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

Hi Huong, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

ABSOLUTELY sooner! Looking back, it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life that I still regret to this day. Two weeks after I graduated college, I quit the job I had throughout college because of the toxic environment. Little did I know that I would still be experiencing the lingering effects of the 2007 recession in 2010! I spent 12-hour days looking and applying for jobs to no avail…a total of over 200 jobs with only a handful of interviews and no offers.

Finding work was difficult to come by because I was hit with a double-edged sword: a degree and too much experience to get jobs like barista, cashier, sales associate, etc., and too little experience for the “bigger” jobs. I was humbled when the only place that would hire me was a small marketing agency. While I’m thankful I learned a lot about social media and marketing through my paid internship role, the amount of time I spent driving very far for a part-time position and applying for jobs could’ve been used to build something I could’ve owned.

Imagine if I had applied the same amount of hours applying for jobs to my blog/website! Seeing how massive the blogging/influencer industry has blown up now, I was definitely at the right place at the right time. I was already writing on Xanga (remember that platform?!) for many years prior. I just didn’t know it was called “blogging” per se, so couple that with a traditional mindset of “go to school, get a degree, and get a job” that I was taught is why I’m not where I want to be now.

The best way to gain experience is to do it and experience it yourself. I know without a doubt in my mind that I’d be incredibly successful had I begun sooner.

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.

Currently, I work as a coordinator in luxury retail with nearly two decades of customer relations/service experience. After my 9 to 5, I’m a digital content creator and intentional living advocate.

I got into my day job by “getting my foot in the door” and stayed since I love luxury fashion. However, I love being an entrepreneur more. Aside from being a lifestyle content creator, I’m also a business entrepreneur. I teach others how to make money online while learning about it myself. It’s 2023, so it’s not as hard as one thinks. And it’s better to do it with others so you don’t feel alone, right? It just takes belief in oneself and consistent effort.

I’m aware that people are skeptical due to their own experiences of scammers, being burned by business partners, or misconceptions of an industry. However, I’m of the mindset that just because you heard of a bad experience that happened to someone else doesn’t mean you should take it on as your own experience and block yourself from an opportunity that could change your life.

My overall goal during my time here in earth is to teach those who are open to opportunities how to make money. These days, most people need at least seven streams of income to survive so why not add an online business or businesses to your portfolio? If it’s not for you, the great part is that you can try something else! However, my advice is to try it for at least five years to make sure you don’t quit because you’re experiencing the difficult “beginning stages” of being an entrepreneur.

At the end of the day, while I teach others to make money online, my goal is to inspire others to step into their identity with confidence so they can live their best and most fulfilling lives. I’ve found that my confidence comes from helping others. The more I serve others, the more I become a confident person.

My desire is to always connect with others and add value to their life. It’s why SheSweatsDiamonds.com came into being. Whether it’s from personal experience or from a creative aspect, I want what I teach and the content I put out there to be of value that the younger version of me would’ve needed to see and be inspired to take action.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I wouldn’t necessarily say pivot…more so pause in business and life. In 2017, I emailed my mentor and friend, Jordan, and told him that I needed to pause. I explained to him that I didn’t want to hate my business or the industry due to personal burnout that resulted in my lack of motivation. He completely understood and said for me to take my time.

I took six years! Now, I’m back, we’re still business partners, and my zest for my business is a fire that I know won’t die out any time soon.

You never know what you need until you sit still and just be. Sometimes, pivoting is needed when you know something isn’t working. Sometimes, you just need to pause to reset your priorities and while you’re pausing, you may need to pivot, but in the same industry!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

The best thing society can do to support artists and creatives is to engage with their content and/or use their links when making a purchase. If you can’t purchase through our links, free ways to support us would be to like and comment on our content through our social platforms, DM us (I LOVE conversing with my followers), and subscribe to our newsletters.

A lot of people think our jobs are easy and that it’s just snapping photos and then posting them. It’s not true.

For those who don’t know, influencers have to go through a process. If brands don’t approach us, we approach them for collaborations. There’s a lot of back and forth to establish the campaign’s message, deliverables such as images, videos or blog articles, where to share the content, and time frames in terms of the length of the partnership, deadlines to submit drafts, approvals, payment, and the publishing of the final agreed deliverables. There’s also hiring a lawyer if you don’t understand a contract’s verbiage because you want to make sure the brand is being fair too.

This doesn’t include the not-so-fun stuff such as when other creatives or brands/companies steal your content (this happened to me!), make money off of it, and do not pay you (fairly), ghost you after a lot of back and forth, or pay you nothing or so little, but ask a LOT of work from you. It’s not fun when you’re offered products for work either. I was once offered a pamphlet in exchange to shoot images. I’m not kidding!

We all have bills we need to pay, so when creators and artists don’t have brand partnerships (that’s where the big bucks are), we rely on commissions through others purchasing through our links. To boot, we have to battle software and websites people use to save themselves a few bucks because in turn, when people do that, it cancels our commissions. And in my opinion, AI will become another battle for our industry soon.

I hope this clears up any misconceptions and changes society’s perspective in understanding why they should support artists and creatives and how to do it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shesweatsdiamonds.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shesweatsdiamonds/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/huongctvo/ https://www.lemon8-app.com/huongctvo