Today we’d like to introduce you to Ian Swann
Hi Ian, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
When it comes to my story, it all started back when I created my first clothing brand called “Golden Children” in January 2023. Since I was a boy, I have always been into fashion and just learning about clothes, shoes, high-end luxury brands, small streetwear brands, and even modeling because it was always intriguing to me and it brought out my creative side. When I started my clothing brand, it was going to be my first stepping stone into entrepreneurship and the fashion industry. I looked up to a lot of different influencers from Atlanta such as Quan and Sleazy as they started their brands and eventually blew up. Witnessing this as I was in high school, gave me the idea: “If they can do it, I can too”. So I went head first on learning how to start a clothing brand from scratch by learning as much game as I could from YouTube and other clothing brand owners. I took courses, bought ebooks, and spent hours finding manufacturers that could hopefully make the clothing I desired for my brand. After doing this for an entire year with lots of ups and downs but no real progress sale-wise (because I was not comfortable selling the clothes I received from my manufacturers since they were all low quality) while also spent hundreds of dollars of samples that were never released to the public. I decided to call it quits. It honestly hurt to call my first business venture a failure for a while but I had to get over it some way some how eventually. At this point it is December 2023, a few days before Christmas. One day I was pondering on what I wanted to do and what my next step would be within entrepreneurship because I never enjoyed working a job. As I began to ponder, I thought back to how my family and friends always said for years that I would make a great model (my mother always urged me to get into the industry yet I never pulled the trigger). So this led me to the idea of creating my own personal brand for myself as a model. However, I knew that I wanted to be a person of influence so that I could get myself out there more and become recognizable to people everywhere. With this idea in mind, I also decided to become a content creator and start posting fashion/outfit-related videos on TikTok. I knew that TikTok is the easiest platform to blow up off of and I have had experience with videos going viral on my TikTok clothing brand page. All I needed to do was utilize it in an aspect of a content creator showing people how to dress, how to put different outfits together, and whatnot. This was a commitment to myself that I would never give up and keep striving forward despite the hardships since I gave up on my clothing brand. With that commitment in mind, I went ahead and started making content the day I cut my dreadlocks on December 22, 2023 (I made content before then but was inconsistent) and attempted to show up every single day with new content. I did this for 9 months straight leading till now. The beginning of the journey was difficult as I had to always keep up with new content ideas, record, edit, keep up with school work, and keep up with family while also not getting paid for posting content at the same time. However, I did not let this hold me back because I knew that it was a part of the process and I just needed to keep being consistent so that I could grow more and more (I feel like the main ingredient to me being consistent with posting was that I had a love for it as well). As time went on, more opportunities came about as I grew my social media following on TikTok as well as Instagram. I began to network with more people in my niche, met some amazing people who were willing to help me along my journey, started to get recognized by strangers in public more and more often, and eventually began to monetize my platform. That being said, things started to get brighter as I showed up each and every single day and I will continue to do so. It showed me that it is possible for anyone and everyone to be who they want to be in life. With dedication, a true love for what you do, and hard work, anything is possible and I wish to be that example for my supporters.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was not a smooth road but nothing worthwhile comes easy, right? In the beginning, the only real “struggle” was posting consistently. As a new creator, it was not easy to consistently find new ideas for content. That is why it is important to try as many ideas as you possibly can at the start and when something works, you keep doing it over, over, over, and over again. I eventually learned this on my journey after lots of videos did good, and lots of videos didn’t do so good, but it all goes back to loving the process because nothing is perfect when first start out, the most important thing is to ‘START’ and you will learn on the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a Fashion Content Creator/Model. I model for different clothing brands around the US and I create content on social media within the fashion niche on Instagram, TikTok, and I recently started to post more videos on YouTube. I am mainly known for my content, the way I dress, and how I show other people how to dress as well.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I had locs for 2 1/2 years in 4 different colors before I cut them off.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/pradauiian
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pradauiian/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Pradauiian
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@pradauiian
Image Credits
N/A
