We were lucky to catch up with Vitalijs (V) Osipenko recently and have shared our conversation below.
Vitalijs (V), appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?
You know what … I expected more support from my close friends! Don’t get me wrong – those who I really wanted to show up for me did just that but some people didn’t take me seriously in the beginning.
I was called “the little influencer”, some people would look at my IG page/social media accounts and consume my content without actually following me or engaging with my content. That kinda hurt because I always try to be there for people when it comes to their creative pursuits.
Those same people ended up asking for PR/free products later and actually ended up sending me pretty fake DMs about them “being proud of me” *laughs*
I’m a Capricorn, I see right thru that BS and usually once I see your true face – things are never gonna be the same again.
Shout out to the real ones though, I appreciate your love and support so much and truly honored by your time and trust in me. I always feel super grateful for my real friends and people who supported me since the beginning.
Vitalijs (V), 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?
For sure! So I’m a digital artist/content creator from Los Angeles, CA! I was actually born in Europe and started blogging/creating content a year after graduating in 2020.
My major’s in Digital Arts so it felt pretty natural for me to combine my love for social media and creating content with my love for beauty!
I’m a beauty, lifestyle and fashion micro influencer who loves giving honest reviews! This is gonna sound a little braggadocious but I feel like before me there was a gap in the skincare social media world. Things just didn’t feel exciting and I wanted to create the kind of content I would personally enjoy/love to consume! Fun relatable content without pretense that would make my audience feel welcomed and included!
I take great pride in my relationship with my audience, I made some beautiful friends in this community, met brand founders/celebrity aestheticians I truly admire and learned about so many stories from people all over the world! We are all beautiful in our unique way, that’s my biggest takeaway from doing this for almost 3 years!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Oh God … probably getting no’s all the time? In this business you have to have tough skin because nothing is promised. Free products, sponsorships, media coverage, events – none of that is promised and even if you do reach out to brands they can easily say no!
You have to learn to adapt and remember that blogging is a legitimate business and it’s real opportunities we’re talking about! Knowing how to receive “no” for an answer and not allow that to demotivate you is the biggest lesson you learn when creating content.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
You know there’s a lot of great perks to being a content creator. Yes, you can get free products, hotel stays, event invites, sometimes even trips for free. That’s not the driving factor for me though.
My audience is.
I remember being broke when I was a teenager and saving up for months to be able to afford a Sephora product! I grew up pretty poor, until like 15 I wanna say?
So the fact that my audience members, who primarily consist of people aged 18-38 trust me with their consumer decisions is a great honor! I never wanna sell products to them or betray their trust – I am only here to educate and help, introduce them to new brands or share my personal life stories that might resonate with them and make their day!
Being able to share this space with so many beautiful people and interact with them everyday is what this is all about for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thevzone.net/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/skincarecharmer?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
- Other: IG: @skincarecharmer TikTok: @skincarecharmer0