What It's Really Like To Be An Influencer

If you ask any girl between the ages of 17-25 what her dream job is, chances are she’s going to say Instagram Influencer. I mean, same. But what does being an influencer actually entail? We reached out to a few micro influencers whose feeds we absolutely LOVE and asked them what it’s really all about. 

Lauren Archibald 

@oohlalauren

“I don’t really consider myself to be an 'influencer' but think of myself as more of a creator. I love using my creativity to tell a visually pleasing story on my feed. I try not to worry too much about the numbers and likes of it all and just post what I feel inspired by, or what I would like to see on my feed. I’ve always wanted my blog/Instagram to be a true reflection of myself and try not to get too caught up in 'people pleasing'. When you stay authentic, people seem to want to follow along more!”

Sarah Rivera

@sarahcrazychild

“I think gaining a real following is a slower process than people think. At least for me, the whole 'point' of my online presence is to show people who I genuinely am, and encouraging other people to be their most genuine selves, highs and lows. My IG isn’t really curated because that doesn’t feel genuine to me, but I think with my following, people want to see more of a real life and not like “look how cute this pic of my coffee is.” Even though gaining a following is a slower process for me, it’s more important that those followers actually like the content I do share even if it’s not a perfect instagram grid.”

Kayce Michele

@kaycemichele

“We live within a society where a lot of people are trying to become influencers and I feel like that makes it really easy to kind of lose who you really are outside of social media. A lot of people tend to focus on producing content that makes others happy or is just 'aesthetically pleasing' rather than content that they want to produce... It’s hard because when people think of influencers, they think they have to have a preset color scheme or post editorial level content every day and I don’t believe that’s how it should be! Not to say that there’s anything wrong with having or wanting that I just think it’s very easy to get lost inside the influencer world. But although it’s difficult it can be so so rewarding! Even with just the small following I have, I often have people reach out to me & tell me that I inspire them or they love my authenticity & its so heartwarming.”

Kayla Khanjari

@kkhanjari22

“Being an influencer is honestly so humbling and rewarding! I love how I can inspire and help others all through social media and connect with people all over the nation!! On top of that, working over social media is so fun that it doesn’t even feel like work!! That’s why people always say to do what you love and love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life!” 

Alexis Lopez

@lexilopez22

“There was actually a quote I saw the other day that I want to live by and it goes “I don’t live to influence but to inspire” - I just think we should all live by that.”