We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zoe Ennis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zoe below.

Alright, Zoe thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

They always encouraged me to pursue what I was passionate about and believed that if it mattered to me, it was important to them. I truly could not be grateful enough to have been raised with parents who supported the arts and valued them as much as I did. They saw everything I performed in, and thoroughly believed in my content creation from day one. I’ve really enjoyed including them in my content creation journey thus far, especially my mom. She has attended numerous events with me as a plus one, and I’m so thrilled to have her by my side. They are both just such extraordinarily kind, smart, and generous people. I wouldn’t be who I am without them.

Zoe, 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 theatre influencer and content creator, predominantly on Instagram. Beginning at a very young age, I amassed a following of over 400,000 across all platforms from scratch. Through this work, I have collaborated with a variety of entertainment firms such as Warner Brothers, Hulu, Apple TV+, Atlantic Records, and Paramount. When not on social media, I am a business student pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Theatre Administration with a minor in Marketing. Freelance, I do work as an actor, produce projects, and have worked various roles in the realm of theatre management. My goal is to be a multi-hyphenate of the theatre and to absorb as much knowledge about it and the business world of entertainment as I can.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Whenever I’m asked this, I always have to say that consistency is so, so important! I’ve been on social media for a number of years now. Building a community took time. Throughout that time, I have diligently set aside time for content creation weekly.

My story is an interesting one because I started when I was so young- and my online presence was something I never intended would grow as much as it has. It started as a “The Phantom of the Opera” fan account when I was eleven years old. The point of the creation was so that I could find other people like me who shared my interests and passion. I just made it one random day and started posting. I grew a small following, and started to expand to featuring other different musicals. By the time I was fourteen, I was invited to my first Broadway press event. As my account continued to grow, I started to get more personal with it and showing my face (something I never thought I would do). As it became a more personal endeavor, it began to grow more quickly. So, I would also add that authenticity and bringing your own, unique personality to the table of your platform is vital!

For anyone starting to build their social media community, I would honestly say to do it with joy. Find the joy in it, and grow the community out of love and the want for connection. Remember why it’s important to you, and don’t forget that or let anyone diminish it.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Oh, yes. My first year of undergraduate college. I entered college with a major in Theatre Studies, one that I had chosen because I wanted to explore as many different realms of the theatre world as I could. A few weeks into the semester, I quickly realized that the major was not for me and that I wanted to have a major where I could have a versatile skillset that could prepare me for a variety of careers. I soon interviewed and was accepted into my school’s Theatre Administration, Bachelor of Science and I declared that as my major going into the second semester of my Freshman year.

This was a pivot that led me to have a bit of an existential crisis. I covered a lot of it in my podcast, “A Letter to the Theatre Signed, Basically_Broadway”, but it really was so jarring to have spent most of my youth believing I would go for a performance degree or a theatre creative degree and instead decide on a business-oriented degree. I felt good about my decision, but I just deeply hoped I did the right thing.

I am glad I switched my major. I feel as though Theatre Administration has greatly prepared me for a variety of workplaces. I like knowing I have a skillset with such a plethora of knowledge. That’s really important to me. By having this knowledge, I know I can do whatever I set my mind to.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://zoeennis.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/basically_broadway/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoennis/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfdmcbKIetttd5mvd7zWCsA

Image Credits

Theatrical images captured by Allyson Ennis. Photos of Zoe Ennis as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.