We recently connected with Russiena Brand and have shared our conversation below.

Russiena, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

Because of my shape I gained a lot of male subscribers pretty quickly however at that point I did not understand the quality of the subscribers and how it would effect my future collaborations in business. It wasn’t until various brands started to ask for my analytics on my platforms that I quickly learned that it’s not about quantity but quality. A lot of brands did not want to work with me because I had more male than female followers. So I took some courses and started to understand at the end of the day it is not about quantity but the quality. I started doing polls and asked what people wanted to see from me that fit with my aesthetic. Of course the men answered, lol, but I made sure to focus on what women wanted to see. Their likes ,dislikes, hang up’s, etc. At that point I started tweaking my content to suit what my followers wanted. I also studied various hashtags that my audience followed and started making bingeable content. I became more transparent about the behind the scenes in my life. Like when I lived in a house for a whole year that was covered in black mold, my dating life, and suffering from seasonal depression.

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 back background and context?

I’m Russiena… A plus size power house, cat mom, child of the Universe and Spiritualist. Who is married to fashion, girl talks, and anything D.I.Y. Who watches people play scary video games online and feeds the neighborhood cats, lol.

My best friend Kamaya is the one talked me into becoming an influencer because the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. One day she said to me ” Shena you always get complements on your outfits and people always ask where you bought your clothes from. Why don’t you start a channel and show these folks?!” I literally thought about it for weeks before I did anything. My 1st clothing try on looked like it was filmed on a sidekick or a razor flip phone…it was bad. But I realized I enjoyed and kept at it. I became more motivated when other women like myself would comment and email me stating how motivational & inspiring I was to them and that’s what started making me proud. Knowing I can be a stepping stone for the next Woman on her road to self discovery and confidence is soul fulfilling. Just by showing her how to style what’s in her closet or what she would look like in that dress she’s been eyeing is a feeling hard to put into words. I just want Women to feel and be comfortable with their true self’s.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn how to stop showing up more for others than myself. I would randomly call to check on people, attend their events, be their financially for some, and even be a listening ear when needed. But I soon realized that these same graces and acts of pure kindness was not given to me at my lows or just when I needed someone. I would give my all and get nothing in return to the point where I was overly exhausted, sad, and a lot of times felt lonely. Like I had no one to talk to that would truly understand and help me. That’s when I took a step back and re-evaluated some people in my life and how they attributed to it. I had to face some hard truths about myself and others that lead to the ending of a lot of long term relationships.

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

I started building my audience by being consistent with my posting and making a schedule. I also started looking into the audience I wanted to target and what they were looking for. If I could give anyone advice on this topic I would say do your research on these things and make bingeable content. You never know what may go viral. Also you don’t need fancy equipment to get started. You can use your phone and a ring light or get you a tripod and some LED bulbs and replace the ones in your home with the to assist you with the lighting you will need.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trubeautyest85/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/russiena.brand
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCczJmTkcLFMU11ZbfsrWFvQ
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sheenping?_t=8UgGRfqNmHb&_r=1