Life & Work with Gracie Pfaff of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gracie Pfaff.

Hi Gracie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and at just 12 years old, I founded Harvest107, a sustainable agriculture nonprofit – long before I knew what entrepreneurship truly meant. While Harvest107 started off as a small community initiative, all changed when at 13, my family and I moved to Haiti and spent the next five years living and working there, deepening the organization’s roots in food equity, community farming, and global agricultural education.

Coming back to the U.S. at 18, I decided to enter the world of pageantry and eventually earned the title of Miss Tennessee Earth, which sharpened my voice, my presence, and my ability to advocate for causes I care about on a larger stage. That platform opened doors into content creation and modeling, where I’ve since partnered with brands like L’Oréal, HERS, and Milan Laser.

From there, I launched Influentialist Marketing, a social media agency helping brands and women-led businesses grow their digital presence, and built a full-time career as a UGC creator and professional model. I’ve been nominated twice for Forbes Under 30.

I relocated to Atlanta in 2025 to scale my work and expand my network – and I sit at the intersection of content, commerce, and community. I’m just getting started.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not a smooth road – but I wouldn’t trade any of it. It started early. Founding a nonprofit at 12 meant constantly fighting to be taken seriously in rooms full of adults who saw a kid, not a leader. And outside of those rooms, I was losing friendships because I was simply no longer relatable to other kids my age. That kind of isolation at 12 is its own challenge that doesn’t get talked about enough.

Living in Haiti was one of the greatest gifts of my life – I embraced the culture wholeheartedly – but returning to the U.S. after five years brought a different kind of hard. Readjusting to “normal” American life felt disorienting in ways I didn’t expect. I had changed fundamentally, and the world I came back to hadn’t.

Then came pageantry and modeling, which felt like stepping into a completely different universe from the nonprofit world I’d lived in. A lot of people were genuinely shocked – and some were openly doubtful. Having to prove yourself in a new industry when you’ve already built something real is a strange kind of frustrating.

Becoming a full-time creator added a new layer: the pressure of always being “on,” constantly hunting for the next opportunity, and building financial stability out of something that doesn’t come with guarantees.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work lives at the intersection of content, community, and social impact – and honestly, no two days look the same. I’m a full-time content creator, UGC creator, and professional model based in Atlanta (Nashville forever in my heart). I create branded content for companies ranging from beauty and wellness to lifestyle and fashion, specializing in authentic, story-driven content that actually converts. I’ve partnered with brands like L’Oréal, HERS, and Milan Laser, and I run Influentialist Marketing, a social media agency that helps brands and women-led businesses grow their digital presence.

But the thread that runs through everything is Harvest107, the sustainable agriculture nonprofit I founded at 12 years old. Today it encompasses urban school gardens, partnerships with women farmers, digital agriculture education, and an ongoing moringa tree planting initiative in Haiti. That’s the work I’m most proud of – building something with real global reach that started as a kid with a big idea in Nashville.

What sets me apart is the range. I’m equally comfortable pitching a sponsorship deck, shooting a campaign, speaking on a stage, or getting my hands in the dirt. I’ve been nominated twice for Forbes Under 30 – and I’m still just getting started.

I don’t fit neatly into one box, and I’ve stopped trying to.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Honestly? I don’t really see most of life through the lens of “risk.” Every decision deserves thought and intention, naturally, but if you spend your life terrified of what could go wrong, you’ll never reach the places you’re meant to go.

Looking back, I’m sure people would label almost every choice I’ve made as a risk – founding a nonprofit at 12, moving to Haiti at 13, stepping into pageantry and modeling after years in the nonprofit world, leaving the security of traditional employment to become a full-time creator and entrepreneur. From the outside, I can see why it looks that way.

But internally, none of those felt like risks. They felt like following my heart and following my purpose. The real risk, to me, would have been playing it safe and wondering “what if.” I think one of the most dangerous things a person can do is let fear make their decisions for them. Be intentional, yes. But don’t confuse caution with a reason to stay small.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gracieskye.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsgoodgracie
• Other: https://harvest107.org