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

Amanda , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Becoming a blogger and content creator has been a continuous learning curve. When I started my blog in 2016, there wasn’t a massive group of people to learn from, and those blogging and making it a business were at a much higher level than I was. My website was designed from a template on Squarespace that I used in one of my college classes and I taught myself basic coding to make changes. I designed my own logo, graphics, and media kit.

When I started involving Instagram in my blogging and content creation journey, it was another learning curve to understand how to monetize and partner with brands. Most of it was trial and error, Google searches, and a lot of conversations with fellow bloggers. I’d observe other content creators and what was working for them, apply a similar strategy to my content, and test. Once I started looking at my blog and Instagram page as a business, it was easier to adapt marketing concepts to my content and bring them to brands. From there it was learning to price out my services and collaborations based on market comps, conversations with bloggers with similar followings, and candid discussions with brands on their budget limits.

In terms of skills, being open-minded, diligent in reading contracts, and authentic to my own creative process are what really helped me feel confident in the space. My husband is an attorney so learning from his skillset in legal matters has helped me understand my value as a content creator to the brands I partner with and how to protect my business in every partnership.

Obstacles that stood in the way of learning more have been balancing a full-time job on top of content creation, time management, and the ever-changing environment of social media today. There is always a new platform, algorithm, trend, or best practice when it comes to the social media realm so it can be tough to keep up.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Hey, y’all! I’m a marketing professional by day and a fashion blogger and content creator. living in Nashville, TN I started my blog, The Creative Brief, in 2016 to document my move to Chicago and share my travels with family and friends. I would also post about fashion trends and shows and noticed that those posts performed really well. I began writing more and sharing pictures of my own outfits on Instagram.

As time went on and brands started noticing I liked their clothes or reshared my content to their own channels, I realized this could be larger than a hobby. Fast-forward to today, I partner with fashion brands like Express, Revolve, Eddie Bauer, and Daniel Wellington as an influencer to share their campaigns, products, and promotions with my readers and Instagram followers. Through creative imagery, video, and authentic story-telling, I’m an extension of the brand and create a community of people invested in that product or campaign.

I’m most proud of the detail, craftsmanship of my content, and overall approach to campaigns. Working in marketing during the day, I understand the importance of unique creative concepts, but also the importance of campaign objectives, metrics, and goals, as well as the strategy to follow to not only keep the content on brand for The Creative Brief but also tie back to the brand’s mission. This not only creates an amazing campaign from organic, evergreen content but also builds a relationship between my community, myself and the brand.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There are several! When it comes to creativity, branding, and overall creative process, I love The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull.

For overall strategy, mental wellness, entrepreneurial guidance, and self-management, I love The Power of One More by Ed Mylett, The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, Atomic Habits by James Clear, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan Kross, and The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There are so many other ways to support your creative and artistic friends outside of money. Looking at social media, small gestures can go a long way. For example, liking and commenting on their content, sharing their pages, websites, small businesses, etc. with your families and friends, dropping their name in an influential group, or simply sharing what you feel about their work with them. These small gestures add up to metrics content creators can use to showcase our value to brands, land bigger deals, and ultimately support the continuation of our work. So, the next time you are scrolling social media and see something you like, take a few seconds and “like” it or comment on what you think about it. It means a lot!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecreativebriefblog.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/amanda_navaa
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecreativebriefblog
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandanava/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda_navaa