We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sydney Waters. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sydney below.

Sydney, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents are easily the biggest inspiration behind The Waters Edit.

From early on in my life, I was taught that the world is our classroom. In this age of world connection, the importance of being broad-minded and empathic towards other people and cultures is arguably the most important life lesson a parent could teach their child. I thank my parents for teaching me to be independent and accepting.

My parents have blessed me with opportunities that many of the individuals I encounter in my everyday life will never have the chance to experience. There are numerous instances in my life when I hesitated to discuss my travels because I often felt a sense of guilt about my privilege. Through the journey of creating The Waters Edit, I have come to realize through speaking with my parents that I am wrong in not sharing my knowledge with others. Learning my parents stories and adventures has not only helped my business, but it has inspired me in so many ways. If I am able to inspire just one person to travel to a one new place, I’ve done my job.

I can never repay my parents for everything they have taught me, but I know sharing my knowledge of the world through The Waters Edit is a way to give back to them.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Sydney Waters. I am 24 years old and I’m the founder of The Waters Edit. Starting The Waters Edit was something I had always dreamed about doing, but I never really thought it would succeed. That all changed when I was seventeen years old. After graduating high school a semester early, I moved to Paris for four months by myself. In Paris, I was really able to learn about myself and my goals. I wanted to be able to show my experiences to my family and friends half way across the world in a fun and unique way. I started an Instagram called “Waters Travel” for people to keep up with my day to day life abroad. Within a week, I was receiving questions about the best hotels in Paris, the best restaurants to eat at while in Rome or even what the best day of the week is to book a flight.

The ideas for my business sparked instantly. I wanted to create a space for people to explore and to discover with me.

From an outside perspective, it may just look like a couple Instagram and blog posts here and there, but creating The Waters Edit was not as simple as it looks. I started heavily traveling in my late teens and began to curate lists and gather photographs and videos of all my travels. When the world stopped in 2020, so did my content. In a way, I think this break is exactly what my brand needed: time. I was able to reassess what I really wanted out of this. I used this time period to research, write and plan, and I knew that if I was going to be successful, I needed to dive deep into what made each place I visited so special.

Two years later, I officially launched The Waters Edit to the world. With time, I’ve learned that in order to grow my business, my followers need to trust me. Whether it’s a restaurant, a hotel, or a bottle of wine, its important for my followers to know exactly what they’re signing up for. The whole idea behind The Waters Edit is to sit in your sweatpants and dream of your next trip, your next amazing meal, or the next occasion to have a nice bottle of wine.

I’m proud to say The Waters Edit is growing by the day. We currently offer full custom itineraries for 30 cities worldwide as well as recommendations for over 62 cities and 47 countries. There are so many fun projects in the works for The Waters Edit, so make sure to follow along with us!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Honesty has been the most effective strategy for growing my clientele. Over a year, I will travel to over 100 hotels, restaurants, wineries, and more in search of the best quality experiences I can find. The Waters Edit’s mission is to provide our clients with exceptional information and unique recommendations. We believe in order to keep our reputation, it’s important to be truthful with our experiences. As long as my followers and clients trust me, we’re going to keep growing.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is very overwhelming for me at times. I am constantly thinking about my content and ways to make it better. I started to build my audience on social media by posting static posts every couple of days. I still do that, but now I really try to focus on the content quality and connecting to what I’m posting on Instagram directly to my blog. The best advice I can give to those just starting out is be patient. It’s easy to become discouraged by other accounts and businesses, but just remember your content is authentic to you.

Contact Info:

• Website: thewatersedit.com
• Instagram: @thewatersedit
• Email: [email protected]