The Rediscover State College Podcast
This is the Rediscover State College Podcast, where we talk to locals about how they were able to find their happy place in Happy Valley.
The Rediscover State College Podcast
Discovering Happy Valley with Local Influencer Hannah Morris
This episode features an interview with Hannah Morris, better known as Happy Valley Hannah. With more than 16,000 Instagram followers, Hannah has become a local celebrity thanks to her uplifting and informative account. She highlights upcoming events in Happy Valley, offers a behind-the-scenes look at new businesses and restaurants, and focuses on sharing family-friendly opportunities in the area.
In this episode, we talk about how Hannah found her community in State College, what inspired her to launch Happy Valley Hannah, and what she hopes to see more of in the region.
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Brad Groznik (00:05)
This is the Rediscover State College podcast. On this show, we talk to locals about how they were able to find their happy place in Happy Valley. I'm your host, Brad Groznik. Today we're joined by Hannah Morris. Though you probably know her better as Happy Valley Hannah. With more than 16,000 Instagram followers, Hannah has become a local celebrity thanks to her uplifting and informative account. She highlights upcoming events in the Happy Valley, offers a behind the scenes look at new businesses and restaurants,
and focuses on sharing family-friendly opportunities in the area. In this episode, we'll talk about how Hannah found her community in State College, what inspired her to launch Happy Valley Hannah, and what she hopes to see more of in the region. Okay, Happy Valley Hannah, thank you so much for joining us today. Be here. Your Instagram handle has 15,700 followers as of this taping. Can you take me little bit about how that happened? Because it's only been a little over a year, I think.
Hannah Morris (00:50)
Thank you
Yeah, it'll be two years in October. I have a friend who is involved in social media, but she went to a conference, she's a photographer, and they were talking about ⁓ hyper local content creators. And they were like, we don't have anybody doing that here. So she kind of brought the idea to me just very casually and was like, hey, you're already going to all the events, you're taking your kids there, you're taking pictures, you're just not marketing it.
And I was like, oh my gosh. And it was kind of a light bulb moment. And it was like five minutes later, I made the Instagram handle and just started and then became obsessed with it. I was looking for something kind of creative to do. Um, I was at the time just to stay at home. Mom wanted that creative outlet. So it really worked.
Brad Groznik (01:51)
out. And how fast did it take off from an outside perspective? It seemed like it really took off. Is that how you felt about it?
Hannah Morris (01:58)
I would say like probably with anything there's periods of growth and then there's slower periods. It took probably several months to kind of figure out the groove, figure out like, okay, reels are doing better than posts right now. Like this is how to make a reel. This is what I should be doing. This is the posting frequency. But I would say it probably took about a year for people to kind of know who I was.
And then, you know, now I kind of feel like I get recognized around town, which is kind of fun. People will say, you know, like, ⁓ if you're new to town, like, you know, you have to check out Hannah's page and everything. It took a good bit of time.
Brad Groznik (02:38)
It also seems like you were so natural at it. But it also the way you're talking about it seems like it's actually it was a lot of work. Can you give me a sense of like, what's behind the scenes?
Hannah Morris (02:47)
No,
it's a lot of work. I don't want to say 24 seven, like at times it has been 24 seven. I feel like I'm kind of coming off of a burnout period too. It's all encompassing. Like you're always thinking of content ideas. You always have stuff that needs edited. You always have captions you're trying to build. And then there's kind of like the outreach part. So you're reaching out to brands or businesses.
Brad Groznik (03:10)
Is it still
a solo enterprise right now or do you have people helping with outreach and anything?
Hannah Morris (03:15)
Right now it's just me. I have had some really amazing students that have helped me in the past, but right now I'm back to just me. In ways, it would be great to have more help, but in ways it's also like that I have people that I have to, they're depending on me. They're relying on me for things. And so that ends in trying to be present for two young kids. Kind of hard to like manage it all.
Brad Groznik (03:40)
So you mentioned like something changed around a year into it. How did you know that, this is something, this has now grown to a different level?
Hannah Morris (03:48)
I when businesses started reaching out to me saying like, Hey, can you come and promote this? And then shortly after that, was the launch box, the happy belly launch box reached out to me and they were like, Hey, we're doing this content creator program. Do you want to be a part of it? And it was right then that I was like, ⁓ wow. Like I could be monetizing this. I went through that program and it was.
Justin Loosener, who I'm sure you know, you know, like I'm learning all this from a student and he's walking me through how there are people, there are brands that want to pay for this. And it hadn't really occurred to me that that was a thing that I could do up until that point. And so I think going through that program kind of shifted my perspective a little bit. I've never thought of myself as an entrepreneur. And so that's been an interesting.
learning experience to and trying to kind of step into that role a little.
Brad Groznik (04:44)
Yeah, I thought it was so cool that you took advantage of the Happy Valley LaunchBox. You know, I imagine it was a free program. Can you talk a little bit more about that program and what kind of person should seek out the LaunchBox?
Hannah Morris (04:54)
I think that was their first, the first time that they did a content creator program. But I think that there are plans to do more of those. But first of all, it's a, it's a beautiful building. I mean, it's just, it's like, wow, this is so cool that this is free and it's open to anybody to use. And then when you walk in and they have on the wall, all of the different businesses that they have helped start, that's pretty impressive too. But I think anybody who is looking to start a small business.
anybody who kind of feels like they have an entrepreneurial sense. I think that's a really great place. And it's also just a really awesome like co-working place. Like if you just kind of want to be around people that are all doing things, if you need a place to like focus in and get things done, that's a cool place. But really you can go to them with your ideas and they can tell you how to do it. And then they have the Penn State Law Clinic work set up there too. And they were really helpful and kind of
creating a contract for me, which is, you know, that's something that I've had no.
Brad Groznik (05:57)
A contract that you then use with businesses to have a relationship. Is that what it is? Yep. Cool. And so you went through that program, your mindset kind of shifted into a, now more about business mode. So tell me a little bit about, you know, what's it like starting and growing a business in Happy Valley?
Hannah Morris (06:14)
I would say it's great. I wouldn't want to do it anywhere else. I don't think that Happy Belly Hannah would be as successful in any other town. Why? Because I think that we are this community of people that want others to do well. I think that you just want to see people succeed. I think that the area attracts people that are doing things, that are learning, that are teaching. You know, it's smart.
smart people.
Brad Groznik (06:45)
And how did you, have you felt that personally? When did you start to realize like how supported you were in this endeavor?
Hannah Morris (06:51)
I think kind of right away, even just people being like, hey, love what you're doing. Check this place out. Or I'd love to introduce you to this person. Why don't you come and try this LaunchBox program? Let me connect to you here. I obviously have never tried to build a business other places, but I just think that people really take an interest.
Brad Groznik (07:10)
What have you learned about the community since starting?
Hannah Morris (07:14)
I have learned how it's a small community, but small in a good way. Whereas everybody kind of knows everybody, everybody's connected in some way. And so I think that's one of the cool things. Like I had no idea that certain businesses were related to other businesses or it's like everybody kind of knows everybody. I like that. I kind of grew up around that and it's like a warm, welcoming feeling.
Brad Groznik (07:41)
You and your family don't have a traditional relationship with Penn State. You didn't go here and yet you ended up here. What is it like being a family here that isn't working for Penn State? Can you give us a little bit of insight or a perspective on that?
Hannah Morris (07:57)
Yeah, when we were kind of we knew we wanted to move. We wanted to be somewhere a little bit nicer to raise kids and we needed to be within a few hours from our hometown. So we looked at we looked at Buffalo, we looked at Pittsburgh, we looked at D.C. None of those really felt right. And we liked that State College is very drivable. We like that it's centrally located. And even though none of us are huge like athletics fans, we were just like, you know, it's it's a
fun culture to kind of get behind. So we chose State College and then immediately we're like, okay, well, we've got to be sports fans. We just kind of embraced it. For a while when I first moved here, I kind of felt overwhelmed by campus and what all the different departments were, buildings. You know, I still don't know a lot of the buildings, but I don't know. I don't really feel like an outsider anymore. One of the things that I love most is that
You know, the university provides so many awesome resources to families. So whether it's like summer camps or the Arboretum or just different programs here and there, there's really a lot of learning opportunities for kids.
Brad Groznik (09:04)
You mentioned kids a couple of times. What is it like to raise kids?
Hannah Morris (09:08)
Yeah.
It's so funny because when we were at the townie takeover, I brought it up to several people. was like, can you be a townie if you weren't born and raised in the state college? they were like, no, have to be born and raised here. Like you're a local if you're, you know, if you moved here. I'm so, oh, I, several, several people born and raised here. And I was like, it's okay.
I'm happy. So then when I got the super local sticker, I was like, yes, like I'm not just local, I'm super local. But ⁓ I was like, our kids are townies. know, like they were born at Mount Nittany. They haven't ever known living anywhere else. And like, just, think that's exciting for them because it's like idyllic. It is just, it's happy valley. It's a happy place. you know, they have the most wonderful teachers in school.
The pediatrician is just like the sweetest person in the world. Everywhere they go, like the librarians, you know, they're talking about Miss Katie and the Makery. Like I can't think of a better place to be a kid.
Brad Groznik (10:10)
And I should say that we met because our kids went to Montessori School and stuff like this. And so talk a little bit about raising young kids. If you're here and you're thinking about starting a family, what kind of, what's here for young kids?
Hannah Morris (10:23)
A lot of things are for young kids. I met some of my best friends at infant massage class at the library when, you know, when they were six weeks old. We did like a baby yoga class that was really fun story time. I loved that time in my life, kind of being with these other moms in the same situation in this beautiful library, gymnastics classes, like soccer shots. mean, there are just so many programs for young kids. And then the schools too, you know, you can kind of.
Anywhere you go, you know, you have the friend school, you've got the Montessori school, you've got the outdoor, like the preschool at Millbrook Marsh, and then you have a lot of the churches that have the preschools. You have several private school options and then State College School District has just been fantastic for us. If you were to ask, sit down and ask my husband, Paul, like, why are we here? Like, we are here because of the schools. It's everything to me. Like, I'm here for a lot of reasons, but that's a really big one.
Brad Groznik (11:21)
Can you talk a little bit about adjusting to State College? It seems we've grown such a big community here, but I'm sure it wasn't always like that. And so what was it like adjusting?
Hannah Morris (11:30)
Let's
see, I moved here when I was, I think, 25. I was, you know, newly married. We didn't really know very many people. I took a job working at the Target, the one that opened downtown, and I hated it. So it was really like I didn't know, I didn't know anybody. I didn't like what I was doing. I think my next job after that was like working at a radio station and I hated that. It was a hard period where it was, we were just kind of driving around being like.
where do we fit into all this? And after that, I started working at AccuWeather and I loved that. I had like a really awesome team. I really felt like I fit in. you know, I think just, just kind of finding that, like sometimes it takes time to find your groove. But when I felt a community was right after I had kids, I think you're so vulnerable. You know, you're like, you have this tiny little baby that you have to take care of and you don't know what you're doing and you're emotional.
But everywhere I went, like the pediatrician's offices, you know, even just like going out to eat somewhere downtown, the library, it all goes back to like, people were just so nice. And I feel like I was kind of doing it alongside other people. What's been really fun too is over the years, like kind of meeting people that, you know, because once you start going to places with your kids and the activities, you see the same parents everywhere and you're like, remember when we did this together or whatever, kind of realizing.
the kids that were close in age and that were like in the hospital at the same time you were and like you didn't really see them at the time but but you like you know that that they shared the same experience as you and that's just been like a fun thing.
Brad Groznik (13:08)
Yeah. I mean, I had a similar experience, you know, when we were here, I felt like I knew everyone in town and people were just like, well, wait, do you have kids? And I was like, well, I already know everyone. Then we had, we had Dove and it did, it was like this whole other part of the community opened up and I met so many people on a different level. And it was just, it was so, it felt deeper and it was really amazing to kind of see that part of the community.
Hannah Morris (13:34)
really cool. And you'll see people years later, we were at a t ball game the other night. And it's like, my gosh, I remember that mom from story time. And that was six years ago, you know, and it's like, I haven't seen them. But it's just, it's cool to have that.
Brad Groznik (13:49)
You were recently invited to visit with the governor. Tell me a little bit about that experience and what it meant for you and your business.
Hannah Morris (13:57)
It's really cool because the governor is kind of investing time and energy in these creators. And I just think that's a really smart thing to do. I think kind of realizing that a lot of what we consume is all just on our phone. It's all scrolling. It's not like, you know, most of us aren't spending as much time on these traditional news outlets.
But I was, I kind of came across this, collective of content creators that he has, and I just sent an email and introduced myself and was like, Hey, you know, I'm in the state college area. Nobody else seems to be really doing the kind of content in this area that I'm doing. Got to be on several zoom calls with him and then got invited to the residence. And it was so fun to see it, but also to be, you know, there aren't many opportunities where you're in a room with.
all the other creators. And so that was really fun for me to just kind of be like, ⁓ you know, like that's okay. That's how they are filming that. Like this is the equipment they are using. my gosh. Like I love this transition. So that was very cool.
Brad Groznik (14:59)
Do you see yourself as building a media company? What do you, what do you see yourself?
Hannah Morris (15:07)
Honestly, the core of it for me is I have this performer in me that needs to let it out somehow. And there's so much negativity on the internet. And I want to focus on the positive things. And it's really just like this day by day, like, what do I feel like sharing today? I don't know. I don't know. That's a good question. I'm to ponder that now.
Brad Groznik (15:34)
Yeah, I just think there's the media ecosystem here is really robust. You know, we have a couple of magazines, have, have local websites, we have a newspaper, we have Penn State kind of putting out all kinds of, all kinds of articles and stuff like this. And it, but to your point, like there really wasn't someone like you sharing the kind of information that you did and you were able to identify that. And I think there is something, there's gotta be something to the way people are consuming media now that's changing.
What advice do you have for new residents or people on the fence about moving here?
Hannah Morris (16:08)
Well, for anybody on the fence, like, just do it. Just make the move. Figure it out when you get here. I will say, like, it's hard to make a move. And it took me a while to kind of get my bearings. I think that's how it is anywhere. But I think the more you put yourself out there, obviously, the more you'll meet people and find your spot. I get a lot of people messaging me saying like, hey, what do you think? Like, I'm thinking about moving to the area. What do you think I should do? There are
really great volunteer opportunities. I feel like that's a good way to meet people outside of your job. If you have young kids, know, my first thing is always go to the library. Just kind of any of those little activities like kids gymnastics classes, stuff like that. And then just getting involved in going to the business after hours, you know, going to the first Fridays, those types of things I feel like are really great places to kind of just get out and meet people.
Brad Groznik (17:04)
So you've done a number of things with your brand, know, stickers. We have a number of your stickers in our house. We have a number of your sweatshirts in our, we have a sweatshirt in your, house. Where's the brand going from here?
Hannah Morris (17:16)
Currently, the brand is just existing on my dining room table. I walk by it like 50 times a day thinking like, I should really do something about this today. It's like, what are those things? Like, how do you do it all? And obviously enlisting help and like figuring out how to be organized enough to like delegate all of that. I'm not entirely sure, but I just know that I wanted to create the happiest valley. I really feel like we are the happiest valley.
and just kind of creating some sort of testament to that.
Brad Groznik (17:49)
What do you hope to see in state college in the next five to 10 years? what would you hope to see flourish here or start?
Hannah Morris (17:57)
Well, I just saw, I just shared, I think it's called like Little Lions Play Den. Did you guys see that? Yeah, we saw that. That's really exciting. A play cafe? Like that was just something that I would have absolutely loved when my kids were a little bit younger. I mean, even, you know, rainy days now and days are out of school, that's great. I think more like indoor play opportunities for kids would be awesome to see. ⁓
a local coffee shop on the North Atherton side. It's a big one for me. Just kind of more of the, you know, the things that we already have, but maybe a little bit of variety for kids, for things to do on the rainy days.
Brad Groznik (18:38)
Thank you, Hannah, for making time today. Great talking to you.
Hannah Morris (18:41)
Thank you guys.
Brad Groznik (18:47)
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Rediscover State College Podcast. Be sure to follow the Rediscover State College Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts to hear more incredible local stories. We'd also love to hear about your state college experience. What aspect of the area or person in town has really made a difference in your Happy Valley experience? Share your thoughts by sending us an email at hello at rediscoverstatecollege.com.