We were lucky to catch up with Annie Grijalva recently and have shared our conversation below.
Annie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Creators Who Hustle
We are an experiential educational platform designed for emerging creatives in the world of likes.
Through our experience in the world of influencer marketing, we have noticed that our community of creator’s makes a simple and circular transition path that includes becoming a freelancer, founder and funder. Although there is no strict order of these roles (and they’re often done simultaneously nowadays) we also realized that every single one of them has different needs with a common denominator; the pursuit of living creative lifestyle that invites freedom, community and intention. This is modern entrepreneurship. We are living in the age of low barriers for start and yet, high barriers to continue running an online business.
This insightful shift lead us to focus on educational content and experiences that could support creatives of all professional backgrounds in the industry. Our non-traditional approach includes online learning, in-person mentorship, work experience tours and business travel for micro and nano influencers. We started as an influencer marketing agency and we have now evolved towards becoming a propeller of equal access to opportunities for all professional creators, no matter how big their number of followers is. our key values are simple: we keep it real, authentic and humble following our motto of #weallinfluence
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
Hola! I am Annie Grijalva, an entrepreneur, creator, marketer and believer in the magic of creating intentional businesses with aligned creators. I am also a digital nomad, I’ve created campaigns in multiple cities including Dubai, Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Barcelona and of course, San Diego. I recently became a “mompreneur” thus I am also now navigating the insane yet rewarding journey of modern motherhood. Last year, I launched my first book called “How To Be a Real Influencer: Dare to be genuine in the world of likes” and we are currently creating our own freelancers’ academy designed for emerging creatives in our community “Creators Who Hustle”
How did I get started?
It all started when I was in college and I was aiming to stop being a nerd. I was done with just reading about the adventures of travelers or watching foreign movies, wondering how life is in other countries. Since my hard-working family could not sponsor my hunger for traveling the world, I started to apply for scholarships, worked in part-time jobs, and saved cash by doing side hustles. By doing a bit of research, I found out that I could study in France for less money than in the US, all while completing my bachelor’s degree. It was an obvious choice for my adventurous spirit thus I applied and got the opportunity to study in Nantes. That’s when the rollercoaster started. The travel bug got me! As soon as my semester abroad was over, I landed another scholarship to study in Paris but then decided to pursue a career opportunity in the crazy city of Dubai
During my stay in the desert, I launched a blog called #unlavish, and surprisingly within months, I managed to get nominated for awards, sponsored campaigns and invites to exclusive events. It was glam and fun but that did not fulfill me. I felt that something was missing, as this career was designed for some sort of narcissistic creatives constantly looking for external approval. I decided then to create one of the first community of influencers in the Middle East called #bloggerang where we taught others how to grow their personal brands with the support of social media. That’s when I began to feel full of purpose again! Everything I learned about content creation, public relations, and social media management started with this unexpected experience. I also got to learn about the challenges of running my own thing. I dealt with a lawsuit (and won the case!), competitors’ threats via Instagram DM’s, ex-business partners becoming competitors, etc. What a crazy rollercoaster ride that was!
Have you ever had to pivot?
My then-boyfriend, who is now my dear husband and I decided to move to Miami and once I was there, I launched my own boutique influencer marketing agency where I got the chance to represent emerging micro influencers and learned how to scale influencer programs. Some of the clients/partners/sponsors we worked with include Lacoste, The Macallan, Citibank, Taittinger Champagne, etc.
After a couple of years of intense work, I moved back to San Diego with the purpose of unplugging a bit from the glam world of public relations and focused on strategic consulting for new influencers who were looking to monetize their social media presence. During that year, I partnered up with the team of Los Angeles Times en Español to launch our initiative #LatinasWhoHustle and hosted sponsored events during New York Fashion Week that were created also for Hispanic creative professionals. They were so successful that we meet now in New York, at least once per year to celebrate our creative hustles and inspire others to pursue their own too!
“Creators Who Hustle” started as an influencer marketing agency and we have now evolved towards becoming a propeller of equal access to opportunities for all professional creators, no matter how big their number of followers is. Our key values are simple: we keep it real, authentic and humble following our motto of #weallinfluence.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The adventure continued when I moved to Barcelona, the city where my husband grew up. I fell in love with the Mediterranean lifestyle and re-connected with my free spirit who is all about discovering small towns, meeting people with interesting stories, enjoying fresh food, amazing wine, and a public health system that it’s much more human than the one we have in the US. During the pandemic, we were living in a small town away from the city and I remembered I always wanted to write a book. I started brainstorming but I wasn’t inspired at all. It wasn’t until I became a joyful sleep-deprived mompreneur when I got very inspired, started writing, and co-created my first book” which I promoted the upcoming launch at the Festival of Books of Los Angeles Times.
It’s been more than 10 years of living an adventurous professional life full of cool milestones and unique mistakes.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wearecwh.com/
- Instagram: annie_grijalva
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creatorswhohustle/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anniegrijalva/
- Other: Content Tours | Creative Retreats | Press Trips #weallinfluence Our Experiences: wearecwh.com Our Community: @creatorswhohustle Become a Sponsor: wearecwh.com/apply Creators Who Hustle instagram: creatorswhohustle Sponsorships Requests: annie@cwhagency.com Media & Tours: nyfw@cwhagency.com “How To Be a Real Influencer: Dare to be genuine in the world of likes” by Annie Grijalva https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Real-Influencer-genuine-ebook/dp/B09YVLPZ68/ref=sr_1_1?crid=33K2NV6R22M7N&keywords=how+to+be+a+real+influencer&qid=1680999931&sprefix=how+to+be+a+real+influencer%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1
Image Credits
Our Community: @creatorswhohustle Creators Who Hustle instagram: creatorswhohustle