Today we’d like to introduce you to Sanne Vander

Sanne, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

Like many girls my age, when I was younger it was my biggest dream to become a model one day. I remember being around 7 years old, sitting with my mom behind the computer. We tried to apply to a modeling agency, but the online form kept glitching and eventually I just never signed up. As the years went by I kind of gave up on my dream. Education was far more important to me. In The Netherlands there are different levels of high school and I wanted to make sure to do everything in my power to reach the highest level, so I could go to university. It wasn’t easy for me and I sacrificed a lot to be able to get good grades. I ate lunch by myself at the school library so I could study, even during my breaks. As you can imagine, I didn’t have a lot of friends. Fast-forward a couple of years, I had graduated high school with good grades and I was studying French literature and linguistics at the University of Amsterdam, the dream of becoming a model seemingly never actually faded away. I kept thinking about it. I decided to go to a casting and got signed. It all went so quickly. I moved to Paris and Cape Town to model full-time and whilst writing my thesis (and eventually graduating university), I also began uploading frequently on social media. I got so many questions about the model life. People were so curious about the behind the scenes, my diet and workouts. I started gaining subscribers on YouTube and that’s how the ball started rolling. I fell in love with social media and especially with the community I created. Meanwhile the modeling life was starting to take its toll on me mentally. I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to love it. I really enjoyed being in front of a camera, but the toxicity of the industry combined with the idea that as a model you’re just a ‘clothing hanger’ and can’t put in your own creativity started to bug me. With social media, I could do everything I did whilst modeling but then had full creative control over the outcome. In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, I started my own company and became a full-time content creator. I am so happy with my career. So grateful for every single opportunity given to me and of course my lovely supporters!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

The biggest struggle in my career as a content creator has definitely been the pandemic. I had just started my business and was excited about this new adventure, but with the world in lockdown it was so hard to stay positive and creative all the time. I really struggled in my private life as well. A lot had changed for me and I had recently lost a family member. I was grieving and really suffering mentally, but then when I turned on the news the whole world was suffering too. It seemed like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. I wanted to keep a positive attitude, especially online, but all of a sudden I couldn’t film my travel vlogs anymore or shoot outfit photos outside. There were no network events to meet new people or start new projects and companies didn’t have a lot of budget to promote their products. Everything had to be filmed inside my house and there was absolutely no distinction between my private life and my work life. All I did was work and sleep. On top of that, I was extremely isolated. I had just come out of a relationship and didn’t have any friends. Also, because this is a solo job, I didn’t have any colleagues to talk to. Surprisingly, this is when my YouTube channel grew the most. I found the strength to work harder than I had ever done before and built up this lovely community of likeminded people who loved my at-home workouts and skincare advice. I saw my business grow and eventually my mental health improved as well.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

When creating content, I focus on what I personally enjoy in life. Every single day I come up with new content ideas and I have to be honest: it’s not hard for me at all. It’s just like grabbing a coffee and talking about your passions with a friend, giving them skincare recommendations or doing a workout together. The only difference is that I don’t just have one friend, I have hundreds of thousands of friends. Taking into consideration that I was the girl who always ate lunch by herself in high school, this still feels so surreal to me when I say it out loud. I guess I just don’t think about the quantity of my audience too much. When I’m filming it’s just me, myself and I, so it’s easy for me to forget there are actually people watching.

I guess I began to gain some popularity when I started to share my real-time model workouts. Even though these videos still get the most views, I didn’t want my channel to be just a fitness account. Like I said, for me, sharing my life on social media is like sharing my life with a friend. I want to make my accounts a space to cover all my interests and all the different aspects of my life. As I’m evolving as a person, my content evolves too. Instead of focusing on what ‘works’, what drives revenue, I focus on creating what I love. I think this is what keeps it authentic, but even more important: this is what keeps it fun for me, even after all those years.

When it comes to my career I’m of course proud of my achievements as a model. Walking Fashion Week in Amsterdam, shooting magazine covers in Paris and doing bikini shoots on the beach in Cape Town was really amazing. However, I’m definitely most proud of my social media achievements. I genuinely love the community I have built and will never take that for granted.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?

Life goes on. I even have this quote tattooed on my body. Even when life gets tough and it feels like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, like I thought during the lockdown period, there will always be new days, new opportunities. Eventually life gets easier and sadness and pain will fade away. This quote has helped me in my personal life. Dealing with grief and heartbreak, but also business wise. Sometimes there are periods when it’s a little harder. The content you create doesn’t get as much attention as you had hoped or that one partnership you had always dreamed of fell through… It’s definitely hard in the moment, but eventually things will get better and there will be new opportunities. This too shall pass.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sanne_vander/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sannevander/videos
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sanne_vander