We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie Trucco a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie, 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?

The first few years of my social media career were honestly just fun and games (and fulfilling a childhood dream to be famous). Being in quarantine due to Covid-19 in 2020 honestly was a big game-changer for me.
Seeing how fast things can change made me realize how fragile 9-5 day jobs really are, it opened my eyes to the possible journey of passive income & financial freedom.
Due to the lockdown of 2020, I was out of my day job, not knowing what to do next or how to make my ends meet, I sat down and decided to get to work on my own brand.
It wasn’t easy, but I also wouldn’t say it was hard.
it takes discipline and consistency to build any business.
day and night I was studying things to film, topics to talk about, problems to solve, and advice to give. I wanted to be an example for my audience, to motivate them to live their best life and to not take lives beauty and simplicity for granted.
I absolutely love my job and I will continue doing what I’m doing and then some ;)

Stephanie, 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?

I am a 20 year old lifestyle and beauty influencer. Born and raised in Miami, navigating in big cities, working in tv productions, and connecting with important people was a blessing to learn at such a young age. It made me confident to put myself out there and work towards my bigger…global goals.
Being in elementary and middle school was a bit rough for me as I was on the heavier side and didn’t have many friends with my energy level, I was picked on and isolated for most of my childhood unfortunately, but I did have a great family that always supported me.
I found the company I needed on youtube, watching creators such as Jenna marbles and Bethany mota really made me feel less alone and helped me accept myself more. I wanted to be for others what those creators were for me. So I got to work.
I started posting Youtube videos whenever I could, I would even get in trouble with my teachers for editing in class instead of doing my work…worth it!
After working on my youtube channel for about a year, I truly did not see much growth in my platforms, but I didn’t care. I loved what I was doing and I was happy even helping one person smile with my videos.
eventually, I graduated high school and was basically thrown into college. I purposely picked a community college so it would be extra easy to (not) do haha.
I’m not ungrateful for the opportunity to go to college as I know so many don’t have that possibility, but I knew from the start it would never work out, I was over it the second I started.
so what did I do?…. I’ll let you guess:)
yes, I dropped out.
without a second thought, I dropped out after my 3rd semester.
to be honest I’m surprised I made it that long!
After being a bit lost on what to do next, I hopped on TikTok for the first time during 2020 covid.
Immediatly I found my platform, where I can truly be myself and share my life and ideas with others.
eventually, I started amassing hundreds of thousands of followers and being recognized in public.
My work has finally started to feel like it’s been worth it all.
Now knowing that I can have success being an influencer I began to start thinking, “what else can I do?”
I then discovered the art of Life-coaching.
I can proudly say that i am now a student at Coach Training EDU getting my life-coach certification, and I will be growing my life-coaching brand and business.
Now I see my vision, and I am so excited about it.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Around the time I was about to turn 20, I was having a massive mid-life crisis. I had begun to think that I had run out of time to make a name for myself or become as successful as I wanted to be.
I was putting myself under such contact pressure that I was stumping my own personal growth and creativity, I was becoming a prisoner of my own mind.
well, the time has come, and I am no longer a teenager. I am also no longer putting myself in mid-life crises haha.
I realized that I still had SOOO much time left to grow, fail, experiment, and succeed.
I noticed I was putting myself on a mental timer and it was awful for not only my mental health but also my content.
I had to learn to come to terms with the fact that I am getting older and that anyone can succeed at any age. It took some practice, but in the end, it did help me realize what I really wanted to do.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

My ultimate goal when starting my social media and life coaching career was just to make anyone smile. That still continues to be my goal. It is a really satisfying and heartwarming feeling knowing that thousands of people see your face every day and for them to feel even slightly more motivated than they did before means everything to me.
I have had thousands of people reach out to me saying how my videos have made their day or have helped them think of a new perspective that they hadn’t before, I think that is the beauty of my work.
helping people is my passion, and that is why I do what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@stephtrucco?lang=en
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steph_trucco/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1pLpjFF07HX_UBYJQBT9GA