We were lucky to catch up with Kathy Ha recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kathy, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I would have definitely wanted to start earlier. I started my account in May of 2020 as a creative outlet since we were all stuck in quarantine. It gave me an opportunity to be creative and bond with other online creators at the time. I joined in a lot of “Bounding Challenges” which were super popular at the time, because it was a way to keep the disney magic alive, and to have a little disney magic at home.

However, I would have loved to have started creating Disney content well before. I have some friends who started their IG account for their corgi in 2012-2013 ish and at that time, it seemed like it was a lot easier to grow. There was less of a focus on aesthetics, and people were less picky about who they followed. Now the market seems so saturated– everyone wants to be a content creator/influencer. People are more focused on aesthetics, curating the perfect photo and feed, staying within their niche, and there is more consideration into who to follow !

Additionally, the Instagram algorithm seems to work against creators now. Back then, the algorithm was just in timeline order and things were simpler.

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

My name is Kathy, the creative behind @happilykathy & I am a Disney Lifestyle/Experiences Content Creator. I love Disney and make several trips to Disney a year, but I reside in the Bay Area so a lot of my content is how to create content at home, how to sustain the Disney magic when you’re far away from the parks, and how to “experience the magic” in everyday life!

I started my account in 2020 during the pandemic, and was mostly joining in “Bounding” challenges. Then as the parks opened back up, I added a little bit of parks content and now I dabble in all things Disney/Fandoms– bounding, park content, makeup, lifestyle, local events, etc.

I want my audience to *experience the magic* of everyday! From local events, to wearing fun Disney earrings and outfits to work, and planning little fun things with your friends–like picnics and galentines, to theme parks and travel. There is so much more to life than Disney, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sprinkle a little bit of Disney magic!

How did you build your audience on social media?

REELS, REELS, REELS. Reels are the key to growth. That, and consistency. In September of 2021, I started posting every single day, sometimes twice a day. Some days I just posted pictures, and some days I posted reels, and sometimes I posted a photo and a reel.

I did this for ~3months straight and I documented my progress and I experienced rapid growth. I grew about 5k followers in that time. But it wasn’t sustainable. I was burnt out after the 3 or so months.

My advice would be to batch create when you can, take a video of EVERYTHING, you’ll never know when you will need the content. Film behind-the scenes, film how-tos, film EVERYTHING.

Then my advice would be to take breaks, and it’s okay to take breaks. Content creation is hard, and tedious, and sometimes not very rewarding. Take breaks and take care of yourself so you can be your best self when you come back.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Non-creatives don’t know how much time, planning, and work actually goes into content creation. Let’s say an idea pops in your head. There is the brainstorming behind the idea. Going to Pinterest to get ideas, inspiration, etc. Then outfit planning. Thinking about props, poses, and materials you might need. Then procuring those items.

Shoot day comes and there’s hair, make up, getting dressed. Getting to the location if it’s not an at-home shoot. Setting up– props, cameras, poses. Then the actual shoot.

Then there’s going through the photos, picking the best ones. Editing. Editing can take hours!

Then writing captions, posting, planning. It’s not just taking a picture and posting it. There is sooo much that goes into content creation and non-creatives need to understand that it isn’t as easy as it seems.

Contact Info:

• Website: happilykathy.com
• Instagram: @happilykathy
• Other: TikTok: @happilykathy Pinterest: @happilykathy