We were lucky to catch up with Madison Hawkins recently and have shared our conversation below.

Madison, appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think believing in yourself is what it takes to be successful. As someone who is starting young in their career, I have found that if I don’t believe in myself and put my best foot forward no one else will. If you show up as your best self and believe that you can do it other people around you will see that and believe in you more. Confidence is definitely key!

Madison, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Madison Hawkins and I am 18 years old. I am currently in college and while being a student also have my own podcast, social media agency, and clothing brand. During my junior year of high school, I started my podcast called “The Jersey Girl Podcast”. It is all about doing what you love because I had found my passion for social media and wanted to show other people you can do what you love as a career! I had guests on to talk about their experience following their passion and I had a lot of great feedback from listeners. It was so interesting to hear from so many different people about how they got where they are today. During my senior year of high school, I was able to take a course called International Business Practice Firm where each class from schools across the world created a company and ran it virtually. I got the privilege of being CEO for my class. With this class, we were able to go to many different events and present at different competitions such as the business plan competition at Farleigh Dickinson University and the financial competition at Long Island University. After that class, I knew I wanted to run my own company and be my own boss. Also during that year, I was able to start my own social media agency and create merchandise for the podcast. My social media agency is called Social Lite Marketing, in the first week, I signed my first two clients which was so amazing! It was so crazy to think people wanted me to run their social media agency at just 17 years old. I had found my passion at a young age and I knew from the moment I started posting on social media this is what I wanted to do. I have continued running other brands and small businesses’ social media and it has been such a dream. My podcast hoodies also released around the same time and we got so many orders. I had the opportunity to rent out a studio and do a photo shoot for the promotion. It was such a pinch-me moment to walk around my school and see my peers wearing a sweatshirt I had designed. The first drop of our merch did really well so I decided to release a summer collection but do something bigger with this drop. Thanks to Morgan Dias I got my merch put into a boutique in the Freehold Mall. Morgan owns a shop called “On Violet” and she let me put our summer collection in her store! It was so cool to think that people whom I didn’t even know were buying something I created. I have been able to keep up with my podcast and social media agency while in college and can’t wait to see where this all goes after college.

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

Having a social media presence is so important. On our podcast Instagram I work really hard to create a sense of community for my listeners and new guests. I try to make it a place where people can come and get advice and tips on doing what they love. I do this by posting behind the scenes and letting them know the person behind the brand. I personally think this is so important for every company and brand because customers are more inclined to be dedicated to your company if they have faces to the brand. My listeners know my story and who I am which makes them want to support me more.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Networking. If I could give one tip to anyone before they start working or even school it would be to network. It will truly get you far in life. More than half of my clients and podcast guests have been from networking with other people. Your reputation matters, so always put your best foot forward when meeting new people or clients because they could bring you another client or a big opportunity.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejerseygirlpod/ , https://www.instagram.com/thesociallitemarketing/ , https://www.instagram.com/madisonlhawkins/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-hawkins-635543226?trk=public_profile_browsemap