We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Asia Rivera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Asia, appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

I realize I wanted to make a business out of what I had a passion for early until my career. I started off by just modeling, but then I realized I wanted to also have a role in what happens behind the scenes as well as being able to help other people execute their mental visions. I was lucky and blessed enough to also have an amazing partner by my side that helped my vision become a reality not only for myself, but for others. After my first year of creating art I began to dip into other fields, such as wardrobe styling, creative direction and set design. This opened up a huge market for me! as the years went on, I began to be able to share my talents with clients who trusted me. having people who trust you and your business makes you realize it’s really all worth it. so much research and guidance has gone into running my business and although it is not as big, as I know, it can be, and will be one day. I am overjoyed with the amount of growth I have endured over the past six years.

Asia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a visual artist. this includes fashion, modeling set design, wardrobe styling, acting and creative direction. I provide all the services for an array of clientele, along with creating my own personal art. I believe something that sex me apart from other people in my field is the passion and motivation, I have to consistently outdo myself. I also take tremendous pride in delivering amazing work for people who book with me. I enjoy going above and beyond to help deliver visuals that are timeless and have meaning. I am most proud of the road. I have paved for myself without agency help or having to give up any of my morals. I want to continue to pave away for artist of color, as well as mothers to be able to create art and keep pushing towards what makes them happy. A lot of times in motherhood we forget that our feelings and our passions are still a priority. everyone deserves happiness and when being a mother, it is easy to forget about yourself. as a mother of two I consistently show up for myself while also showing up for my daughters, while so I am teaching them how to exude self-love in different forms.

How did you build your audience on social media?

building an audience on social media it can be very difficult. It’s a bit easier these days because there are so many ways that you can create content and marketing. when I first started really engaging with social media, it was a pretty long time ago. When I first gained the biggest I had, I was staying through to my authentic self, while also gearing my content to the clientele that I wanted to have. this meant sharing things that I knew my desired audience would be interested in. my plan went sour when unfortunately I lost my first Instagram account where I had over 15,000 followers. having to start from the bottom again, has really taught me how to utilize social media again to my advantage. if I had to give any advice to people looking to build their social media presents, it would be don’t expect things to happen overnight stay consistent stay true to you and pay attention to what you think your desired clientele would want to see and engage with.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I always grew up hearing “good things come to those who wait” While I still believe this, I kind of had to adjust it in my mind for it to fully still be true in my life. Sure good things come to those who wait but even greater things come to those who work for it. I spent a lot of years sitting around, waiting and waiting and waiting for the things that I wanted to come my way when in reality I had to continue to put in the work To get to where I wanted to be. So instead of thinking “good things come to those who wait” I believe “good things find those who work for it, at the right time.”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.byasiarivera.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/asiaaa.ny
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arivera.ny?mibextid=uzlsIk
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/byasiarivera
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC8np2_aHELv_mEVmaOGXtBA

Image Credits
The Life They Present: https://www.instagram.com/t.l.t.p_?igsh=a3VueDN2YXA0ODN3