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

Areeba, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

This is so true. In my experience, most of my followers/viewers are just seeing what’s presented to them – my feed which includes fashion posts, instagram reels or youtube vlogs. To them, it is simply a picture or a 7-second reel but it is important to bring attention to every minor effort that is put behind into creating high-quality content. In my content creation journey, I’ve always prioritized quality over quantity, and I think that’s what truly brought me here.

If I rewind to January 2022 which is when I stepped into the world of social media and content-creation, I remember feeling this pressure of just posting every single day without caring if this is what I really wanted to show to my viewers. I gradually started expressing myself on my platforms and that’s when I saw a huge increase in my engagement. I was posting fashion content because I felt my style would inspire people and then I also incorporated some lifestyle content about my full-time stem student life. People started engaging with my content because the balance between full-time college, part-time job and influencing captured their attention.

Hence, to all my future creators, social media can be used to your benefit if you choose to use it correctly. Express yourself, and trust me you can incorporate multiple niches in your platforms! Have fun with what you post, be consistent and be patient. Paid and gifted collaborations will eventually come to you but always make sure your content is high-quality and a reflection of who you are. If you feel lost, don’t be afraid to reach out to so many other influencers out there. This empowering community of influencers will always support you, hype you up and often give tips on brand collaborations. You got this!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m an influencer, fashion blogger and a UGC creator mainly on platforms like Instagram and Tiktok. In brief, I work with brands to promote their products in exchange of gifted products and paid promotions. The content varies depending on the brand’s need. I like to use my creativity to market the brand in the most organic and engaging way possible. Hence, I love unboxing videos, hauls, written blogs and the use of those products in my day-to-day life. Besides that, I also express my own love for fashion by posting modest fashion inspirations. Nowadays, I want to get creative with my style and not get trapped in this loop of fashion trends so I’m showing that journey on my platforms as well.

As for my social media journey, I actually got started in January 2022, a few months after my high school graduation. I just wanted to explore myself more and do something that is not academic-related. I felt starting college would be a fresh start for me where I wouldn’t be as afraid of judgements, and I was right! I stepped into college and the world of social media with a creative and confident mindset. I was confident about my potential but had a slight fear of any demotivating comments. They were not wrong when they said “Fake it till you make it” because even while being lost, I pretended to know what I was doing. And finally after a year, I can definitely say this was the best step I took for myself.

Brands started reaching out to me around three months after I started posting fashion content. I still remember my first ever collaboration was with Evry Jewels! Before this, my family and friends had no clue about my interest in content-creation, and that truly helped me stay determined and focused. I finally created my Tiktok, then Youtube and now here I am. In just a span of a year, I got to work with over fifty brands such as Vichy and Mejuri, I got accepted to go to NYFW 2023 and had my interview published in a magazine. One of my 2023 resolutions was to get invitations for influencer events, and I’ve already been to two in January!

Life changed a lot in just a year. I’m now earning a sufficient amount from brand collaborations and got so much more confidence in myself. I absolutely value each and every person who supports me whether that is by engaging with my accounts or sending a nice encouraging dm. These people are truly the sweetest!

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

I’m the kind of person who wishes to do hundreds of things in a single day but often forgets that I’m only limited to these 24 hours. So, battling with that was quite a struggle. I entered college and wanted to do everything all of a sudden. I never wanted to hinder my education because of my social media.

Obtaining and practicing my degree has been my utmost priority and I learnt so much while balancing my student life with my influencing job. The past two years of my college (Quebec CEGEP) were probably the most intense years of my life. As a Science student, excelling in heavy courses like biology, chemistry, calculus and physics was my priority. I also do extracurriculars like volunteering in Cancer research centres, youth councils, college clubs and I also have a part-time job.

While doing all of that, I often felt like I wasn’t prioritizing my social media at one point. Seeing my followers go lower, my engagement getting worse and having no time to shoot content was surely an overwhelming experience. During such times, I often sacrificed my physical health and got only 2 hours of sleep and forgetting to eat meals.

I know we all want to do so much, but again there are only 24 hours in a day. If I only post content twice a week, that doesn’t mean my hard work is getting wasted. As I mentioned, content creation is my passion but doesn’t come before my education. Hence, prioritizing is crucial. You are a human, not an automated robot. You are allowed to get tired. You can take a step back once in a while. Your dreams don’t come before your health. And just remember, take one step at a time, and trust me you will get there.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I came to Canada when I was around 11 years old. The main purpose was to have access to better education, hence, building a career without obtaining a degree was impossible.

I’m fortunate enough to have such inspirational parents who constantly reminded me of my roots and never let forget my purpose of getting better education here. In a family of engineers and doctors, doing social-media as a job was a scary thing. Not because I will be judged, but because it felt too risky.

When I got started, I didn’t tell them at all. “Don’t do this Areeba, social media will be distracting for you” or “There’s no way you can create a career out of social media while being a full-time student” were the two main comments I was fearful of. It was hard to unlearn this mentality that education can’t be balanced with a side hustle. I was confident in my goals, hence I knew that I can do both. Infact, social media became an escape for me and a way for me to express my creativity.

This is a very wrong misconception in many families that a person can only obtain a degree and do their 9-5 desk jobs until retirement. This is 21st century and the world has advanced. Don’t feel limited to the typical “safe” option of 9-5 jobs. Feel free to explore. Get out of your comfort zone. If I would’ve stayed fearful of what people would say, I wouldn’t be here having a source of income simply by documenting my life and expressing myself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: areebaxahmed
• Linkedin: Areeba Ahmed
• Youtube: areebaxahmed
• Other: Tiktok: areebaxxahmed Pinterest: areebaxahmed LTK: areebaxahmed