Among out-of-towners and even residents, the perception of Cleveland is often, “There’s nothing to do.” One Clevelander, Courtney Ottrix, is making it her business to counter that response.
When the Shaker Heights High School graduate left Cleveland for Pittsburgh to attend Duquesne University, and even while traveling the country as a game-day production assistant for ESPN and ABC, she always envisioned herself returning.
“I never considered going anywhere else,” she says.
Ottrix is a millennial wife and mom who grew tired of people complaining about the lack of things to do in Cleveland. So, equipped with a smartphone, she set out to prove them wrong by spotlighting cool people, places and events in the city. Her increasingly popular brand, Courtney Covers Cleveland, is a multimedia, digital platform that focuses on all things local: people, places, events and resources. It allows her to promote and support all of the great things happening in Cleveland.
“The benefit in what I do is I find something great about every place I visit,” says Ottrix, explaining that she is truthful about her experiences — even critical, sometimes. Ottrix has covered well over 100 local places in Cleveland. She didn’t know blogging about her favorite things could become a business until people wanted to pay her for it.
Ottrix started blogging about Cleveland in 2017 while working as the communications director at Global Cleveland. However, her day job didn’t allow her to do it as much as she desired. Through her work, she also found herself focusing more on small international businesses. While she liked that, she wanted to spotlight other minority-owned businesses as well.
“I wanted to be more inclusive,” she says. “I was uncovering hidden gems here in Cleveland and sharing them on social media. So the community coined me as ‘Cleveland Courtney.’’”
A 2019 restructuring at Global Cleveland left her without work. So she saw it as the perfect opportunity to blog about Cleveland full time.
“I told my husband, if it doesn’t work, I can just go look for another job,” she says. Some three years later, she’s full steam ahead with no signs of slowing down.
“It’s been amazing,” she says.
Ottrix says some businesses don’t always understand how to work with a social media influence marketer and its potential impact on their business.
“It’s education — it’s a lot of teaching and explaining how links and influencer codes work.”
However, when those who understand engage her, everybody wins. Every business featured receives a Courtney Covers Cleveland decal to place in their window.
For example, Ottrix says the Grand Resort in Warren is one of the best-kept secrets in Northeast Ohio. So she featured them on Courtney Covers Cleveland in February 2021 and has sent people there every week after that.
“The impact is there,” she says.
When Enlightened Solutions wanted to distribute Project Noir, a survey that collected and published the experiences of Black women in Cleveland, the first person they thought of was Ottrix.
“Her innate grasp of the entertainment, social, familial and professional pursuits of Black women is unparalleled,” says Chinenye Nkemere, co-founder and director of strategy of Enlightened Solutions.
Nkemere says within the first hour of distributing its survey through Courtney’s social media channels, they received more than 100 responses.
“As an organization, Courtney Covers Cleveland was instrumental to the initial success of Project Noir, and we look forward to continuing to support her work.”
Ottrix often gets the opportunity to incorporate her family into her adventures. Named after her daughter, the brand extension Codi Covers Cleveland is geared toward spotlighting activities for children.
Ottrix also started to curate and hosted her own Courtney Covers Cleveland events. The goal is to have a monthly event that appeals to a different audience. She’s developed married couples’ night and ladies’ night, two signature Courtney Covers Cleveland events — and they sell out quickly.
As one who continues to travel a lot, she says it necessary to have connections in your hometown.
“There’s no place like home,” she says.