Unveiling Omaha’s Hidden Gems

Chances are, you’ve already read or seen Madison Wajda’s work, but you may not know it.

The sophomore, who is working towards her BSBA with a concentration in marketing, has been one of the voices behind the Instagram account, “Omaha Places” since 2022. The account is run by the agency 402 Social and highlights small businesses and events in Omaha for people to check out. Omaha Places also consists of a TikTok account, a blog, and a newsletter.

“Originally, Cahner (Olson, Founder of Omaha Places and 402 Social) was making different posts to just get more information out for tourists and people from Omaha that want a way to find things to do in Omaha, and it grew really fast because there is not really any other account like us in the market around here,” Wajda said.

Wajda started with the company as an intern during her freshman year of college at UNO.

“It was just supposed to be a semester-long internship, but then I just kept working there. We worked really well together and the company and the account were growing really fast and so Cahner said, ‘just stay on,’ so I ended up becoming a part-time employee,” Wajda said.

Throughout her two years with the company, Wajda has been getting hands-on learning experiences across the marketing field.

“I started out writing captions for posts for the Instagram account about small businesses in Aksarben, and then when I moved from my internship to working part-time, I began doing copywriting work, so I became the face behind all the captions on our Instagram and Facebook accounts on Omaha Places. Now I work as an account manager where I do the actual posting of the posts and I make sure that everything goes out on time. I also run our blog and occasionally help with filming content,” she said.

For Wajda, there is a lot to love about what she is doing right now. As a sophomore in college, she already has real-world job experience that she is getting paid for, and the position is very flexible.

“It doesn’t really feel like a job, especially when I’m in school. It is also mostly remote. I only go into the office when I want to, we can all just work from our phones if we want to. As long as we get our stuff done, it doesn’t matter. I have always been into social media, so it doesn’t feel real—getting to do it for a job, especially how young I am,” she said. “I found out that I truly enjoy writing. I always thought that I didn’t like to write because I never enjoyed writing essays, but I do all the writing for Omaha Places and that’s awesome to me. And I have fun doing it,” Wajda said.

She has also balanced having a marketing and sales internship while continuing to work part-time for Omaha Places. “It was completely different from what I do at Omaha Places, but it was such a great experience for me. I do want to stay with smaller companies because I feel like I am making a difference. For example, we started 2023 with just 35k followers on Instagram, and we just hit over 80k followers, so we are growing very quickly,” Wajda said.

Working a part-time job while attending college full-time can be hard for some students, but not for Madison.

“UNO is a great university for aspiring marketers. The College of Business Administration is full of so many different opportunities like the amazing career fairs, the different student clubs and activities, and my colleague told me there is a digital marketing class that she took that inspired her, so I know I am in the right place for me,” she said.

If you are looking for something to do in Omaha, or are curious about a local business or event, make sure you check out Omaha Places on Instagram, Facebook, or online at www.omahaplaces.com