We recently connected with Jessica Hughes and have shared our conversation below.
Jessica, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?
As an influencer and content creator, I have the unique ability to connect with women around the world. It has been such an inspiring career because of this! The women I’ve met in business, other influencers, and moms just like me trying to be the best they can be. I can’t put into words how many amazing, strong, and intelligent the women I have had the pleasure of meeting over the last 9 years in this career are. And they inspire me daily. I want my legacy to be the same- to inspire and motivate women to achieve greatness.
Jessica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m Jessica Hughes, an influencer and content creator for the last 9 years. I am a mom to two sweet kids (Hudson and Henley) and a Goldendoodle named Georgia. I got into this career after my son, Hudson, became sick with a heart condition at just two months old. I had to quit my corporate job to stay home with him, but craved an outlet. One of my girlfriends suggested becoming an influencer and that’s where it all began! I grew my business and got to work with so many amazing family brands for 5 years. Then, I got divorced and everything kind of imploded… The divorce was very public, my agency dropped me, and several of my big contracts cancelled on me. I had to rebuild my brand (and life) from scratch. It took over a year but I can honestly say I, and my company, are better for it. I bought a house, renovated it to be exactly what I wanted (it’s frequently referred to as the Barbie House) and started an Influencer Course to help other women build a career like mine. Besides that, the kids and I are planning our big travel for the year- we’ll do some local places but both are begging to be taken to Paris.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
A big part of being an influencer and content creator is being your biggest advocate. Negotiations can be exhausting and disheartening at times, but know your worth and always stick to your rates! I was in talks with a large sporting brand that had been on my dream board for years. The contact at the time was really nickle and dimeing me and kept asking for free coverage or a huge discount. I finally had to politely decline the partnership and walk away. 8 months later they came back with one of the biggest offers of my career!!
How did you build your audience on social media?
I started with photos of my son dressed up in hipster clothing- it was so cute! But then kept growing the audience by sharing more of our lives and posting to numerous platforms. My tips on building social media are:
1. Be yourself- everyone else is taken. This means to be authentic, because your followers will be able to tell if you’re not.
2. Write a list of what you excel in- niche it down to 3-5 categories and post about those things.
3. Have a social media strategy for growth. Pick 3 platforms you want to post to and post to those DAILY. Tiktok is very hot right now because they show your content to 85% of people that aren’t following you.
4. Have fun! If you’re not enjoying it you will burn out very quickly.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.happilyhughes.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/happilyhughes
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/happilyhughes
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/happilyhughes
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/happilyhughes
- Other: www.pinterest.com/happilyhughes www.tiktok.com/happilyhughes
Image Credits
Photography by Chelsea Patricia