We were lucky to catch up with Brooke McIntosh recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Brooke thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I started using social media professionally in September of 2021. I signed on with a makeup company to work as a representative and promoted products primarily on Instagram and TikTok. At this time I was still working as a nurse. I have had various nursing jobs but recently started as an elementary school nurse. I was honestly in shock and amazed at what truly went on within the walls of an elementary school and started sharing my experience online while applying my makeup. I think it’s safe to say that others were fascinated as well and these simple talking videos started to get some virality. I was able to leave nursing in April of 2023 based on the commissions earned from the makeup I promoted. Since then I have signed with a marketing team and am so grateful to say I now also earn money with brand deals and other affiliate programs.

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?

My name is Brooke and I am a single mom to an 8-year-old boy named Mason. We do a lot of growing up together as I had Mason at the age of 18. We love to simply share our life on social media and normalize the struggles that come with being a teen mom/young mom and single mom. Life isn’t perfect but how boring would it be if it was? We love to laugh through life, even the not-so-fun moments. Being a single mom was obviously not the plan and is a newer stage of life I have entered. However, doing life with my followers makes it feel not so lonely and we have built a strong, empowering community of moms who are learning to love themselves outside of motherhood.
From “single mom dates”, to online dating, grocery shopping, and daily vlogs, we share it all and I hope to spread the confidence and encouragement I have learned along the way with others.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My social media audience really jumped when I started sharing stories about a topic no one else on the internet was talking about. I was simply talking about how my week went working as an elementary school nurse and people were interested to know what went on within the school walls. I wasn’t doing anything crazy, I don’t have a super outgoing personality, I was simply just applying makeup and talking about the week. Was there some structure to my storytelling? Yes. Every story needs a good beginning (hook) middle and end, but it wasn’t revolutionary.

Everyone wants to know the secret sauce to grow their follower count and it’s annoying to say, but the secret sauce is you! So many people think they are just “not interesting enough” or they don’t have anything funny to share, but those are all false beliefs holding people back. First, I think it’s important not to think of follower count as a number. That “number” represents real people on the other side of the phone that you are impacting in some way. Connection is key and how you connect is by being a real human. Show your authentic self, share your opinions, and discuss your failures. We are all humans that want to relate and feel seen and validated. If you can relate to others and connect on some level you will grow a community of like-minded people and that community will be represented by your follower count.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It is by far the ability to connect with others. I focus on the life of a single mom and the truth of the matter is that life can be pretty darn lonely. It is easy for a single mom to lose herself, give up on her dreams, feel uninspired in life, have little to no confidence, and simply forget that she is worthy. As a creative, I have been given the opportunity to connect with other single moms and be the voice to say “Hey, this time of life does suck at times, but it too shall pass and there is still so much to be grateful for”. I am able to encourage others to laugh a little more, do something for themselves, and remind them how incredible they are as a mom and as a woman. That is priceless to me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brookemcintosh.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebrookemcintosh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brookemmcintosh/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebrookemcintosh
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebrookemcintosh?lang=en