DCHS junior finds niche in social media management

When Monica Montgomery was only 11 years old, she convinced her parents to help her start her own YouTube Channel.

“I convinced them to help me get all of the equipment, and then, I hated being in front of the camera and wanted to quit,” she confessed.

Her parents, in an effort to show support and encouragement, convinced her to keep trying and to stick with it.

“They wanted me to at least give it a good try and put in my best effort,” Montgomery said.

She continued putting out content on YouTube, and when she was 13, a local realtor, Brown Westendorf Realty Group, reached out to her about producing a promotional video for them.

“I told them I would do it as long as if they liked what I did, they would start allowing me to do all of their promotional content,” Montgomery explained.

And that deal with the real estate agent, who enjoyed her content, started opening doors for more business opportunities for the teenager.

“Justin Rightmyer, another local real estate agent, reached out to me in 2021, so I started managing his social media accounts and providing videography and photography for him,” she said.

Montgomery, now 17, has continued to gain clients across the region for jobs involving webpage design, social media management, photography and videography.

She’s gained so much business that she was able to launch her own company, M Squared Productions, toward the end of 2022.

The high school junior, who also participates in the early college program partnership with Owensboro Community and Technical College (OCTC), stays busy.

“I manage six webpages for area businesses and many social media accounts,” she said. “I really enjoy working with my Rough River clients in the boating industry the most.”

Montgomery said that she was interested in doing social media work for Mike Brown with Nick’s Boat Dock in the Rough River area.

“I might have been a little persistent in trying to get his business,” she laughed.

But, eventually, Brown caved and gave the teenager a shot at handling the business’s social media accounts.

Brown ended up so happy with Montgomery’s work that he provided networking for her, and now she’s producing content for multiple businesses in the Rough River area and in the marine hobby and sport world.

“I’ve gone to a marine show in Louisville and filmed content for them.

I’ve filmed large wakeboarding competitions outside of Nashville,” Montgomery said.

“Launching M Squared has allowed me to do so many neat and interesting things.”

Montgomery said that she’s realized how much more she enjoys working behind the cameras now that she’s invested time and made a connection with her clients.

“I initially started YouTube to try to make myself famous,” she said.

“But now I’m thrilled to be able to make my clients famous and successful.”

M Squared Productions has even recently expanded into offering drone videos, mostly used to showcase properties for sale by local real estate agents, more photography opportunities and a 360 Photo Booth rental for parties, events and functions.

“I recently started venturing into family photos and prom pictures and I feel like that’s the usual route people take when getting into this space, but I started with commercial projects first, so I’m a little backwards,” Montgomery said.

In addition to running M Squared Productions and attending both high school and college classes, Montgomery is also active in Junior Achievement and the Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP).

“I did an entire project about my business for STLP,” she said.

She also gave a five-minute speech at the recent Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame event in addition to providing videos for the occasion.

“I enjoyed being able to talk about my business and where it has taken me,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery is currently undecided about her future college plans, but she’s sure that she wants to keep growing M Squared while studying marketing so she can learn more and provide her clients with more knowledge and opportunities.

“I know I’d like to stay close to home, though,” she said.

And she’s focused on staying close to home because her family, her parents and younger brother, have been her biggest supporters.

“I wouldn’t be able to do this if it wasn’t for the generous support of my parents,” Montgomery said.

“They’ve been with me through it all, taking me to meet clients and to appointments when I couldn’t drive, encouraging me to keep going and to learn more. My mom even spent a weekend in Louisville at a marine boat show with me because she didn’t want me traveling alone.”

Anyone interested in checking out all of the services offered by M Squared Productions can look up the company name on Facebook and Instagram for more information.