Meet Delaney, fashion & lifestyle influencer, with over 230k instagram followers & 25k+ Youtube subscribers.
Originally from “the biggest little city,” Reno, NV, Delaney is often seen exploring the cities of the world and presently lives in LA with her boyfriend AKA “the kid.” This dynamic duo shares every aspect of their lives with Delaney’s continuously growing and super engaged community. Her page is a source of inspiration for everything fashion & is your go to spot for positivity and understanding the concept of hard work. She is a true trend setter in her industry, always thinking of innovative and creative ways to engage with her audience whilst providing value. Most importantly, this beautiful girl is a true ray of sunshine, and one of the most down to earth, humble influencers out there.
How did this girl boss get to where she is today? Let’s find out!
When did you first start using social media?
Going far back, I had a MySpace back in middle school, and I loved it because you learned a bit of coding (changing the background), and since moving over to Instagram, I have lost these skills, which is unfortunate as these were valuable with the potential to be fostered.
Nonetheless, I started using social media more seriously in 2015/2016, once I graduated from college. As you already know, I am super passionate about fashion, visuals & the idea of content creation. I used to take photos with my friends prior to my blogging career, mainly because it was so fun. Coming from such a small town, I never felt comfortable enough to venture out in the blogging world and be “the odd man out,” however, I knew when I graduated college, I was going to move somewhere new with Clayton. After that, I finally felt a weight lifted off my shoulders and knew I could finally get out of my comfort zone, and just go for it.
Walk me through the step-by-step process that you went through to get to where you are today. What was the first thing you did? Next?
I believe having social media was simply just another aspect of being a part of this generation, so it was very natural for me to start as a consumer. However, I started using Instagram as a marketing tool when I graduated college, and the first thing I did was buy a camera. Obviously, the hardest part is getting started but after buying the camera, I was like, “OK, we are going to learn how to use this and just go for it.” After that, we shot every single weekend. And since we’ve started, we haven’t stopped.
How long was it before your social media platforms became profitable? How did you live through those first few months/years? Did you have any struggles?
I started making money about 6 months into it. It was definitely different than the traditional way you make money through socials today. It first started as a networking tool for me where I was meeting other bloggers and photographers. From there, I started to meet smaller brands and got into doing small modelling gigs for them, as they were familiar with my IG page. Once I started making a little bit of money, I began doing more research on how I could make more money as a blogger. From here, I started signing up to affiliate programs, and would also pitch myself to smaller brands as well.
I remember how excited I was when I got my first free shirt, a company direct messaged me and told me to pick out whichever shirt I wanted on their website, and said they’d send it to me, and I was like “wow this is so freaking cool.” About a week later, another company emailed me and offered to pay me $300 to write a blog post for them, and I could not believe that someone was going to actually pay me!
To be fully transparent, when I first started out I didn’t really know what I was doing and I was still trying to navigate my relationship between myself and my audience. The deeper I go into this career, going from my very first free shirt, to ambassador programs, to present day, I am really starting to understand what my relationship looks like with my audience and, what my value really is. The harder I work, the more time and energy I put in, and the longer I am in this industry, I see growth in many areas of it including the monetary aspect of it and I am super grateful for all of that. Truthfully, you have to be business savvy in this industry as well, because unfortunately there are alot of people in the industry who do not understand their value or their relationship with their audience, and you could have hundreds of thousands of followers, and be making no money at all.
What did you do prior to influencing on social media?
For most of my life, I did a crazy amount of babysitting and nannying. I loved it because it allowed me to be really entrepreneurial – sometimes I’d babysit 4 families in one day. One before school, one during school at lunch, one after school, & one at night. With babysitting, I had the opportunity to generate so much work and income, as well as create so much flexibility for myself, which I really loved. I also worked restaurant jobs and retail around the same time, so you can tell that I always had multiple jobs at any given moment. Having all of these jobs wasn’t exactly necessary, as my family would have helped me during college. However, I just love working, so I always preferred to have my own job and income.
It’s interesting to compare my babysitting jobs to influencing, because today – I do have clients, but I am 100% my own boss and I get the opportunity to be in charge of myself and my time, which is super important to me.
Lastly, right when I graduated college, I had an administrative job in a construction company. From that job is where I started my blogging, and once I quit that job, I decided right then and there I was going to become an influencer. At this time, I wasn’t even at 10k followers, and I wasn’t making a steady income, but I set my mind on it and it worked out.
If you weren’t an influencer, what would be your dream job?
For my dream job, my heart was always set on being a cultural anthropologist. Meaning doing lots of field work, living within another culture, writing ethnographies, and eventually becoming an anthropology professor at a university/college.
What are your thoughts on social media? And what do you think is the most commonly misunderstood thing about social media?
My thoughts on social media are like most things in life, there are good sides & bad sides. Fortunately, the way I have experienced social media in my personal life has been positive. It has allowed me to have a career that I am so passionate about and that I love, it has given me the flexibility and the freedom to be creative, and it has also connected me to an incredible amount of people that I never would have been able to meet, or had the opportunity to touch or be touched by. I believe for all of these reasons, social media is incredibly powerful. It is the only thing that I know of that has that exact power, so I think that it is really beautiful in that way.
Obviously there are tough sides to it, such as cyber bullying, comparison, feelings of less than. However, I feel we’d run into similar issues if social media didn’t exist, so I try to not focus too much on the negatives because it’s done so much good for me and I really do see the good in it.
The most commonly misunderstood thing about social media is the misconception that influencing is really easy, which is far from the truth in my opinion.
My job is enjoyable, yes. Easy? Never. Making content that looks good, that you’re happy with, that your client is happy with, and that your audience is happy with is hard, and there are a lot of things behind the scenes that people don’t see, leading them to believe that taking a simple photo is easy.
What negative assumptions, if any, have been made about you via social media?
Luckily, I don’t experience a lot of negativity on social media, and I think a lot of this has to do with how I run my social media and the ethos of my entire brand. My entire brand is centered around positivity. Meaning, I really embody positive energy on my socials, which I feel helps deter negative people from interacting with my brand. I truly believe that misery loves company and if you are a blogger that constantly posts negative content to your stories, a grumpy consumer of social media is going to stumble across your page and they are going to take it out on you. They see you being weak and negative, so they see that as an opportunity to be negative to you.
Obviously, this tactic isn’t fool proof, and there are always trolls that trickle in. For cyber bullying, I believe the issue is that bullies feel somewhat invincible in the sense that they think they can say anything they want and get away with it. Cyber bullying removes face to face human interaction – bullies aren’t looking you in the eye, and saying mean things to you directly, which gives them the power and opportunity to avoid immediate confrontation, as they can hide behind a computer/phone screen, and comment harmful things to anyone they please. If you decide to participate in cyber bullying, I believe you need to be held accountable and take responsibility for your actions. I think the problem is feeling the need to blur out the bully’s name and protect them essentially. This only enables them to continue getting away with the bad behavior. However, my understanding is that these people choosing to bully are hurting deep down inside, and hurt people choose to hurt others, so I always battle cyber bullying with kindness while still holding them accountable for their actions.
Tell us something about yourself that your followers don’t know
I grew up going to a private catholic school for 10 years, and I am not catholic ironically, but I feel this was a big fixture of my life considering how much time I spent there throughout my childhood.
Of all the gifted packages you receive as an influencer, which product/item excites you the most? What would be your dream brand to collab with?
The packages that make me the most excited is when I get food. There is so much makeup and clothes coming to my house now, and I am so grateful for all of those things, as I am super passionate about the fashion/beauty industry, but food has become a cherry on top for me, and food packages always come unexpectedly, so I am always like, “yay free snacks.”
Also, I would be so excited if I got more of the basic necessities I actually need to survive i.e food as mentioned, or shelter, so if I got free rent for a month, or won a free house, that would be so incredible.
I don’t really have a dream brand collaboration, as I have been so lucky to work with so many amazing brands to date. It has become very surreal to me, because the places that I used to shop at with my grandma and friends are now the brands that I work with on a contract basis. This alone makes it so hard for me to wish for anything more because so many of my dreams are coming true, and have come true already. If I did have to pick though, I’d love to do a collaboration with Target because I am such a sucker for home goods. There is something so magical and alluring about Target, and I’d love to be a part of the creation process and be able to walk into Target and see my co-branded collab.
Who are three of the most important, and influential people in your life? and why?
My mom – she is very entrepreneurial, hard working and an independent, strong female. Having her in my life was crucial in shaping who I am, and also helped me in building how I navigate the world.
My grandma – she is such a special person to me. I adore her for her attitude and outlook on life. She is so good at lightening the mood, putting a positive spin on things and being optimistic. I love watching the way she does life in that way.
Clayton – without his support, encouragement, love and patience, it would be a lot harder to do what I do. He is my life partner, and he has been there through all the ups and downs. He is truly such a crucial part of my life and of me, and I wouldn’t be complete without him and the mental peace and stability his presence brings to my life, whether that be in a personal sense or in my career.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to an aspiring influencer if you only had a few minutes to give them your best tip?
It is really important to be consistent. If you are going to decide to be an influencer, just commit to it, and don’t look back. Go head first into it and do something everyday towards whatever your goals may be. Don’t doubt yourself and keep going. It is so easy for someone who is trying to step outside of their comfort zone or be vulnerable on social media to question themselves – am I important enough, is my point of view special enough, am I worthy? It’s so important to block out these negative thoughts, and not let them get in the way of your dreams and goals. Instead, you can say to yourself, “I am passionate about this, I am excited about this and I am going to work hard at it consistently.” If you do all of those things, you will 110% have something to show for it.
Advice on talking to the camera? This is awkward for everyone, at the beginning, I would always go into a seperate room and close the door because I was embarrassed to let people hear me talking to the camera. As time goes on, you get more comfortable with it and all it comes down to is practice. The more you do it, the more natural it becomes. Always remember it is only weird for everyone else when you make it weird, so try not to think about it too much.
What’s next for Delaney? This girl boss has plans for the future, some of which include being the CEO of her own company and continuing to travel the world with her life partner, Clayton. Be sure to follow along with her journey @delaneychilds.
Thanks for reading loves & hope you enjoyed it. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below xx
Who are some of Delaney’s biggest inspirations?
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| @jujhavens | @hannaschonberg | @elaisaya |
