We were lucky to catch up with Cecily Delgado recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cecily, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

I think the biggest trend that stands out to me is that people are beginning to express themselves more freely through their clothing. I love the community that is built around this idea because it gives people a sense of freedom to really showcase who they are. There was a long period of time where people were just following the crowd or the emerging trends that we seen from idols, or celebrities. If we seen Nicki Minaj wearing a large Barbie pendant then everyone was running to grab their Barbie chains including me LOL. However now that has shifted, it’s a tough crowd now. If the people don’t like it then they just simply won’t buy it or wear it. This could be concerning for larger retailers who are seeing a decline in business and not understanding the major trend down, however for smaller businesses who are connecting more closely with the communities they built around their brands, they are the ones seeing the profits and their return on investing in these personal clothing lines. I can tell you personally that I have thrifted for vintage finds or just overall one of a kinds more often this year then I have just walking into a mall and shopping in a store there. I feel like I have more control over my wardrobe this way. Walking in shopping a Forever 21 your options there are what the buyer chose for that store and that is most likely whatever is trending right? Like if Taylor Swift wore pearl embellished jeans to the Super Bowl then your most likely going to see racks of these kinds of jeans. vs If I walk in a thrift store and see these jeans randomly and I chose to pick them it’s because I know I’m the only one your probably going to see wear these because they are a one of a kind thrift find. This is how a lot of people are shopping these days and it’s working because it’s essentially making a statement of who you are through how you dress.

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.

I have always been into fashion. Fashion just really spoke to me as a younger girl. If you knew me then you knew I was always trying different styles to see what really spoke to me. I had a period where I would have a different color hair bow that I would cut from ribbon and attach a bobby pin and wear it in my hair to match every Chuck Taylor I had along with the matching bracelets and purse to go with it. Now looking back, it was a hot mess ha-ha, but it was me just finding ways to express myself. In high school we had uniforms as dress code, and I never got in trouble for anything other than being out of dress code. Instead of a regular white polo shirt I would instead wear a white button down that maybe had some sort of flower details on it and I would say “but it has a collar on it.” Obviously, they were not buying it. I always just had this fire in me to be somebody that everyone looked to for fashion advice. I would watch movies like Clueless, Pretty in Pink, Easy A and be so inspired by their way of being the main character through how they dressed whether it warranted good or bad attention. Fast forward to college, I went off to be a Nursing major and one day I just woke up and decided I was going to pursue what I truly wanted for myself. I knew that there was only one thing that really spoke to me and that was Fashion. I also knew that there was not a lot of money pursuing this industry but it was what I wanted to dedicate my 4 years and degree to, so I changed my major to Fashion Merchandising packed up and switched schools to attend a better Fashion program at the University of North Texas in Denton. I went on to obtain my bachelor’s degree in Fashion Merchandising and minor in Marketing. Imagine how the little girl inside of me feels today, she is so proud. I believe that I was able to grow to where I am now as a Fashion Influencer because I have remained myself through it all. I have never portrayed to be anyone other than who I always have been. When I create content today, I am simply just doing what I would do for any friend and that’s give advice on outfit ideas. When I step in front of the camera and promote clothing it’s literally outfits that I have worn or plan to wear that I am just sharing with the world. I promised myself to only promote things I stand firm behind, meaning if I think it’s ugly, I am not going to tell you “You should buy this” just because I am getting paid to do so. I have turned down multiple collaborations because it just did not feel authentic, or I truly just did not like the product and was not willing to influence others to buy it. Being in this industry has its ups and downs and challenges. I’m sure people see influencers as having it made and having THE life. However, as a micro-influencer that’s growing, you’re up against people who have thousands, even millions of followers and produce content like they should be working for Lionsgate lol. So, you must be on your toes learning every day to stay on top, the skills you may have could be good but the list of what else you could learn to advance is endless. Therefore, it does take discipline to sit down and be willing to study and learn editing hacks, video settings, lighting capabilities, shooting angles, technology etc. It’s not just about having style and receiving clothes from these brands; they want quality too. For me, I believe what sets me apart is that I keep God first above all. No matter how far I get in this, I vowed to not lose myself in it because it was gifted to me BY the Lord. I woke up one day and went viral and my life changed after that. I always give that glory to God because I might have had no idea how I was going to be the one on the other side of that camera like the actors I would watch but God did. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future.” So, every time I made a decision that may not have seemed like the best idea to anyone else (like giving up a future of Nursing money lol) it was the spirit of God leading me to this very path that he always had set for me. I want my community to know that I am woman of God first and a Fashion Influencer second, and that what I have is no luck it is a blessing. My brand is my image and I always want the space I create to be a positive, affirming and open environment to express not only myself but others to feel comfortable as well to say, “I want to wear that too” or “I want to carry myself like that! I am very proud of the hard work and dedication that I have put into building my platform because it shows people that you can do it too if you just go for what YOU want not what the world tells you or says your supposed to want for yourself. The number of times people have said the words “you have inspired me….” have alone motivated me to keep going because I never know who’s life impacting or changing.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There was a time I was filming content that was due that week. I kept stopping and starting over, and over and over until I got frustrated and just broke down. I wasn’t liking what I was seeing in the mirror and on camera. I was being hard on myself that day feeling like I wasn’t skinny enough, my legs weren’t toned enough, my hair wasn’t cute enough, my makeup was horrible. I think when people see us as influencers on social media they see the good side of things, they don’t see what goes into creating these videos. Most of it is being in front of a camera 24/7 with no filters to hide behind. You’re showing up as your authentic self and that can be a little scary and intimidating. I have always been one poised confidence but that week I saw a lot of things about myself that I either didn’t notice before or that I didn’t care to pay attention to. In the same breath of wanting to say “Cut the show. I’m done. Take me off.” I also said if you don’t like it do something about it. I grew up with parents that should have really made a career out of motivational speaking because they always had a quote or line to say to anything LOL. My dad would say things like “you rather be tired from making money or tired of not having enough money?” and it would make you stand up and get your act together so quick because it just made sense. So immediately, I decided that day I was going to change my lifestyle, and this was January of this year 2024. I started my Daniel fast on January 5, 2024, for 21 days of no meat, yeast, dairy, alcohol or caffeine and when the 21 days were up, I just kept going with the eating and here I am today about 10-15lbs lighter than what I was and I feel GOOD! My spirit is in good shape and so is my body and I feel so motivated to just maintain it. So, sometimes we may be hard on ourselves about things we don’t like and that is OK. The world makes us think we should be happy 24/7 and walk around speaking positive affirmations every day and be fine, yes! but it is also OK to say you know what I don’t like how I feel, and I’m going to the core work to actually fix this and not just post a positive message to my Instagram story and pretend like everything is fine. I share this because I know that someone will read this and say “wow I never knew that about her” because we often look at people that we love and admire and just think they have everything together but we’re all human and we all have moments where we may want to crumble or do crumble. I believe what builds character is how you shake back, how are you willing to stand up and keep going? That is something to ask yourself whenever you have a moment where you want to cut the show!

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

You know how that cheer movie goes “Be aggressive, be be aggressive! In a world of ads, promotion, marketing you must “Be authentic, be be authentic!” This is the best advice I have to build a community around you. Look at your followers as a community that is counting on you for whatever it is you’re providing them with, even if it’s clothes. If you know you would not really wear it, then do not promote it because your community has a way of reading you and they know if you’re just telling them something to get a sale out of them. This goes for any business that you’re wanting to grow a platform for. “Be consistent, be be consistent” this is another one that I stand FIRM on. When I first grew my Tik Tok from 2K followers to 10K and now I have just hit 20K, I was waking up at 5am every morning my alarm set, post was already edited, caption written, song selected, and I would just roll over hit submit watch it through one more time then back to sleep. I did this every single day until I was at point where I now have a community that would just look for my post no matter the time, I posted it they were just eager to see what I had in store for the day, what outfits are we seeing today, what fashion tips or trips are you teaching us today. I consistently did the work to get to this point and even now I started my Fashion Influence business in October of last year, so it’s been 5 months only and I was able to gain over 18K followers on Tik Tok and Instagram I went from 8K to almost 12K now. I am still in the beginning phase, so consistency, dedication and authenticity are still very important but as you are starting out it’s very vital to your growth process. Interact with your community; ask them what they want to see and give them that. Ask them what their favorite was of what you’ve shown, or did they like it etc. Respond back to comments and DM’s, this shows you as an influencer or business owner as being a genuine person no matter how big you grow to.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/cec_marie95?utm_source=linktree_profile_share
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cec_marie95?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cec_marie95?_t=8jw96ehqywI&_r=1