Building from the ground up is something most people struggle with especially when you're entering the creative industry. It's important we're true to ourselves in every space we enter.My guest this week has shown what it means to remain authentic whilst creating.
Fego is a beauty, fashion and lifestlye content creator onInstagram andYoutube. She is also a 3rd year Finance Student.
Rhieme: Hi thank you so much for joining us today.Can you please tell us about yourself?
Fego: Hi,my name is Fego and I create lifestyle, fashion and beauty content across Instagram and YouTube and I love creating content. I'm a third-year student at Durham University and I study Finance. So it's like two completely different worlds but I enjoy both of them.
Rhieme: Yeah,thank you so much for sharing. So over the last few conversations, we've been talking about entering into different industries and as you said, you're into creating content. Can you please share your journey on how you decided to go into content creation?
Fego: When I first started, I already had some followers. Then last year, when we went into lockdown, I was like I could actually make money. So from 4000, gained like 6000 more followers in a year and that's because during lockdown, I was decided I want to do something, there’s money in this. It’s not all about the money, I enjoy I but at the same time, multiple streams of income are great. So I started posting consistently and just doing things I liked in general. In terms of working with brands and things like that, I reached out to them, because at the end of the day, I had less than 10,000 followers. So I reached out to them, they started working with me. Other brands started seeing they were working with me and it just went in my favour really. In terms of YouTube, it was something that was always playing on my mind. But I just didn't know how to take that step and decide to take action. But at the end of the day, I told myself, if you really want to grow in terms of social media, I think it's very important to be on different platforms, because each platform translates into the other one. You have such a different audience on YouTube a different one on Instagram. The two don’t merge all the time, but a lot a lot of the people follow you on both platforms.
Rhieme:Yeah, thank you so much for sharing. And I love what you said about reaching out first because you have to humble yourself. As you said, when people start seeing you working with different brands they’ll wonder, whose is she? Let’s actually reach out.
Rhieme: Okay, so putting yourself out there can be quite difficult and a lot of the time many people are afraid to put themselves out there because of insecurities and all. How have you been able to navigate all of that?
Fego: I think for me, it comes from my person, I'm a very confident person, but I'm not an extrovert. So I'm quite introverted, if you know me, or I'm an ambivert really. If you give me that energy, I'll give you back but if I'm just meeting you for the first time, I don’t come across as shy. But I think it's just as my own person I've learned to love myself first and be secure in my own self. Before coming on the internet and saying I want to do something. When you go on social media, people say lots of things and no matter how confident you are, those things kind of ease into you, it's very easy. I did a reel or something and someone goes something “she looked better before” or something ridiculous like that and I see those comments and simply block. There’s no time for that, there’s so many other people that like your content and if you focus on the negativity it's going to eat you up. Also, I have acne, you’re not the ideal body type, things like that. In terms of confidence, you just have to tell yourself, this is normal. I think I think the way you're going to actually be confident in yourself is knowing that social media isn't real. I do social media and I would say it’s real you only post your best self. I tried to be as transparent as possible, but the truth of matter is no one's going to come social media to show you themselves in their worst state. It’s like everyone just wants to see the best stuff and to be honest, the audience themselves also feed into that because people won't like your picture or won't comment if the picture isn't all that, everyone’s looking for that wow factor. Everyone wants to have a picture that is like wow and that is just not the case.
Rhieme: Yeah. I love that love what you said about how you have to first of all love yourself before you start putting yourself out there. Obviously, you never really reached that point where everything is perfect but as time goes on, it gets better. What some people do is try and gain confidence by putting themselves out there. But I don't think that works because you’ll gain a false sense of confidence then backtrack. As you said, social media is not what it seems. I just think it’s unrealistic to expect someone to constantly be a 100%. As you said, just being able to block out those voices when people say things. I remember there was a post you made actually, I think last year or earlier on this year and it really resonated with me where you were sharing your journey. I noticed how so many people were responding to it. But typically people wouldn't want to talk about stuff like that, because they're so caught up with showing their best side. Obviously, it doesn't mean you always have to tell people everything. But I love you said that because so many people like I hits when people make comments and stuff.
Rhieme: So that aside, how have you been able to remain consistent in terms of producing content?
Fego: As I say, it's very difficult now, because I'm in third year, I have my dissertation, I’m trying to graduate, I need a job. Then adding content creation to that, it is tiring. The fact that I love it it’s just an avenue to relax, I find it relaxing. don't feel like putting on makeup every day. I don't feel like filming a video every day but the thing about it is that when you know what your end goal is, it's easier when it comes to actually achieving those goals. So for me, I always put out tasks I have Mondays I record all my YouTube videos. For the week, I record like four YouTube videos just so I know I have a video once every week and then I have one vlog. I just vlog my life when people vlog and they're oh I need to do this now I don’t do that. I just do it, because I'm really going to do it so that makes my whole life easier. When it comes to Instagram, I was a bit more consistent before but it's a bit difficult because I have two platforms now. But I take any opportunity I get to take pictures or actually set a date out and take a set of pictures. I went on holiday e a month ago and I probably took 18 pictures on our holiday, the holiday was for 3 days. But I knew when I came back to the UK, it was going to be very stressful, I’ll be going back to uni. Bulk content creation is just the way to go.
Rhieme: So good! Sometimes people see others doing different things and they think they it’s just there. As you said, being very intentional is important. I love that you're not necessarily doing it to keep up with people or for people but it’s something you genuinely enjoy. Everything you said about vlogging is so good because sometimes when people try and get into a particular space, they begin to change their lives to fit into a mould. But as you it’s as life comes. If something interesting happens, something interesting happens if not that’s fine as well. I love that you said that because especially with social media. For example, you travelled and now you're back in school, but you're posting pictures from your holiday. Someone whose in school can open their phones and be like ‘Fego has travelled’ meanwhile you're in your uni room, you can plan your content in advance.
Rhieme: Most people are trying to go into YouTube and things like that they're not sure where to start from. What advice would you give someone who wants to start, but they're second guessing themselves, and they're a bit unsure?
Fego: Okay, I think for me, for most people that want to start YouTube it’s likely you already watch a lot of YouTube. I love YouTube, I probably have like 800 subscriptions. So when you figure out you actually like this, it’s important to find your niche. When it comes to equipment and just starting, I feel like it's something that you don't need the best equipment your iPhone can do a great job really. In terms of content, if people really like your content, editing doesn't have to be over the roof. My editing isn't like anything over the top, but because my content is already good and the quality of my content is good, it's easy for people to be interested in my videos. A lot of times, people follow you for different reasons. Some YouTubers are really into editing like Andrea, her edits are so good. Some others are simply vloggers, they do the edits which still works. So if you want to start doing something with the editing process, it’s something you can learn. You don’t have to learn it to the point where you're a professional, you could do the simple ones. As you continue going, you're going to build up. But the thing about is you only regret what you've not done. So when you want to start something, it's going to continue play in your mind and that's just what happened to me. So if you continuously remind yourself it's something you really want to do, just do it because no one is going to push you. So, if you want to create content, you're going to create content, just don't be scared of that whole validation thing.
Rhieme: Yeah, that's so good. What you said about starting with what you have and not aiming for perfection is so important. Finding your niche is so important because when you do people can easily know you for something. Let’s say you're looking for lifestyle content , you automatically know a channel to go to. I guess when you're really into something, the more you know what you want to go into. You may not have like the full picture but it's fun to try different things. When you're really trying to produce high value you can evolve over time but being known for something in particular is really good. I can really resonate with what you said about how no one's going to force you. The truth is, no one cares more than you do.Even friends, some of my friends take my wins as theirs quite literally, but behind the scenes they're not always going to be there to be cheer me on. It’s really cool to see how you can actually build from the ground up. With your page now and how your followers increase rapidly and stuff you can actually see how things changed. There’s a different level of satisfaction when you know where you were starting from and you can see where your consistency has gotten you and stuff.
Rhieme: In all of this, how are you able to remain true to yourself, as you put yourself out there?
Fego: I think it's remembering how you started. As a person, you change every time, every month you're changing. But at the end of the day, you remember the values you started with the vision you started with and kind of stick to that. The core values and vision you had remains the same even though I see other people doing certain things. I'm not going to change myself, because I want the followers. At the end of the day, that's not the kind of content I want to create. So even though it's bringing all the followers and everybody wants to be Instagram famous, it's not your brand and your brand carries a lot of weight. My brand in particular is very important. So when I'm talking to my brand, I'm not just going to do anything that is going to give me money or followers, at the end of the day it’s my name attached to it. I want to be proud of myself. I like producing and not that I'm producing and in four months, I'm like oh I regret posting this.
Rhieme: Yeah, so good because most of the time people are so quick to jump on any everything that we don’t even ask ourselves, is this aligned with what I'm trying to achieve? Especially now when everyone is trying to come up with the next big thing. It’s not always about that, it's good to think big and dream big and all of that. But going back to the drawing board and asking is this actually aligned with where I'm trying to go? So as you said earlier there's no one else like you. So even if you're producing, there's so many other people that do vlogs but they can never be you because you have your own way of doing it.
Rhieme: Do you have any last words, advice? Anything that's been on your mind?
Fego: Hmm, I don't really have anything but I think everything boils down to hard work. It's easy to say consistency. But at the end of the day you can be consistent and it's still won’t work out. I think it's about perseverance as well. Time is going to pass and you're going to be able to pass certain milestones. Everyone only advertises or says their successes. So if you want to go into social media and content creation persevere.
How did you find this conversation? Any key-takeaways? Share below! Make sure you check out Fego's channel. This is the last episode for this season, it's been such an amazing journey. Stay tuned for season 2 we have lots in store for our inner community in between the break. Be sure to join us.
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