We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Esperanza Scotto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Esperanza, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you manage your own social media?
I have been working full time as a lifestyle blogger and social media content creator for over 8 years. I have always managed everything to do with my business by myself, which was much easier to do before I became a mom. Now that I am a work-from home-mom taking care of my baby boy all day, I have had to make some changes to the way I run my business. In the past, I could be a bit of a workaholic, but the reality is that I just can’t get as much done as I did back then, and that’s ok because that’s the stage of life I’m in. I have had to learn ways to get more done in less time. Now I try to get all of my work done when my son is napping or after he has gone to bed if there was something that couldn’t get done earlier that day. This allows me to have dedicated time slots for crunching everything I need to get done that day. I also like to mentally plan what is most important to get done that day in the morning before his 1st nap to help utilize that time in the most productive way. I used to make content that would only go on my blog or only on TikTok. Now I’ve gotten really good at repurposing my content to go on multiple platforms or in multiple types of videos, sometimes making a slight change or two; that way I’m working less on creating more content and instead maximizing the content I already have. I also try to create content that fits into my life at the time. When I was pregnant, I created a lot of helpful pregnancy content. When we were traveling over the summer, I was sharing family travel tips and guides. Now that I am moving to a rental house, I will be creating a lot of decorating and moving content. It makes it so much easier for me to share whatever is currently going on in my life instead of running around trying to film something that takes too much work (for example, a style lookbook) like I might have in the past. It’s just more realistic for me, and I feel like it’s more authentic as well! I have also recently signed with a talent management agency, something I always avoided doing in the past because I didn’t want to pay someone for what I thought I could do myself. Now I value the time it can save me that I could be spending with my son instead.
Esperanza, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I studied interior design in college and worked in that industry for 6 years before becoming a full-time lifestyle blogger and content creator, While in college, I studied architecture in Florence, Italy, for a summer. During that trip, I was able to visit 9 countries and fell in love with traveling! This inspired me to start a blog to share my travels, but I have always loved fashion, interiors, beauty, wellness, and more, so I wanted to share my passion for those topics as well. I don’t like to limit myself to just one category. I also share a lot about my personal life, which has been difficult to do during hard times over the past 8 years, but ultimately has been worth it because I know I have touched a lot of people’s lives in a positive way. My intention has always been to share content that is meant to be helpful, informative, and/or inspirational. I would say I am most proud of my travel content because I spend a lot of time researching the city before my trips to find unique boutiques, local coffee shops & restaurants, and what the city has to offer as far as tourist attractions. I shoot as much content as possible during my trips so that I can create helpful travel guides with my followers. I like to feature small, local businesses because I think of myself as a small business as well, and I just prefer those kinds of shops! I feel like it’s my way of helping them out and making a difference. When I’m at home in Phoenix, I like to check out local spots and share those too! Because of my background in interior design, I love to highlight restaurants and boutiques with beautiful interiors.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
I started my blog, The Urban Darling (@theurbandarling) and creating content for social media while I was still working in the interior design industry. After about a year, I had started gaining a lot of followers when I decided to use my paid time off to go on a trip to Europe. When I got back, I was let go from my job, which forced me to decide if I should find another job in the design industry or if I should try giving social media a shot full time. At this point I had already been working with brands and building up a resume of work, which allowed me to start pitching myself to brands for paid campaigns. Every year I learned more about the industry, gained more experience, and worked on new skills. I have now had this business for 8 years, and it’s crazy to think how I took such a huge leap! It definitely took a lot of courage and belief in myself to get to where I am today.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I would say my main goal/mission is to create content that is meant to be helpful, informative, or inspirational. I think that there are a lot of people creating content that can leave others feeling bad about themselves or not good enough in some way, which I never want to do. I share a lot about my personal life, the good and the bad, so that those who are following me know the real me and that my life is not perfect. It’s also very important to me to always create content that is authentic to me. I’m never going to hop on a trend that is just not me for views or clout.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theurbandarling.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theurbandarling/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theurbandarling
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theurbandarling
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/EsperanzaLorena/videos
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/theurbandarling/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theurbandarling
Image Credits
@theurbandarling