Today we’d like to introduce you to Kylie Stephens.
Hi Kylie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
As a freelance model and content creator in Austin, I’ve worked with numerous fashion and beauty brands as well as photographers. In the summer of 2022, I attended CoCoRocha Model Camp in New York. I have achieved a global presence on social media and am currently a content creator across all platforms but it wasn’t always like this. From a young age, I started modeling and utilizing social media which was kind of new to my age group. The whole idea of being an influencer had really just taking off. But it wasn’t long until I learned that social media has its limitations. When I found my accounts having issues, I realized quickly I needs to branch out. I wanted to model under an agency but every agency kept saying they wanted a different look or “my look” wasn’t “in” right now. Despite this, I felt like brands and companies wanted to work with me so I skipped the agencies and went straight to the brands contacting them to work with me directly. Sure enough, I was right and that’s when I started to realize that in this industry you have to take matters into your own hands and make it happen. Currently, I am booking independent modeling jobs and am having the time of my life! Brands reach out to me now! Further, I offer content creation for brands that fuel my creative side. User-generated content is an incredible way to work with brands outside of your own social media.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I grew up in a time when influencing and social media were still relatively new, my generation was just getting its hands on it and for me to be posting and dressing more like an influencer at just 15, it was strange to everyone else. People thought it was funny and girls would say I was too full of myself or stuck up- until I started making money off of it then EVERYONE wanted me to show them how I was doing it. Right now I would say the biggest challenge I face is finding brands that are genuine and have the right image that I’m looking to work with.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work right now consists of creating content for my own social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram and then creating user-generated content or “ugc” for other brands and businesses through brand deals and on websites like Fiverr.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
So far the biggest risk I took was moving to texas from Maine for school and then taking a break from school just a year in after deciding to pursue my dreams of content creation. I realized that school wasn’t fulfilling me, and that everything I wanted in life didn’t necessarily stem from a college degree. So I took the risk.
Contact Info:
- Website: kyliestephens.com
- Instagram: purekyliestephens
- TikTok: purekyliestephens | kyliecoconutt
Image Credits
image 1 @caballeropictures
image 2 @purekyliestephens
image 3 @dawnkingston
image 4 @caballeropictures
image 5 @caballeropictures
image 6 @purekyliestephens
image 7 @livjoysocial
image 8 @livjoysocial
