@Tacoma_WA Brightens Your Feed

By Katy Evans, September 18, 2012

At this moment, my Instagram addiction shows no real signs of diminishing and every once in a while, a thrilling new personality debuts, sharing a refreshing point of view on our little city.

Meet my new favorite instagram user @Tacoma_Wa and enjoy their enthusiastic, candid, and keen eye for loving and sharing Tacoma. (And then follow them and get in on the fun by using their hashtags and tagging @Tacoma_Wa in your photos: #253,  #tacoma, #cityofdestiny, #proudtobefromtacoma, #bestoftacoma)

@Tacoma_Wa answered a few quick questions about their Tacoma love and their reasons for choosing to attempt to represent the perspective and personality of an entire city.

What is your connection with Tacoma?
I moved to Tacoma when I was super young and have been here my whole life. I attended Sherman, Truman, and Wilson. I consider myself a Tacoma native. This is HOME. I have seen this city, inside and out and have truly felt very connected to it. I own a business in Seattle, and choose to live in Tacoma and commute because this is where home is.

Tacoma is not like any other city I’ve been to. It’s kind of a “little” big city, if you know what I mean? It still possesses everything any major city will have, without the million-mile-an-hour lifestyle, which I truly appreciate.

I also connect with Tacoma’s art scene. I grew up painting graffiti and continue to support the scene and art community in general, so I am involved with that as much as possible.

Why did you decide to start a Tacoma Instagram account?
This was just a random act of inspiration. I had a friend who started a “city account” on Instagram down in California and it was a huge success. I saw how much positivity it brought to the community by showcasing their city and being liked by thousands. I thought, Tacoma needs this.

Tacoma is a beautiful place to live, raise your family, has so much to offer, and it gets overlooked by the surrounding big cities so I said f*ck it – I’m going to make an account and showcase what Tacoma has to offer. The beautiful scenery, the epic restaurants, the entrepreneurs that have clothing companies. I want to showcase that, inspire people in Tacoma to show what they are made of, and show people outside of Tacoma – that this city is a beautiful place and is not what they have all ‘heard’.

What’s been your favorite thing about connecting with Tacoma via Instagram?
My favorite part right now is that no one knows who is running the account. I do know a lot of people in Tacoma, and I want this account to generate the support on its own – without me promoting it.

Everyone LOVES Tacoma that lives here, they love to show off what they are doing here, and to share their epic photos. It’s so refreshing to see other people tagging @Tacoma_WA in their photos so this account can see them, and to see that others have the same love for Tacoma as I do.

My other favorite thing is to use the account to try and inspire and motivate everyone to go after their goals and dreams. Tacoma has a lot to offer, and a lot of talented people that can change the community, or world.

Sometimes people just need a little word of encouragement and I am able to do that through the Instagram account. They have no idea who is telling them this, but they listen and it almost seems as if “TACOMA” is telling them to chase their dream.

Where is your favorite place to photograph?
Right now, anywhere and everywhere. You can say I am addicted to instagram, so I find inspiration anywhere I go. Since starting the account, I am always looking for something iconic, beautiful, or artsy to post that people can relate to in Tacoma. Whether it is a good restaurant, a local area that is popular, or the iconic places like the Tacoma Dome. Tacoma has beauty all around it, and I intend to capture every piece of Tacoma to remind the people why Tacoma is a beautiful place to live.

Who else would you recommend following on instagram for some excellent Tacoma pics?
At the moment, I am still building familiarity with the account and others in Tacoma that have excellent Tacoma photos. Anyone that is following @Tacoma_Wa or I am following has some really epic photos. I plan on featuring 1-2 pictures a week by the followers to show off how others see Tacoma.

Anything else you feel like sharing?
This is just the start. I can’t wait to continue to build @Tacoma_Wa into something bigger to really showcase the beauty Tacoma possesses. We are lucky to live in Tacoma, and this account will show the people living outside of Tacoma on why we love living here, and maybe even get some new faces to move into the area. Who knows.

I am just excited to share how I see Tacoma in my eyes, motivate the people of Tacoma to chase their dreams and inspire others to keep building this community we love so much.