We recently connected with Lilia Kazakova and have shared our conversation below.

Lilia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Earning a full-time living from creative work definitely did not happen overnight for me. Today, I support myself through a combination of different creative ventures: social media content creation for my business LilyLike, coaching roller skating classes in LA & OC, working as a performing artist, and managing LA Roller Crew. But getting to this point took years of hard work, lots of ups and downs, and learning how to combine creativity with entrepreneurship in a sustainable way.

I have always had a very strong work ethic and entrepreneurial mindset thanks to my mom. She was an immigrant and single mother who built her own creative business from the ground up, so I grew up watching someone create opportunities for herself without any help, support or safety net. I think that influenced me more than I realized at the time. My first job was when I was 15 years old, stocking shelves at a grocery store in my small hometown in the Netherlands. Since then, I’ve always been motivated to make my own money, be independent, and look cute while doing it – just like my mom did.

My path has been far from traditional. I originally moved from the Netherlands to Washington, D.C. for law school. I genuinely enjoyed law and appreciated the intellectual challenge of it. But over time, I realized I wanted a life that felt more creative and expressive. That led me to move to Los Angeles to pursue social media full time through my platform, LilyLikecom.

Ironically, the biggest turning point in my career happened during one of the hardest periods of my life. I had just moved to LA when the pandemic began. I did not know anyone yet, everything shut down, and I felt incredibly lonely and isolated. Ice rinks, which had always been a comforting place for me growing up, were closed too. One day, I randomly ordered a pair of artistic inline skates to recreate that familiar feeling of movement and flow. At the time, I had no idea that decision would completely change my life and career.

At first, skating was simply something that helped me emotionally. Then I started sharing my journey online. People connected not only with the skating itself, but also with the dreamy, aesthetic, Pinterest-inspired world I was creating around it through fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and visual storytelling. That combination became the foundation of my brand.

Financially, there were many stages to building a sustainable career. In the beginning, I accepted smaller collaborations, created content consistently even when growth felt slow, and treated social media like a full-time job long before it paid like one. Over time, I built long-term relationships with brands, expanded into live performances and teaching, and diversified my income streams so I was not relying on only one thing.

One major lesson I learned is that creative careers are not just about talent or aesthetics. They also require strategy, professionalism, adaptability, and resilience. There are so many unseen hours behind the scenes. Editing, pitching, negotiating, planning, training, and constantly evolving creatively.

It definitely was not easy. There were moments where I questioned whether pursuing a creative career was realistic or responsible, especially after coming from a law school background. Social media can also create pressure, comparison, and burnout if you are not careful. But I stayed committed to building something that felt authentic to me instead of doing what others expected me to do.

If I could go back, I would trust my instincts earlier and stop worrying so much about whether my path looked unconventional. The biggest breakthroughs in my career happened when I fully leaned into my own perspective and stopped trying to fit into someone else’s version of success.

More than anything, I want people to know that it is possible to reinvent your life. Sometimes the thing that changes everything starts as a small decision you make just to survive a difficult season. For me, that was buying a pair of skates.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Lilia Kazakova, also known online as LilyLike, and I’m a social media content creator, pro roller skater, performing artist, and founder of LA Roller Crew. My work blends my passion for skating with fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and visual storytelling.

What sets my work apart is being multi-faceted and combining my different interests into a unique mix. I approach skating as more than just a sport. For me, it’s a form of self-expression, creativity, and storytelling. I care deeply about aesthetics, atmosphere, and creating content that makes people feel inspired, empowered, or transported into a certain feeling or moment.

A lot of my content is dreamy, feminine, and Pinterest-inspired, but there’s also a deeper message behind it. I started skating during one of the hardest periods of my life after moving to Los Angeles alone right before the pandemic. What began as an emotional outlet turned into life-long friendships, new passions, and an entire career.

The thing I’m most proud of is the community that has formed around my work. Whether it’s someone discovering skating for the first time, feeling inspired creatively, or gaining confidence through movement, that impact means the most to me.

At the core of everything I create is the idea that it’s never too late to start over, evolve, or build a life that feels more aligned with who you really are.

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

Building my audience on social media has been a long, very organic evolution rather than one sudden moment of growth. It started early in the Netherlands, where I was already experimenting with digital platforms. In high school I had a Blogspot blog where I taught myself basic coding and built little online layouts, and that naturally led me to starting a YouTube channel.

In law school in the Netherlands, I first started a fashion, beauty, and lifestyle blog. Only later did it evolve into law school vlogs on YouTube, which is when my content really began to pick up. I was the first person creating law school vlogs on YouTube at the time, which was a very niche space then. When I later moved to Washington, D.C. for law school, that content really started to grow into a real audience.

Back then, my content was focused on law school, studying, and lifestyle. Social media became both a creative outlet and a way of documenting a very structured academic life. Over time, I realized I didn’t want to pursue law as a career. That meant I also had to rebrand and rebuild my identity online. That process was scary because I had already built an audience around a very specific version of myself, and there was no guarantee they would come with me.

When I moved to Los Angeles and skating entered my life during the pandemic, everything shifted again. What started as a personal coping mechanism turned into a completely new creative direction. I had to reinvent my content, adjust my audience, and rebuild parts of my platform around this new identity. It was scary to rebrand again, but it was the only way to stay true to myself. I had already learned that forcing myself into a version that no longer fit was not sustainable.

What makes my journey unique is that my audience has grown with me through very different chapters of my life. From early Blogspot experiments and being the first law school vlogger on YouTube, to lifestyle content, to skating and creative storytelling today. It has never been one straight line, but it has always been authentic to where I was at each stage.

For anyone starting out, my biggest advice is to start even if you don’t know where it will lead. You don’t need to have your final niche figured out. Consistency, adaptability, and being willing to evolve are what actually build a sustainable presence over time. My biggest growth came when I allowed myself to change instead of trying to stay the same.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is seeing how something personal can turn into something that genuinely impacts other people. There is also something very powerful about building a creative career that didn’t really exist for me before I created it. I’ve gone through multiple reinventions throughout my journey, from law school in Washington, D.C., to moving to Los Angeles and rebuilding my entire path around content creation and skating. Every chapter required letting go of an older version of myself and trusting the next one. What makes it rewarding now is seeing how all of those experiences shaped a career that feels aligned with who I am. The fact that I can inspire others to pursue a non-traditional, non-linear career path as well is something that brings me a lot of fulfillment.

On a more personal level, creativity has always been what grounds me. When I moved to Los Angeles and went through a very isolating period during the pandemic, skating and creating content became my way of reconnecting with myself and finding community. So now, even on the hardest days, I still feel grateful that my work is something that feels emotionally aligned rather than separate from who I am.

A huge part of what makes this work so meaningful is coaching as well. Teaching roller skating lessons in LA and Orange County, working with kids and adults of all ages, and helping them find their flow is incredibly fulfilling. Watching someone go from hesitation to confidence, or seeing them reconnect with their body through movement, is one of the most rewarding parts of what I do. It reminds me that skating is not just performance or content, but something deeply human and accessible.

But the most rewarding part is the impact. Whether it’s someone discovering skating for the first time, feeling inspired to start creating, or simply gaining confidence through movement, that connection means everything to me. I think that is what keeps me going long term, not just building a platform, but knowing it can genuinely affect how someone feels about themselves or their own possibilities.

At the core, being a creative has taught me that my experiences are not just mine. When shared honestly, they can become something that helps other people feel seen, inspired, or understood.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lily-like.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilylikecom
• Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/lilylikecom
• Youtube: https://YouTube.com/lilylikecom
• Other: https://www.larollercrew.com

Image Credits

Lilia Kazakova