Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Brown.
Hi Kayla, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m an Atlanta native and was raised in SW Atlanta by my beloved grandmother who instilled the average core values in me. “Go to college, graduate, get a good job and move out of this area”. So, I went off and pursued my bachelor’s in HR Management at Georgia State University and graduated in 2021. I was going the corporate America route at the time because that was all that was taught to me. Never would I have thought I’d be doing what I’m doing now with content creation.
I never really had the means to create content at the time because my main focus was securing my career after graduation and moving out of my grandmother’s house. I ended up doing just that in April of 2022 and my creative journey started there.
In a space I could call my own and decorate to my aesthetic, I felt more creatively inclined to start making mini vlogs and other lifestyle content. I would say my content was doing okay and my closest friends and line sisters always supported me during those times I was not seeing growth with the content I was making, even after upgrading equipment, switching styles, etc.
I remember sitting with one of my friends in Nov of 2022 and venting to her about how content creation was not pouring into me how I was pouring into it. I even told her in 2023, I would not be making content and sticking to my 9 to 5. (Lol yeah, I was terribly wrong)
In December of 2022, I visited The Americano on a whim and decided to vlog my experience…the next week I decided that was super fun and I wanted to do it again, so I visited Lucian Books & Wine to vlog my experience there.
Each video reached over 1 million views back to back and I watched my page jump from 7K to 10k in a week. (To 23k as of now). I watched support just flood in and requests for more vlogs, requests for mentorship, other creators reaching out and honestly everyone was just showing so much love. I basically told myself you have to keep doing this…everyone around me told me I have to keep doing this.
That is how I began my journey in Restaurant & Experience Influencing/Content Creating.
Right when I was about to give up and literally when I least expected it, I gained a whole community of followers in the area and across that country that loved what I do – and wanted to see more and I’m so appreciative for them every day!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I wouldn’t say it’s been a smooth road, but not a terribly rough one either.
The number one struggle was staying motivated to keep going even when I wasn’t seeing immediate results early on. If I stopped, I wouldn’t be where I am today. For those experiencing that in their early stages of their creator journey, I’d say keep going. You literally never know when it’ll happen to you! Create because you love it, don’t read into the analytics too hard. There’s someone who resonates with what you’re doing.
The second biggest struggle now is balancing content creation and my 9 to 5. Now, with the fast growth I’ve had, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside many AMAZING small businesses, restaurants, event curators and hotels in and around Atlanta. I’ve made many great connections, through networking events but without balance, you can drain yourself easily. After working 8 hours, you may not have the energy to attend two more events after. I love what I do, so I make it work, but I’m still learning how to create balance to avoid burnout.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
With content creation, my current content focus/niche would be Experience, Restaurant, and Hotel influencing in and around Atlanta. (Hopefully beyond Atlanta, one day). I also still make lifestyle content from time to time!
I’d have to say I’m most proud of being able to help a small businesses and just hear about their success stories after we collab. I love hearing that tickets sold out in minutes I love seeing packed spaces, I love to see it! To know I was able to bring more awareness to their business in some way literally makes me so happy 🙂
I would say my content style is best described as aesthetic-based. For the spaces I capture, I love to capture the interior if it’s unique and eye-catching. Those are the types of places I focus on. Breathtaking decor, a huge, uniquely constructed bar, sexy lighting! I love to capture that in easily digestible content.
I was never a voiceover type of creator lol so I just decided to add POVs to my videos to let the audience immediately know what they’re witnessing. I did this because I noticed most people scroll on Instagram with their phone muted, so even if I did do voiceovers, it would not be consumed.
The POV style being used in this way was intended to catch your attention, the beautiful interiors of the space would keep your attention and then if you get to the point you’ve unmuted the video, I make sure to keep it engaging with some of the hottest mashups and audios.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I’d definitely say professionalism definitely contributed to my success. Your brand and your reputation follow you and how you treat people and the businesses you collaborate with is very telling. I try my best to stay as professional as possible because first impressions are everything. At the end of the day, I treat content creation as a business now.
Oh and consistency is also very important.
As well as the willingness to reach out and help newer creators or people just wanting to get started, teach and mentor when you can is also very important to me. I try my best to share what I know, tips and tricks and just be a listening ear because it goes a long way. Lots of people have been asking me about a course or ebook or something lol I might do it…
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/iixykay?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@iixykay?_t=8bd6VLXogWY&_r=1
Image Credits
@yalda.atl @lucianbooksandwine @fullbloombylauren
