True Blu: Blugold alumna promotes outdoor adventure as the Girl of 10,000 Lakes

Anderson grew up in Woodbury, Minnesota, and is a 2010 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Today, she is known to many by her social media moniker, Girl of 10,000 Lakes.

Anderson graduated from UW-Eau Claire with a degree in broadcast journalism. After spending some time working as a reporter at an Eau Claire TV station, she and her husband made the move back to her hometown in the Twin Cities area, where she got a job managing social media content creation for Globe University. That role was short-lived.

“That company shut down within a month of me starting,” Anderson recalls. “So, my experience in social media was very minimal. From there I got a job in video production with the Minnesota Department of Revenue.”

But the idea of focusing on content creation stayed with her, leading Anderson to make the decision to focus on her social media platforms. And even though content creation for social media wasn’t really a big thing when she attended UW-Eau Claire, what she learned in the journalism program helped her make the leap to a new and exciting field.

“There was no degree in Girl of 10,000 Lakes back then,” Anderson says. “There was no degree in being a content creator. But my experience at Eau Claire really prepared me for what I do today, because the storytelling is in everything that I do. So, while I didn’t exactly stick with broadcast journalism, a lot of those skill sets still transfer to what I do.”

Becoming the Girl of 10,000 Lakes

Part of her job back in her early television news days was covering stories related to the outdoors. But it wasn’t only her outdoors beat assignments that helped create what would become her new persona. What also led to the creation of the Girl of 10,000 Lakes was a boyfriend, who would later become her husband, a really big fish and a desire to share her newly found passion for outdoor adventure with others.

New adventures and new things learned

As someone who started her outdoor adventures after reaching adulthood, Anderson says her focus is now on helping others do the same.

“I call it adult-onset outdoorsing,” Anderson quips. “You learn about it later in life and it’s never too late. You don’t have to grow up with it, and a lot of people don’t. My goal with Girl of 10,000 Lakes is to introduce people to the great outdoors, no matter their age, no matter their abilities.”

Even though her content makes it look like she’s lived this life forever, Anderson says that’s not the case. She feels that’s why so many people connect with her, and part of the reason every day brings exciting new challenges.

“I’m still an amateur,” Anderson admits. “I think I’ve been fishing for 10 years now, and people think I am a pro, but I’m learning things every single day and that’s what I love about it. And I think people like that.”

Anderson says part of her success as a content creator may be due to when she got into it. “I didn’t know what to expect when I went into it,” Anderson recalls. “I think because I got into it when there weren’t a lot of women in fishing or the outdoors sharing this content. There weren’t women sharing about how to go camping by yourself, how to go hiking with your family, how to get started in ice fishing. These are all activities that are so niche that you kind of need someone to show you the ropes before you get into it.”

Anderson’s success in connecting with others is evident in the number of people following her on social media. Between her various platforms, Anderson has about 70,000 followers, putting her solidly in the category of a social media influencer, and causing her to expand what she does as a content creator.

Expanding beyond the lake

What comes with being a social media influencer? Hours of work behind the scenes in order to create content that can run anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute in length.

Anderson says it’s a full-time career that involves producing, filming, editing and storytelling. On top of that, she works with brands and tourism organizations to find and create some of the content she produces.

Anderson is doing more than just outdoor content these days. And some of that expansion comes from her continued contact with the Eau Claire area and western Wisconsin.

“I keep coming back to western Wisconsin,” Anderson says. “I have friends there still, so I visit pretty frequently, and because of my connections, I’ve had a lot of contracts with the tourism board there, Visit Eau Claire, Wisconsin Dells, County Jam and other tourism boards.”

Anderson says her primary niche continues to be outdoor adventures, but has expanded into travel, family content and lifestyles. She says she gets to do a lot of touring around, showing people things to do around the Twin Cities, in greater Minnesota and western Wisconsin, and sometimes, far beyond.

“I had a contract in the Florida Keys,” Anderson says of a recent adventure. “I flew into Miami, and then we drove all the way down the keys to Key West. They had me stop at all these cute boutique hotels and restaurants, do some fishing excursions and basically tour the whole Keys area. That was such a fun one.”

“My husband was like, ‘Can you do more contracts like that, please?’”

Coming full circle and getting back on TV

More than 10 years after leaving television, Anderson now finds herself back where she started. She’s a co-host of “Made for the Outdoors,” a program devoted to showing how various outdoor gear is made. The program airs each weekend on FanDuel Sports Network and on a Minneapolis TV station.

“This has been a fun full-circle part of my story,” Anderson says. “I studied broadcast journalism at UW-Eau Claire, left TV, built my own media brand and then that path ultimately brought me back to television.”

With two young children, multiple social media channels needing content and a TV show, Anderson says her workday for her content creation often happens between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. While the rest of the family is sleeping, she’s still getting her work done. Even though that can be a tough schedule, Anderson says it’s well worth it. And there may be someone already waiting in the wings to take over at some point.

“Eventually, at what point am I not a Girl of 10,000 Lakes?” Anderson asks. “When do I become the Matron of 10,000 Lakes or the Grandma of 10,000 Lakes? My daughter likes to joke that eventually she wants me to give her this job.”

Since her daughter is 5 years old, Anderson is perfectly content to continue down the content creation path she’s chosen for now.

“It’s just so fun. It really fits our lifestyle and our family and where we’re at,” Anderson says with a smile. "So, I’ll just continue to hopefully create content and share stories with people to inspire them to get outdoors and travel.”

True Blu is a monthly series that spotlights UW-Eau Claire alumni.