and I have been here for nearly four years, and I was surprised that there wasn’t a comprehensive resource celebrating how incredible Beacon is. We have beautiful buildings, amazing independent shops, the river and the mountain, but I didn’t see anything on social media that heroed that. I love being part of a community, and when I broke my wrist in January, it gave me downtime to think about doing something.
This is all recent. When did you launch?
I started an Instagram page (@thebeaconbeacon) in March and the website in September (thebeaconbeaconny.com). Some people write about food or their opinions, but I wanted to take lovely images and do what I’ve done my whole career, which is tell stories. I want the site to be a resource for locals, but also for anyone visiting Beacon, with up-to-date directories for shopping, eating and drinking, arts and culture, where to stay, a kids’ section and an event section. On the blog, I write about people, businesses and organizations in Beacon. I also have a Facebook group, What’s On—Beacon NY & Beyond, with 5,000 members.
How did you decide on The Beacon Beacon?
The Beacon is one of those names that might be an old-fashioned newspaper title, like The Herald, so it is a nod to my love of local media and also a nod to the fires atop Mount Beacon during the Revolutionary War. I’ve always loved local media; it’s important for building community. Not that I think I’m media, but my strapline is “Shining a light on all good things in Beacon, New York.” I was talking to someone yesterday who’s lived here his entire life and is still passionate about Beacon. That’s special.
What’s your professional background?
I came to New York City from London nearly 18 years ago with The Body Shop. I was their head of international public relations, and they asked me to go to the U.S. and put a plan into place. The U.S. team kept asking me to stay and, in the end, they gave me a green card. From there I was recruited to Estee Lauder and Aveda. I learned many tricks from salon owners and retailers about how to build buzz on a budget. In 2018 I set up my own company, Positivity Communications. I chose the name because I think every brand has a good story to tell, you just have to help them tell it. In Beacon, we have more than 80 shops on Main Street, and 90-plus restaurants and bars and eateries. Many of them don’t have time to do their own marketing. I’d like to take my skills and offer them to Main Street.
Your content is remarkably positive. Was that by design?
It’s absolutely by design because there are many other platforms where people can get news. One of my favorite things is to scroll “cat” accounts, because there’s so many bad things going on in the world. It’s escapism. I like the idea of having an account where you can escape to the best parts of where you live. If you’re working till 6 p.m. every day, you won’t see the sunset. You’re probably not walking past Hudson Beach Glass and going, “Oh my God, what an amazing building that used to be a firehouse.” I’m never going to be an investigative, bad-news person.
