diff --git a/content/community/write-a-blog-post/contents.lr b/content/community/write-a-blog-post/contents.lr
index d5827c94f..c8fc3c595 100644
--- a/content/community/write-a-blog-post/contents.lr
+++ b/content/community/write-a-blog-post/contents.lr
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ Once you have written your post, you can either send it to us (Markdown is easie
   ---
   pub_date: Replace this text with the publication date in YYYY-MM-DD format.
   ---
+  excerpt: Replace this text with a brief summary of your post to capture readers' interest.
+  If you do not add an excerpt, the first 100 words of your content will be used automatically.
+  ---
   body:
   Replace this text with your post's content (minus the title). This field accepts Markdown for formatting.
   If you're including images, you can use the Markdown image syntax i.e. ![image-title](image-file-name.jpg).
diff --git a/models/blog-post.ini b/models/blog-post.ini
index a5e8cefb4..735e12fcb 100644
--- a/models/blog-post.ini
+++ b/models/blog-post.ini
@@ -29,3 +29,7 @@ type = strings
 [fields.body]
 label = Body
 type = markdown
+
+[fields.excerpt]
+label = Excerpt
+type = markdown
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/themes/vocabulary_theme/templates/macros/posts.html b/themes/vocabulary_theme/templates/macros/posts.html
index c898e7864..53f6381d3 100644
--- a/themes/vocabulary_theme/templates/macros/posts.html
+++ b/themes/vocabulary_theme/templates/macros/posts.html
@@ -9,7 +9,11 @@
         <h4 class="b-header"><a class="blog-title" href="{{ post|url }}">{{ post.title }}</a></h4>
         {{ render_authors_byline(post) }}
         <div class="excerpt">
+        {% if post.excerpt %}
+          {{ post.excerpt }}
+        {% else %}
           {{ post.body | excerpt | string | striptags() | truncate(100) }}
+        {% endif %}
         </div>
       </div>
     </article>