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

Hannah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

In 2012 “beauty blogging” was becoming a very popular thing and I had always been told I had a great talent with makeup. I decided to start beauty blogging on Instagram and it’s been a journey ever since! Through the pros and cons of social media, to the growth of social media and the algorithms that seem to help or plague us. I’ve had to restart some of my social media pages due to being hacked. I’ve grown to love skincare and now I consider myself a “lip artist” as well!
It is now called “content creation” and I’m still navigating how to do the best I can! I’ve grown and learned and accepted the highs and lows of being on social media! It’s a new adventure everyday and I have to say I love it!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I am 34 years old! I’ve been blogging/creating content since 2012! I am an artist by nature! I create eye looks, abstract lip looks, and create content for small and large brands! I love digital creation as I feel that my artistic abilities have really grown in that area since starting my first beauty blog 14 years ago! I honestly think my drive for success has grown into something else as I’ve grown, matured, and started a family of my own and I appreciate my motive now; which is to focus on what I’m passionate about and if it starts to feel like a burden; take a day to myself! I am very proud of the things I’ve accomplished working in this social media industry! I worked with Kaja Beauty and created eye looks for them that ended up on Sephora.com to showcase their beauty bentos! I had Urban Decay repost an eye look of mine that showcased their Born to Run eyeshadow palette! I’m proud to have worked with indie brands; showcasing their products for their social medias! And I’m proud of myself for the work I have created for myself, brands, and my amazing followers!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Genuine support is the key! Taking a moment to like, comment or share a post can make the difference to any artist! I feel like reposting is a really big thing right now on all social platforms that GREATLY benefit the artist! Reposts are basically the new like/comment and it also helps the person supporting you as it helps their algorithm as well!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My first beauty blog got up to 18,000+ followers. I felt like I was on top of the world! And I felt like I had a lot of genuine followers! It was hacked overnight and I had to start all over again. It was a frustration and pain that I still remember to this day. (I know, I know, some people will think there are more important things in life.) When I started over follower bots became a real problem because although it would bump your numbers up, it was never genuine support which could drastically change your algorithm. This incident helped me rewire my brain to start seeking genuine connection and interaction over having a big following. Now of course I want to have a large following, as do most content creators, but I am thankful for the followers that have followed me from my different beauty blogs and who still support me to this day. They are why I do what I do!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: HTTPS://www.instagram.com/hannahbensonbeauty
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/hannahbensonbeauty
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/hannahbensonbeauty