Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Allyson A. Robinson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Allyson A., looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Since I was a kid, I was always involved in the arts. It started at church like a lot of other actors I know, doing plays for Christmas and Easter. Not only that, as my mom recalls it, I was always dramatic. Over the top. The one thing I remember her saying to me was “Just make some money with it.” I fell in love with performing while growing up in my home church back in Detroit, MI. From learning a brand new role, to auditioning for the role I fell in love with, right up until the moment we stepped out in front of the congregation and I delivered my first line. After taking a break from performing to be in the classroom, I decided to pick it back up after moving to Atlanta. I started taking classes to get a firm foundation in what it meant to be an actress. If anything, I wish that I would’ve started taking classes a lot sooner and getting in front of a camera for myself to see what I look like and how to trust my instincts.

Many times as a new actor, you’re looking for approval. You’re looking for the thumbs-up that says “Yes! You’re a good actor! I would want to watch you on the big screen!” If I didn’t get an “Attagirl” after performing a scene in class, I felt that I needed to adjust and shift to get the go ahead with a certain action or emotion. I found myself waiting for that validation as a new actor and if I could’ve done anything earlier on, it would’ve been trusting myself and my instincts as an actor. In the moments I’ve trusted my gut, I’ve had my strongest auditions and bookings when I trusted myself more.

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

Creating has always been something I loved doing. I’ve gotten into so many areas of creating that sometimes I can’t keep up. I’ve recently identified myself as a multipotentialite, someone who has many different interests and creative pursuits in life. I had to accept early on that at the core of who I am, I love to create and insipire through what I create. So many times, I felt held back because the world tries to convince you that you need to choose ONE thing in life and just be good at that. While that works for others, it felt suffocating to me in so many ways. So I chose not to subscribe to that.

When it comes to acting, I have been performing since I was a little girl. I majored in music and focused on vocal performance where I did operas and musical reviews. I took a break for almost 8 years from performing while working on my passion of working with youth. But itsn’t it funny how all things work together? Through working with kids on TV/Film sets a a set teacher, my passion for performing was reawakened. I started taking classes while in Atlanta and discovered my passion again. For a year, I took classes and attended workshops, understanding the difference between stage and on-screen performing. I got my headshots together, and at the beginning of 2022, started going after different roles on my own and was able to land 4! During the summer of that same year, I landed an amazing agent at Baron Entertainment Agency who signed me and a few months later, I booked a feture film and my first commerical! One of my biggest goals as an actress is to make a difference with my acting. I want what I do on screen to have a lasting effect in the lives of audience members. TV and Film has had such a lasting impact on my life personally, and I want to provide that same effect on those who watch me.

When it comes to being the #InternetBigSis, that was a God moment. I knew I wanted to make a difference in the lives of young women and during the pandemic, I knew there was a way to be effective, I just wasn’t sure how. So I did what a lot of people do when they’re seeking an answer from outside of themselves, I prayed, and early that morning, God woke me up and said “Big Sis Tok”. I said “Okay”, and was up making videos later that day. I didn’t care about views or followers, I just knew that someone somewhere needed to be inspried and TikTok was the place where young girls were hanging out during the pandemic. Within a few weeks, I had gone from 222 followers to over 10K, 90% of them being young women who needed a “big sister” to help them through some issues they were dealing with. Since 2021, I’ve created books, YouTube videos, a podcast, and a TikTok full of videos containing advice on periods, toxic friendships, and how to stand in their uniqueness. One of the things I know causes me to stand out is that fact that I don’t sugarcoat or place blame on everyone else for the issues girls experience, and the reason why is because I realize the importance of being your best self first before trying to expect the world to change around you. The beauty is that once you begin to better yourself, you’ll realize that most of the environments that you’ve placed yourself in, you shouldn’t be a part of. You won’t need to change anyone else, you’ll begin to remove yourself from those situations because you’ll see that you deserve better.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I would say that my mission is to help people see the value in them being 100% themselves. So many times, we compare ourselves and do our best to try and be like someone else, while taking away the value of who we authentically are. We feel as if the only way we can improve is to be what everyone else says we should be or the people that everyone else follows on social media. What ends up happening is that we become copies of someone else, which doesn’t carry as much value as the authentic person. For years, people are stuck in lives they’ve created because they felt they had to change who they were for others to love and accept them. After a while, they feel incomplete, like something’s missing. They feel that they don’t really know who they are, and in all honesty, they don’t because they’ve become this person made up of bits and pieces of everyone else. There is value in originality! When people begin to embrace that who they were created to be is more than enough, our world will become an even more beautiful place! We’ll start to hear more creative ideas instead of seeing the same things over and over again. Not only that, the young people in the world will start to see early on that who they are is enough, and that’s the most important thing because they are our future. If we want our future to be successful, we have to allow them to be their original, unique, authentic selves so that they can change our world with new and fresh ideas. But many of them can’t develop those ideas because they don’t release them out of fear of being different. But some of the most impactful inventions and movements happened when someone wasn’t afraid to stand out from the crowd.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I’m always asked how I built my following. Here is the best piece of advice I can give; BE YOURSELF. Go with what YOU feel is best for your platform. You have EVERYTHING you need to be successful. Your stories are unique. Your voice is one-of-a-kind. Your journey is yours and no one else’s. That is what will grow your audience. It may not happen overnight, but the beautiful thing is that whoever it is was looking for someone like you and found you. Those are the people who will be committed, celebrate you as you grow, share you with those they love, and interact with your content. They are around for the long haul. In this era of everyone just wanting to go viral, people don’t see that going viral can be temporary for so many people. There are only a few people out there who go viral and stay in the public eye beyond that video or post. Then those people are stuck trying to figure out what went wrong, making up random things to try to get more followers and go viral again, and many times end up compromising who they are just for that same hype. You don’t want that to be you. You want to stick with what makes YOU you, your strengths, and over time, you will grow a solid and loyal group of people who go beyond just a number, but become people you truly care about and love to create for. Trying to go viral and grow fast can burn you out as a creative fast. It can make you bitter and can cause you to hate what you’re doing, which then prevents the world from ever being impacted by what you have for them. Staying true to who you are on social media is also important because you’ll never have to fake it. You will be the same person online and in person, which will cause your audience to be even more loyal to who you are. You don’t want to create this online persona that isn’t you at all. You will get tired and at any moment, you can forget who you created and act like your “real” self at the wrong moment, causing your audience to question who you are and your authenticity. We have seen so many celebrities and social media personalities get chewed out when a fan finds out that who they say they are online is not who they are in real life.

Contact Info:

• Website: allysonarobinson.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/heygirlitsAllyson
• Youtube: YouTube.com/heygirlitsAllyson
• Other: https://anchor.fm/heygirl-itsallyson

Image Credits
Shannon Zaller