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

Alright, Shanerii thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

Yes, as a growing creator and business, I manage my own social media. Most creators do until they logistical can’t anymore or it’s just not feasible for running, maintaining and or scaling their business. It gets logistically challenging being the brand, working and partnering with other brands on deals and events, and administratively running the back end of the business.

It requires ALOT of time, dedication, hard work, creativity and resourcefulness amongst other things. So it’s challenging when and or if you have a full time career and other responsibilities that you’re balancing ( I do). I’ve thought of hiring a virtual assistant, an editor and I even had an ad hoc project manager at one point. However, I do not currently have a team or management company representing me.

Insight and lessons would be: learn how to do it yourself. Be resourceful. Otherwise it can get extremely expensive if your business can’t sustain a team just yet.

When the lucrative work opportunities are coming in so fast that it becomes hard to balance execution (researching, preparing, conceptualizing, executing and editing campaigns, delivery, etc) and the administrative business requirements (pitching, negotiating, invoicing, scheduling, etc) then maybe it’s time to enlist help. Whether you just start with an editor on a per project basis or an assistant to help you administratively run your business.

Shanerii , 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?

For the folks who haven’t discovered or encountered me yet, I would start by introducing myself. I am Shanerii, a fashion, beauty and lifestyle and UGC content, creator and influencer on multiple social media platforms. I also have a 9-to-5 career as a business manager, which is what my educational background d so related to (B.S. annd M.B.A. are in Business). Sort of the safe career that in my time of growing up is all our parents really wanted for us – go to school and get good grades, college, a great career that you could create and sustain a great life for yourself and future family. So I’m currently straddling two works right now. I don’t think I’d have it any other way though. I’ve always been a creative since I was a little girl, throughout my teens and into adulthood – studying foreign language, studying liturgical and modern dance, drawing, writing poetry and short stories, designing prom gowns for friends…event planning and even a short stint as a MUA. I’m extremely drawn to and passionate about the arts. So for those that have known me in various season in life, what I do within my social media career is not surprising at all.

With my social media, I hope to encourage and inspire women to live boldly, confidently unapologetically and authentically as themselves. Flaws and all. That is a part of our human experience. We all just want to be free. To be loved for who we are. Not to have to pretend, hide or fake for anyone just to be accepted or deemed worthy. We already are worthy. We already are enough. There’s power….there’s magic in being YOU. Who God created and called you to be.

So I want to be an example for women to show up as themselves – not just the wins but even when it gets hard. Through the imperfect moments….the wins and the loses. Time waits for no one. We’re resilient and so we keep it moving.

So whether that’s in the Mom space, the corporate workplace, creative spaces, entrepreneurial spaces… whatever their journey is in life I hope to inspire them to be the best that they can be. Especially for women who look like me or can relate via similar lifestyles and or experiences. Especially as black women, I feel we are under represented in advertising, print media. What stands out most is in the beauty, fashion, lifestyle and luxury campaigns and spaces. particularly because black women do not fit into the mold of European beauty standards which are mass advertised. Unfortunately many around the world have been groomed and conditioned since childhood to believe that reigns supreme. Although untrue. With enlightenment comes unlearning, healing and relearning. Part of that is representation for women like us.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A personal story from my journey that demonstrates my resilience:

In my social media and influencer marketing business –

in 2022 my first Instagram page was hacked and I was devastated. I didn’t have a huge following (slightly under 1,000 so humble) but I had finally started finding my rhythm and had put in so much time building to that point. I had to make a decision: am I so mad and frustrated that I want to just quit this influencer stuff? Or am I so passionate and serious about it as a viable business, that I create a new account and start over from 0 followers? Clearly, I started over. Like immediately.

It wasn’t easy and I wasn’t consistently posting at first. The same motivation wasn’t there. Help came in unexpectedly from other influencers (I had never met in real life) sharing my page and collaborating on posts with me, in order to help me start building an audience again. Slowly I began to find my rhythm, became serious about my business, found and worked with a coach who specialized in teaching nano influencers how to monetize and get brand deals. It helped to make things plain, redirect my efforts and focus, serve as confirmation of what I was doing well and develop a strategy to position me to win and just go for it. By that point I’d only ever received PR or gifted collab opportunities, but not a paid deal yet. After my coaching contract ended, and within three months, I had my first paid offer with a nationally known brand. My coach was right, you do not have to have 10K or more followers to get paid brand deals.

With resiliency there are so many lessons, blessings and opportunities too.

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

A lesson I had to unlearn was to stop hiding, shrinking an or trying to fit in the same cookie cutter influencer “box” (their physical aesthetic, way of presenting themselves, the specific content type and or format, what they shared or didn’t share, how much of their authentic self/personality they shared, etc) as if I had to be that way to grow my account, become successful, deemed credible and or get brand opportunities. I felt like I couldn’t be my crazy, sexy, cool self because I didn’t see anyone else doing or being that – at least not on the gram.

Internally I was feeling conflicted thinking I had to act a particular way on camera and in influencer world (I.e. perfect, less personality, less wild, less cheeky, less sassy, less I can’t let them know I’m a mom/ single mom because it’s not “aesthetic” and the people don’t really talk about or share real life in their content that way, etc). I was really struggling because I just started feeling like I was hiding or had to curate an image versus be my regular self and show my regular personality/ life and that be good enough to connect.

That was fall 2023. It was October and I went to a DC Bloggers event where fellow creator & influencer Jenn Polt presented on the power of YOU and how to show up authentically in your social media content. It resonated so deeply with me and was in alignment with how I wanted to redirect. I talked to her afterwards about the cross roads I was at and she essentially said and advised “F what people think. You show up as your fabulous self and show how to slay single motherhood.” Literally I felt relief and confirmation of what I was supposed to be doing. next I had to put it in action. But the short of it…. It was confirmation of I am enough the way I am and for the direction I want to move. It was a breakthrough moment for me of – I don’t have to fit into a cookie cutter box to be palatable. I don’t have to fit the curated images of the perfect family dynamic in order to be relatable. I’m relatable and awesome where I am at. Being my unique awesome authentic self. My tribe will find me, the REAL ME from here on out.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shopltk.com/explore/Shanerii
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamshanerii?igsh=ZG1qYnFhYmxycDQ%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IamShanerii
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC6IfSPy6UTgvCV1IUhEWRxA
• Other: Tik tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@iamshanerii?_t=ZP-8uTZOo1YKEg&_r=1

Image Credits

Photographer – Shot by Sainty