Circles of Influence – Community Connector

Mention the word “influencer,” and many people will think of someone who promotes a product, a style, or even their personal brand on social media. But that’s not what, PENNY SPICER-SIDBURY, ROZ WILLIAMS, and SHANNON WINSLOW are all about. Within their separate arenas, these three women strive to educate, inform, and connect area residents.

• Government Hub: Click here to learn about city clerk, Penny Spicer-Sidbury.
• Change Agent: Click here to read about Shannon Winslow, the vice-chair of the New Hanover Community Endowment.
• Community Connector: Read more about Roz Williams and What’s Up Wilmington below.

ROZ WILLIAMS applies her professional marketing savvy to her avocation: weaving a web of connections in the local community.

In 2014, she founded What’s Up Wilmington, a social media platform that operates mainly on Instagram. Last year, Williams launched a podcast focused on the local business community.

“We shared what local businesses were doing, what was opening,” Williams says. “We still support local business and collaborate with a lot of initiatives. What’s Up Wilmington is a way for people to meet each other and go out and do fun things together.”

Williams is definitely a Wilmington booster. She came to town in 2003 to attend the University of North Carolina Wilmington and says she never wanted to leave. Since 2019, she has been a senior customer marketing manager at nCino and believes that touting Wilmington’s allure and assets helps her employer and other local companies recruit new talent.

“They showcase how great Wilmington is; why people should live in Wilmington,” she says of her two media products. “In my podcasts, I use what I have learned at nCino – interviewing bankers and other financial professionals about their stories.”

With her podcast partner ALY BLEAU, Williams showcases local events and local business owners and sometimes answers questions posed by listeners.

“We pull people from the community who have an interesting story or give a behind-the-scenes look. We get to hear the ‘why’ behind the business,” Williams says. “We really dig into the human aspect: what their vision is, what are their favorite places, who they know. We talk about things such as self-development, living your best life, and living it in Wilmington.”

Sometimes Williams’ and Bleau’s podcast guests suggest other people for them to interview; sometimes podcast listeners suggest topics.

Their social media and podcast audience consists primarily of women aged twenty-five to forty, but the two women are starting to attract more male followers. In addition to engaging Wilmington area residents, their audience increasingly includes people who are thinking of moving to town and want to sample the local vibe.

What’s Up Wilmington has evolved over the past ten years. Rather than just offering information, it has become a way for users to meet each other.

“In the past two years … it’s turned into a platform where people can connect with each other,” Williams explains. “They hear about (something) and then meet to do it.”

Now, she says, she wants to move further in that direction with What’s Up Wilmington.

“What I’m really excited about,” she says, “is taking this influence offline, and in the coming months doing more in-person events.”

To view more of photographer Madeline Gray’s work, go to madelinegrayphoto.com.

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