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

Sydney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

My first client was a Katy elementary school teacher. I’ve always admired the discipline, knowledge, and energy teacher must harness in order to grab the attention of children, and with education being one of the many things I constantly advocate for, it was a no brainer to work with her.

She wanted to utilize my website and video editing services to create a fun and interactive activity for her class. We created a Christmas themed video for the holidays, as well as multiple keynotes. The feedback from her class warmed my heart. To hear how excited, engaged, and inspired they were, made me realize how even the simplest of things can bring joy, especially to a child’s day.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am the founder and CEO of my own social media agency named Pegram Motion Pictures. I have always dreamed of owning my own business that allows me to use my creative gifts to help others. I’m most excited to begin working on a larger-scale to help bring eye-catching and affordable media assistance to local and global brands. How did I get here? That’s a great question! I believe it’s always been apart of me. I grew up in the arts, whether it was dance, acting, singing, photography, film work, I’ve always had a passion for it. When I got older, I realized I could do all that I love in my career field, and what better way to do that than through my own business! It hasn’t always been easy. I have faced many set-backs from the pandemic, to those simply not believing the vision I had, especially as a Black Woman in the media industry, but all the challenges I’ve faced, have been worth it. The biggest lesson I’ve learned besides being alright with making mistakes, is not taking “no” for an answer. This industry is incredibly competitive, especially now that social media is the main road for marketing now, but people will always try to steer you away from your full potential. I will always strive to work hard and to go after what I want, which in the end as allowed me to have my own business in my early 20’s.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I think the best advice I’ve been given is to treat each follower as an actual person. We live in a society where it’s quite easy to build a following of thousands, but on the screen it’s just a number. We have to remind ourselves that there are actual people behind there, interacting with your page.

If you stand in front of a room with 100 people, that’s a steady crowd, but why doesn’t it have the same effect when building a social media presence?

This question helped place things into perspective, and allowed me to look at my followers as if they are all standing in one room with me. I have a little over 3,000 followers on Instagram, but I still recognize and see how great of an impact I can make if those 3,000 people were in the same room as me. Taking this, I have helped thousands of people learn about various social topics, fundraised for several non-profits, and helped connect others with similar interests.

Treat your followers as people and recognize the power of micro-influencing. That’s where the power is.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Authenticity.

Because we have all shifted to the internet to connect, to interact, and to build relationships, it’s easy to take what others have done as a blueprint to easily build your own business. For some, this could be using someone’s business page to help build your own layout for an Instagram page, but others begin to copy other’s successful model, thus losing the authentic nature of building your own mark within an industry.

I have built my reputation within this market, by solely being myself and treating others as humans. Capitalism has stripped away the “mom and pop” way of interacting with those who are interested in your service. I enjoy building real relationships with my clients. It’s a team effort where we each benefit from. I create and you see your business grow, which brings us both joy.

It’s starts with the heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pegrammotionpictures.weebly.com/
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/sydney.ram
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydney-p-a47493171/

Image Credits
Sydney Pegram (Pegram Motion Pictures)