Maameefua Koomson is the new face of Yelp Baton Rouge.
Koomson, who began her role as the city’s community ambassador this summer, manages the brand’s local social media, connects with area business owners and Yelp users, and plans experiences and events.
What’s a day in the life like for Koomson? 225 sat down with her for some insight. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Tell us about your career before your position at Yelp. How did you get to where you are now?
It’s honestly a funny story. … I graduated in 2019 from LSU with a creative writing degree, and my whole plan was to actually go to grad school and become a professor. But then at the last second I decided to take a year off. I was working in housing and apartments, and I was doing a lot more managerial stuff. … On the weekends, I’d do quick photo shoots, or just show my (social media) followers, like ‘Hey, there’s this cool local market.’—just trying to build up my own portfolio. I got involved with Yelp, using the app more actively. I met the previous community manager, and out of the blue she ended up moving, and the position opened up. I just took a leap of faith to go for it, because the job was kind of everything I had imagined all in one spot.
In your intro video, you made a strong point of encouraging people to support local businesses. How do you plan to foster that?
Yelp is a pretty big company, and a pretty notable brand. My ultimate goal is to be an additional liaison in the community, that bridge between the local community and local businesses. I spend so much time looking for those mom-and-pop shops, those places that people are probably missing. I’ve been here my whole life, and I know Baton Rouge is a really big community that loves to support one another, and I just think that there’s so much potential for us to reinvest that into the local community.
What other plans do you have for Yelp Baton Rouge?
I’m trying to really learn what this community and market wants to see, what we may already have, and what Baton Rouge might be missing. This year, I just want to connect with as many people as possible and continue to push the brand so that people can see that Yelp Baton Rouge is where you can go to see local. Once I’m able to really get that brand solidified, I have so many ideas for bigger, grand-scale events. Ultimately, I would love to do something like a city appreciation week. Yelp can be misunderstood for just being a restaurant space, but you really can use it to go and look at anything.
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What are some of your favorite spots around town right now?
I really love Sweet Society. We did a giveaway with it not too long ago. And I actually even heard about it through Yelp. It’s really cool, because it’s an Asian dessert-inspired spot. Memphis Mac BBQ has some really, really, really great barbecue. The owner is from Memphis himself, so it brings a different style around here. I have such a huge sweet tooth—it’s honestly terrible—but there’s a new milkshake spot that opened in Denham Springs called Mr. Milkshake. It’s been around for like a year or so with a truck, but it just opened its first storefront. It serves really huge, extravagant milkshakes. El Paso is my go-to authentic Mexican spot. It’s family-owned, and I know they use family recipes, too.
Favorite thing to do in Baton Rouge?
Going to local pop-ups and markets. I feel like Baton Rouge has slowly been pushing more of those. It really helps people who can’t just open a storefront to showcase their products, services or food. There’s the Red Stick Farmers Market, the Market at Oasis, and Electric Depot does different markets. You can meet so many different people, you can find stuff that’s made locally—homegrown in the city—and it’s really just a fun experience.
What makes Baton Rouge special to you?
Definitely the sense of community. If something is going on locally, a lot of people want to go through and support it 110%. I just think it’s a really beautiful thing, because a lot of cities can’t have that. Even though Baton Rouge isn’t like a really small city, everything is connected in a way.