We recently connected with Sonja Mitchell and have shared our conversation below.

Sonja , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

The kindest thing anyone has ever done for me is take my photos lol! I know that doesn’t sound exciting initially, but when you realize the importance of having great people to help you run your business, it matters! As a Fashion and Lifestyle Content Creator, the majority of my workday is in front of the camera. From the start of my online business, I have been my own creative director, stylist, makeup artist, hair stylist, photographer, videographer, editor, etc. You name the task, and I guarantee I have a hat for it!

So when my best friend Kristin (now Executive Assistant), stepped in and learned how to take my pictures and video, it lifted a huge responsibility off my shoulders. Kristin is a naturally giving person; she’s almost more passionate about my business than me lol. She watched me for years doing everything on my own, and volunteered her time and resources to learn my craft(s) and contribute.

To have someone, especially a close friend, invest in your business the way she has is the most kindest and impactful thing to me. Kristin gifted me with the confidence to take photos on location, in public, with strangers staring! Her being there, holding the camera, finding the lighting, fixing my hair, and rooting me on has given me the boost to get more creative with my content. Having a great partner and team will take you further than carrying everything alone!

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 am a Fashion and Christian Lifestyle Content Creator, known as Simply Sonja on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. I work with various lifestyle companies and plus size clothing brands to create picture and video content online. My brand inspires Christian women to find and embrace their style without shame!

However, my content goes deeper than educating my audience on the latest fashion trends. It educates women in developing internal confidence, and how to express that confidence externally. A huge part of my lifestyle content showcases my relationship with God and my authentic growth in His love. Through my Ghetto Bible Study series on Instagram Live, I share my testimony, prophesies, and wisdom about God. It was important for me to not show up online looking good, without sharing what has me feeling good, living good, and abiding in goodness.

My platforms are a safe space for women to discover their voice, identity, and creativity. To loose themselves from shame, fear, and other messaging that suggests their style, bodies, and uniqueness aren’t enough. I’m most proud of the direct messages I get from women confirming that my content has helped them see and love themselves better from the inside out. Every time I grow, my audience grows with me. I’m not just creating a community, I’m creating a confident Christian community of curves!

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

When I started my platforms in 2017, I had no idea how to build an audience. I had no strategy, just a prayer: “God bring the people you have for me to me.” Overall, I knew I wanted my platforms to showcase my authenticity so that when potential followers visited, they’d see a bit of themselves in me.

So that’s what I did! I began creating content that put my true identity on display. In doing so, I attracted like-minded and like-spirited people to my platforms. But once they came, my job was to keep them coming back. This is where consistency and creativity kicked in. During the pandemic, social media platforms were a huge outlet to keep people connected and entertained. Therefore, the more you posted, the more they came back. In 2020, I used to post three times a day on Instagram! Yes, THREE TIMES A DAY (lol) on my main feed! I also posted in my stories everyday throughout the day (I still do this today). I posted twice a week on YouTube; every Tuesday and Thursday.

This kept my consistency sharp. Not just with posting, but with the drive to get up and create. I remember my YouTube channel going from one thousand subscribers to ten thousand in a few months just by posting fashion content consistently every week. But it was my organic content that really spoke to new followers, more than my niche heavy, branded content. My Instagram went from 5,000 followers to 15,000 in one month from a reel I created calling out nay-sayers for shaming plus size women that don’t wear shapewear. The reel was funny, raw, and honest. It was the first of my Instagram content to hit over 330K views! I used the consistency of my fashion and Christian content to keep them coming back and encouraged to share my work.

But posting consistently wont build a community! Followers/subscribers is one thing, a community is different. Having a community as a content creator is pivotal when seeking to monetize your content and create genuine relationships with your audience. So, I had to engage with the people that were engaging with me. Commenting back to their comments, answering their dm’s, jumping on live or my stories to chat and “catch up”, making your audience feel like a real part of your life…like they are your friends! This is what builds a trusted community on your platforms. As they got to know me better, I also got to know them. In doing so, I learned my audience’s likes and dislikes. Their style needs and preferences, as well as, brands they preferred and ones they didn’t. I tweaked my content to incorporate their interests & preferences while still remaining true to myself. It was honestly trial and error, and still is to this day!

To anyone just starting to build, my advice would be to create and create freely! Don’t get too caught up in a formula that you forget the authenticity of who you are. The people that take the time to watch and understand you will come. Create a consistent upload schedule that’s realistic to what you can actually keep up with for the time being. Engage with your audience, chat with them about your life and theirs, your interests and theirs, your art and theirs. Most importantly, DON’T GIVE UP! Social media is a marathon, not a race. If you keep showing up, so will your audience.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

For a content creator/social media influencer, funding your business is no different from other entrepreneurial businesses. Typically when a content creator starts making money, its from working with a brand and their ability to monetize their audience. Before you get to a point where you’re able to do this, you’re responsible for the capital needed to fund your business.

When I first started, I filmed everything on my iPhone 7 lol. I bought a small ring light from Amazon for $20, and used a bookshelf (or other household items) as my tripod. I used the money I made from my full-time job to fund any business or supply needs to create content. After hitting over 10,000 views on YouTube, I began to get paid from the ads running on my channel. But I wasn’t shelling out thousands of dollars on camera equipment because I couldn’t afford it.

I had to learn how to pitch myself to brands. How to package my value into a Media Kit and pitching emails to show brands I had something to offer their company. I took a couple of pitching courses from some trusted Influencers that had grown their brand to where I wanted to be. I learned to look at my analytics in a way that showed me my content’s strengths and weaknesses, and what my audience engages with the most. I created a Media Kit on Canva that included highlights of my analytics, some of my best content, and prices that I charge for content creation. Even with all that effort, I still faced a lot of “no’s” by the way of brands only wanting to send me gifted (free) items in exchange for content creation.

But consistency is key! I just kept pitching until I connected with a brand that was willing to pay me for content creation. I used the gifted collaborations to keep my content fresh, and show that I at least had some partnerships rolling in, even if they weren’t paid. You have to start somewhere, so I wasn’t opposed to doing SOME things for free. I learned about commissionable links that I could direct my audience to when showcasing clothing and other products. These links allow me to earn a percentage when my audience shopped. It took a while for me to connect with brands that would honor my rates for the content they wanted me to create. I had to be ok with rejection and the disappointment of not being valued by brands I loved.

Today I have enough experience under my belt to know that as a content creator, you need multiple sources of income to maintain capital in your business. You wont make the same amount of money in brands deals every single month. The goal (or at least my goal) is to make enough in the high seasons that can sustain yourself in the low seasons when brands aren’t shelling out thousands of dollars for a YouTube video. I now drive revenue for my brand through YouTube ads, brand collaborations, commissionable links, and closet sales where I allow my audience to purchase any of the clothing items I don’t want.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/simplysonja_m
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/simplysonja
• TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@simplysonja_m

Image Credits
Kristin McCall Adley Haywood