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

Alexandra, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

I started East Coast Contessa with a former business partner while living in Washington DC and working a demanding 9-6 (and sometimes much later) job. I was in desperate need of a creative outlet, and wanted to share my favorite local activities as well as my dining experiences throughout New York City and the DMV.

At the time, it was simply a hobby and a way for me to de-stress on the weekends or after work. When my social media platforms began to grow, I realized that what I thought was a hobby was actually a passion that brought me immense joy. I started to put every waking moment of time that I was away from my 9-6 into the blog and creating content with the goal of potentially making it a career.

After two years, I finally submitted my notice to my employer. I ended my lease, sold all my furniture, and packed up everything I had in my house into eight boxes which went into storage. I then moved overseas where I lived in the Czech Republic and Spain for two years. I had never studied abroad in college, and thought it would be the perfect time to check that experience off the life bucket list!

It’s been 7 years since I quit my “regular job”. There have been a few moments of challenge and moments where I question my abilities and my choice to be an entrepreneur. However, I can’t imagine myself doing anything else for a career. Life changes constantly, and I don’t want to say that I “never” will go back to working a traditional job, but I can’t see myself wanting to do that for the foreseeable future.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve loved writing and photography since I can remember. I was 9 years old when I started to keep a daily journal of my life happenings, dreams, and goals. I would write short fictional stories, or longer form non-fiction stories based on things going on in my life. I would carry around disposable cameras, and was always the one taking photos on family vacations and spring breaks.

Storytelling through words and photos has always been something I have loved to do, so it was no surprise to anyone when I decided to go to journalism school and get a degree in editorial and creative writing.

After college, I moved to Washington, DC where I stayed for eight years. I worked for a few non-profits and a couple public relations firms during my time there. In my roles, I provided marketing and public relations services for clients and partners. This is where I really started to craft my story telling expertise as well as client relations, and I think this period played a vital role in my success with East Coast Contessa.

Because of my background and education in writing, photography, and marketing, I was in a good position to start offering the services I currently offer via East Coast Contessa today.

These include social media promotion of travel brands via high resolution photos and videos, editorial content published on www.eccontessa.com, and user generated content (UGC) that brands can utilize for their own advertising purposes on social media and beyond.

To date, I have worked with hundreds of top hotels, resorts, restaurants, tour companies, and transportation companies to help them bring their own stories to life through quality content. The majority of my projects these days are U.S. based, but I have also worked with travel companies from more than a dozen countries worldwide including the Azores Islands, Germany, Canada, and the Czech Republic.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When the world literally shut down in March of 2020, so did the travel industry. I made the decision to move back to the United States to be with family and take a short break from travel and content creation. Little did I know, what I thought would be a short two-to-three-week break turned into an entire life-shift.

I think we all remember it well. We were confined to our homes either due to mandates or out of fear. Travel was the last thing on anyone’s mind (well, except for me).

I knew that even in light of a terrible situation, I still wanted to try to explore the world safely and responsibly, and continue sharing those experiences with others. My goal was to encourage people to continue traveling in a way that felt comfortable to them. Wether that was exploring their own cities and towns, or flying to another continent.

There were still many restrictions for international travel, so I decided to slightly pivot and only focus on travel within the U.S., as was allowed. I also shifted to creating more lifestyle content and working with more lifestyle focused brands.

While it was different for me, I discovered that I really enjoyed sharing recipes and every day beauty products with my followers. This also blended well with travel, as I would often create lifestyle content while on my trips at the hotels and Airbnb’s I would stay at.

I used this period of time to truly explore the U.S., and through that time, I developed a new appreciation for my home country as well as the process of content creation. I think this showed me that I could pivot and make things work as the world shifted around me, which made me feel more confident in my journey as an entrepreneur.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think there are a lot of misconceptions non-creators have about content creators or “influencers”. There are many people who don’t see the value in it, or don’t think that it’s a real job. However, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that goes beyond just posting a pretty photo on social media or copying and pasting a blog post on a website.

Sure, there is a wide range of influencer “types” and “niches”, and some influencers have more experience or put more work into their craft than others in their fields (as is the case with any industry). That being said, it’s definitely not an easy job, or a job that requires little to no effort.

If an influencer takes content creation seriously, such as myself, a lot of work goes into what people see on the surface.

For example, there’s the pre-content creation process where you have to first find companies or bands to work with. The research and pitching process can take hours a day. If a brand agrees to work with you, there is typically a negotiation process and reviewing of contracts.

Then there is the content creation aspect of the job (take the photos or the videos, etc). This sometimes involves a lot of travel time and can take hours to days, and often include a revision or two. This is followed by the editing process which can also take hours or days and sometimes includes revisions. Once the content is approved, actually posting on social media is the easy part.

If you’re publishing a blog, a lot of research for SEO keywords and structure goes into the backend before the writing even begins. Many blogs also contain dozens of photos which need to be uploaded, edited, and compressed in size. Once the writing and the photos are complete, affiliate links and html codes need to be generated and added throughout the article.

I don’t share these things to complain or scare people away from becoming an influencer if that’s what they truly want to do. I simply wish to show people that it’s not always an easy fix or “quick money” like many coaches or influencers tell their students.

It is very rewarding and it is a lot of fun, but aspiring influencers should be aware of how much work goes into the front end to see gains and successes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eccontessa.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eastcoastcontessa
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eastcoastcontessa
• Twitter: https://x.com/eccontessa
• Other: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@eastcoastcontessa

  Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/eastcoastcontessa/

  Flipboard: https://flipboard.com/@AlexandraBooze?from=share&utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=curator_share