Meet Some South Bay Influencers By Writer and Contributor Emily McGinn
In the age of social media, plenty of people have begun to share their lives and explore their communities with their online followers, and the South Bay is no different. Ellie Brisbin, Laura Stotland, Annie Sneed and Alex Hooks are four of the local influencers bringing the Peninsula — and the rest of the South Bay — to the online community.
Meet Ellie Brisbin
A South Bay native, Brisbin first had the idea to launch a local Facebook page during the COVID-19 pandemic. She noticed that people were craving connection, and she wanted to help. So she started her first Facebook page, Peninsula Parents, which connects parents in the Peninsula, Hollywood Riviera and San Pedro area. It has now grown to about 8,500 members.
“We were all stuck at home, and I was hoping that we could help each other through that time,” Brisbin says. “It worked, and everybody wanted to join, and everyone loved it, and it's still there.”
After the success of her first page, Brisbin launched another one dedicated to the history of Palos Verdes. Palos Verdes Past and Present, which has about 17,500 members, provides a space for community members to share video and photographs of the Peninsula, as well as historical facts and information, with others.
But Brisbin did not stop there. She also started South Bay People, which has about 18,000 followers on Facebook and nearly 8,500 on Instagram.
“I wanted to connect the larger community. That became the umbrella over everything I do,” Brisbin says. “All my groups are about the community. All my groups are a place where people support and help each other, and I try to keep the environment completely positive and apolitical.”
Brisbin shares information about community events, partners with nonprofits and supports causes that are important to the community. She also loves sharing pictures of the South Bay on her page.
“I am trying to bring everyone the best of our beach paradise or the best of the South Bay. So that's what I'm trying to do currently,” Brisbin said.
The main goal of her pages is simple: to connect people. South Bay People is “a place to share information, dare to ask questions, and care for one another,” according to the page’s description. Brisbin says this describes the aim for all her pages.
“I have a strong desire for community,” Brisbin says. “People called me the connector. So it's just about connecting our community, having a support base, spreading the word about different things that can help others and then also just spreading positivity and joy. That's another thing that I really focus on, because since COVID, things have changed, and there's a lot of negativity out there. I focus on positive posts, positive things and showcasing different people in our community and what their talents are.”
Ultimately, she aims not only to foster connectivity online, but to carry it over to in person community interaction as well.
“It's one thing to connect on social media. It's a whole other thing to get to meet community members and work together on a nonprofit event,” Brisbin says. “That's the best part for me, personally.”
Meet Laura Stotland
Stotland entered the world of influencing by accident, in a way. With a background in marketing and entertainment, she started a Facebook group with some local moms, and it started to grow. As people collaborated in the group, she realized there was a need for a resource for local family-oriented information.
“Everybody was asking the same questions over and over again,” Stotland says. “I was like, ‘We need a resource here in the South Bay so that these answers are easy to find’. Where can I find the best pediatrician? Where can I find the best food? Where can I find a good park? Just the general questions about the South Bay.”
From that, Stotland began a resource called South Bay Mommies and Daddies angled toward providing much-needed information to parents around the South Bay. Using strategies from her marketing background, she grew her page’s following on Instagram and Facebook. During the pandemic, she was accepted into a Facebook Accelerator program that gave her tools to boost her page even more. She also decided to rebrand the concept to be called Local Anchor to broaden the target audience and make it a resource for a wider array of people across the South Bay.
For Stotland, the whole experience is rewarding. She has met some of her closest friends through managing Local Anchor. However, it can also be difficult to juggle with her family life, especially when there are so many avenues she wants to explore through Local Anchor.
“I want to help everybody. I want to help every nonprofit. I want to promote everything that's happening in the community. But as one person, it's very hard,” Stotland says. “I can't handle that volume, so unfortunately I have to tell people no. It's hard, but in order for me to keep this going, I have to select and choose.”
Though she navigates time constraints, Stotland has exciting plans in store for Local Anchor. She launched SouthBayVolunteers.org last year to connect people with philanthropic opportunities in the community. In the past, Local Anchor has taken part in causes ranging from hurricane relief efforts to blood drives. She hopes to continue to spearhead events to give back to the community. Local Anchor will also be hosting Taste of South Bay in September, a week-long celebration of local restaurants, breweries and businesses that will also act as a fundraiser to support families in need.
“I just love connecting people. I love being a resource for people. I just have so much creativity and so many ideas,” Stotland says. “I've done so many events. There are just so many things we do, and there's just so much I want to do. I wish there were like 40 hours in a day — we would be able to accomplish so much more. But really I just want to be a resource for the South Bay and be able to let everybody know all of the fun events that are happening in the community and to be able to bring people volunteer opportunities because there's so much happening here, and it's hard to keep up.”
Meet Annie Sneed
Sneed began posting about her adventures across the South Bay about three years ago on Instagram and TikTok. She realized that her content about the South Bay, which included things to do such as going to restaurants and finding hikes, was becoming more popular. So, she decided to settle into that niche and continue to document her local adventures for her followers. She has now amassed more than 42,000 followers on Instagram.
“Exploring and being very extroverted and adventurous comes naturally to me,” Sneed says. “So I just really enjoy trying new things and checking new places out, and I think that my energy almost translates to the people who watch my content. I just like to inspire people to get out into the community and check out all the different activities and places that the South Bay has to offer.”
Originally from Oregon, Sneed feels she has the unique perspective of feeling like everything in the South Bay is new. She hopes this excitement encourages her followers — both South Bay natives and people who moved here — to want to enjoy the community from a fresh perspective.
“I like to inspire the people that have lived here their whole lives to check out all the places that they haven't already and just continue to explore and be curious about what's out there,” Sneed says.
Sneed has enjoyed meeting new people and businesses around the South Bay through her content creation. As she moves forward, she hopes to branch out into some new content. She teaches fitness classes in the area, and she wants to begin posting more health and wellness content to encourage people to lead healthy, active lifestyles.
“I'm always listening to people's suggestions on what they'd like to see more of or going to the places that people tell me to check out,” Sneed says. “I'm going to continue to post on Tiktok and Instagram, and maybe I'll eventually explore different social media outlets, I'd love to create more health and wellness videos and continue to share more about my personal life and the person behind the camera. Viewers can look forward to all different types of content coming in the future.”
Meet Alex Hooks
Alex Hooks is the man behind Past Palos Verdes, an Instagram page where he shares interesting facts about the history of the Peninsula. The page is rooted in Hooks’s own fascination with the history of Palos Verdes, something that has been of interest to him since high school.
“I just would read as much as I could when I could about the history, and I'd go to the library and go to the local history section and things like that,” Hooks said. “From there, I came across a lot of cool things. And I thought, I should share this with people, and I just put it out there on an Instagram account, not trying to grow it or be an influencer, and it's grown organically, and I have a lot of positive feedback from a lot of people.”
Past Palos Verdes has accumulated a following of more than 6,000 people. Hooks tries to share a wide array of historical tidbits, from interesting photos to stories about past residents. He is intrigued by both the development of the city as well as the time before Palos Verdes, such as the Native American history of the area, which dates back to just 150-200 years ago.
For Hooks, the goal of the page is simple: to keep the history of the area alive, and to keep people talking about it. He hopes that people learn new historical facts from his page, especially those that might be lesser known.
“I know people know about the Vanderlips or Marineland, but there's a lot of other rich history here,” Hooks said. “I don't want [everyone else who developed the area] to be forgotten, and I think that they played an important role in how we got here today as a community. I think sharing that with people who remember those times is really cool. And I think sharing with people that may not know about it and teaching them about that is also cool.”
Bio:
Emily McGinn is a journalist based in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys reporting on and writing about a variety of topics from lifestyle to news, especially in her areas of specialty, environmental science and political science.