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

Josie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Learning how to operate in a medium that is still developing has been quite the learning process. The one thing that has helped immensely is just putting in time. The more time I spend on social media is the more I understand it. As a content creator this is incredibly important because I need to know what’s on the cutting edge in terms of trending audios, dances, stories and so forth. So, by having time dedicated to scrolling and researching I’m able to find new trends, learn about new features, discover new creators, and better hone my craft. I probably could have speed up my learning process by watching more YouTube, it’s a great resource for learning how to edit videos and create engaging content. As I go along in my journey and learn I was able to develop skills that were useful. The ones I found to essential for being a content creator were time management, creativity, being detail oriented, the ability to work autonomously and a talent for photography/videography.

Josie, 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 got into content creation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many people, I lost my job and was stuck at home during the wave of lockdowns. During this time, I started to dabble in the online sphere more.

It started out with livestreaming makeup tutorials and music sessions. As a streamer I was able to interact with my current friends and make new friends. To promote my streams, I got in the habit of posting “flyers” to social media accounts. I found that the posts would preform better, and my streams would do better, when I had a full face of makeup. While my interest in streaming ultimately declined, I still really enjoyed the creative aspects of makeup and the community that I started to build on Instagram, so I kept posting content there.

As my community grew larger, I began to work with brands in gifted capacities and then paid capacities and now I even offer user generated content (UGC) for brands to use on their own platforms.

As a content creator I offer businesses the opportunity to collaborate with me by providing access to my audience. I incorporate products that I like and enjoy using into my feed in the form of stories, reels and photos. I also provide UGC content for use on their feeds.

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

In my view that best thing society can do to create a thriving creative ecosystem is to put money back into the arts. Over the years so much funding has been cut from extracurricular programs in public schools which tends create less opportunities for kids interested in the arts. We also need to emphasize the importance of the arts in higher education. There seems to be this stigma associated with obtaining an arts degree, as though it’s not something worth pursuing. I’ve always thought this stigma to be strange because if you step back and look at the people society tends to put on a pedestal it’s professional singers, it’s actors, it’s musicians, it’s celebrities, it’s the arts! Yet, when individuals are journeying through life honing their art and trying to get to that professional level, it’s seen as a waste of time. The starving artist trope is all to common. How can one artist be coveted and the other a waste of time? It’s hypocrisy to love the oak tree but not the acorn. Society needs to fund and appreciate the arts from grade school all the way through to higher education. In my opinion that would be the best way to create an environment that is helpful to creatives.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is that you get to be unapologetically yourself all of the time because your entire being is your brand. It’s not the same as a corporate nine – five where you put on a mask and go in to work. You can have good days and you can have bad days and you can show it all on camera and still have your audience resonate with you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/josie_ely
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/JosieTries
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@josieelysia
• Other: My secondary instagram is www.instagram.com/josieelysia it’s where I post all of my music content I also have a tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@josie_ely