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

Misha, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

My entire life, as it is today, is the result of taking a risk. Back in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic began, I left a job as a singer to go back to my hometown to “wait it out”. My entire life I was laser focused on being a singer and my entire adult life that is what I had done professionally. This was going to be my first time, from the time I can remember anything, that I would not be performing in some way. For a year and a half I worked a part time retail job, sold all of my jewelry for Taco Bell money and started posting on social media as an outlet. What started as a way to pass time, eventually earned me a couple thousand followers and a new sense of joy. In may of 2021 my old job opened back up and I left to go sing again for six months. But the job wasn’t the same, life wasn’t the same and neither was I. I found myself spending all of my time focused on building my platform. When I got back home after that stint onstage, I decided to take a risk and become a full time content creator. I had no steady source of income, no real plan. But I did have determination and full belief in myself. I put my head down and did the work. Eventually I hit the one million follower mark, then I got a team of managers, along came an offer to be the host of a podcast, we passed a million followers on another platform. The wins just kept coming. Today I have over 5 million followers across platforms, multiple streams of revenue and a seemingly limitless amount of potential for what the future can bring. In my opinion, the risk is worth it, especially if the risk is believing in yourself.

Misha, 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?

For those of you who don’t know me, I am a social media star, podcast host, comedian, singer and upcoming author. Some might call me an entertainment powerhouse. Okay, my mom might call me that. I have built a brand on the internet in comedic self help. I’ve always thought that laughter and humor can heal the broken pieces inside of us, so I use it as a vehicle to lift up the people who follow me. I think the thing that sets me apart from traditional self-help gurus is that I’m a bit naughty. It’s less about cliche quotes, and more about finding that inner sassy voice that refuses to take crap. It is part of my ethos that we aim to love ourselves radically, build up the people around us and approach the things that make us different than others with a baseline of respect. We can be the change!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think that a lot of creative work gets a bad rap as not being a “real” job. Performers are often thought of as unintelligent or lazy, podcasts hosts are seen as egotistical, and let’s be real about influencers reputation. I don’t tend to get offended by these assumptions because I know they don’t pertain to me specifically, and of course they are absolutely correct in some cases. But I have spent 37 years practicing and rehearsing how I speak, sing, present onstage or on camera. I write scripts and stories every day. I have baseline understand about lighting and sound production, as well as editing. Creatives often don’t have days that look the same and have to multi-task many different projects at the same time. For example, this week I recorded three episodes of my podcast, hired a book coach for my debut book I’m writing, set up an LLC, recorded all of my social media content, negotiated brand partnerships and started my email list! The point I’m trying to make, is that people who take any job seriously come with knowledge, skills and expertise that aren’t necessarily obvious.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This is a question I see being “answered” on social media constantly. I think the real answer is that there is no guaranteed way to grow a social media presence in a massive way. Many people will try to sell you a course on what times to post, how many hashtags to use etc. But I think there are three things you can actually do to give you the best chance at connecting with an audience. Show up authentically as yourself and include your story into what you put out there. Remember that you need to offer your audience something. Vanity will only get you so far, you have to give your following a reason to keep coming back. And consistency is key. Social media is a full time job. Posting every so often, or giving up when a particular piece of content doesn’t perform well will never result in growing your following. Give it your all!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @dontcrossagayman
• Facebook: @dontcrossagayman
• Other: TikTok @dontcrossagayman

Image Credits

Rukavina Photography