Open Letter And Invitation To Great Falls For Shallon Lester

I just read an article from Business Insider that, well, is everything wrong with transplants in Montana. First, I was thinking, "Who is this fool?", then the deeper I got into it, I thought, "Girl, I can answer a lot of your questions."

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Shallon Lester

If you're a "Shalligator", then you already know who I'm talking about.  Shallon Lester is an attractive influencer that "moved from the big city to a little town in Montana during the pandemic and couldn't be happier".

She is a typical influencer on Insta.  It's her website that's  disturbing, and that's putting it lightly.  She offers "A Crash Course in Male Manipulation"  Check out Shallon Lester's site, if you can stomach it.

Shallon's Instagram account:

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Shallon Lester (@shallonxo) • Instagram photos and videos

The Long and Short of the Article in Business Insider

Shallon regales us with her story of visiting Bozeman one time (the tiny Montana town she lives in) and it "felt like home".  When the pandemic hit and "the party was literally over", she decided to pursue her Bozeman dream.

She took what little money she had from living in the big city of New York, and paid cash for a million dollar place in Bozeman. Shallon says, "swapping Christian Dior for Mossy Oak is a small price to pay to live somewhere safer, saner, and slower."  Is Mossy Oak a thing here, or is it a thing to people who need a name brand to pay them, a thing here?

She goes on to talk about how much money she makes renting out her guest house, ($2,000/month) how it was easy to make friends and she's really starting to like winter.  Thing is,

 dating is a little trickier. I think the men in Montana I've met have a very different type of intelligence than I'd found in NYC: They can build things, they can kill things, and they're very tactile and useful. I find it so cool and sexy, but they don't really find my type of intelligence sexy. I'm sarcastic, witty, and nerdy. The guys I've met here are more into intelligence that has a real world application.

Guys I've met seem to gravitate toward girls who need saving, or who may have jobs but not careers.

Here's Where I Come In

Shallon, girl, first thing you need to know is most Montana men will sniff out your narcissistic qualities before the second red beer is gone.  If you manage to hang with them all night, between them killing things and building things, they'll google you and find out you present yourself as a master manipulator of men.

Sure, you will, if you look for a long time, find a few men who can't help themselves around a woman like you.  You are very pretty.  However, most men in Montana actually gravitate toward girls who DON'T need saving and HAVE a fulfilling job/career that can HANDLE HERSELF. AND, I can't stress this enough, quit talking about "being at the shooting range"  Talking about it won't get you a man.

I totally understand why you have to tell yourself that men don't find sarcastic, witty nerdy girls attractive.  It's the only way a narcissist can survive, no?  Truth is most Montana women, the real McCoy, if you will, ARE sarcastic and witty, some of us nerdy and all of us hard workers.

Other Noteworthy Quotes from Shallon:

it's common to see employees not show up to work if it's a good ski day or the first day of elk-hunting season.

A large number of America's workforce DIED in the pandemic.  A lot of people who used to live and work in Bozeman have had to move because they were priced out of their home.   As for the others, they took vacation days, for the love of God.  People in Montana have a great work ethic.  If you ever had a real job, you'd see hunting season, camping season and ski season are the most requested days off, and the requests are put in MONTHS in advance.

I have struggled to secure brand partnerships with local businesses. Many haven't gotten on board with influencer advertising because they don't see the value, so I've stuck to nationwide or global brands.

Shallon, the REAL influencers that advertisers are paying because it WORKS for them to have a Montanan talking to a Montanan are at the Townsquare radio stations you're listening to in Bozeman.  You want to learn how to do it "Montana Style", start listening to the REAL Bozeman influencers.

And finally, it's foolishness like the article in Business Insider that are getting idiot sticks to make the move to Montana, and pay cash for a place, then talk about how they FEEL rich.  Talk to the people in Bozeman that have been priced out of living there since the pandemic.  There's been this thing happening where rich people come pay cash for homes, farms and ranches, and usually at an inflated price, driving up our cost of living.  Strange, right?

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You say you didn't move to Montana to change it, you moved here so it could change you.  Come down to Great Falls and we'll hang.  I'm totally serious.

***Update 8/22/23****