It takes work to define how one becomes an influencer. First, it's social status, acquired through content creation, understanding trends, and knowing the often-unwritten rules that underpin the workings of a social media platform. It's also a career with no official guidelines. It has a point of entry accessible to anyone but with a massive barrier to success. With so much uncertainty, it can be challenging to see why anyone would be interested in launching a career as an influencer.
Jackie Leigh
Jackie Leigh, however, never had any doubt about giving the career of a content creator a serious go. For her, it was a no-brainer. "I decided that's the way I wanted to become famous," she says. "I wanted that to be my life."
Jackie Leigh made that decision when she was only sixteen years old. During the first year of the pandemic, everyone was spending more time online than usual, so it seemed like the perfect moment for her to get started making her career dreams come true.
Her platform of choice was TikTok. With its emphasis on the short video format, TikTok is an increasingly popular video for budding content creators for several reasons. For one, it's a platform with a well-established user base that leans toward the younger crowd. But, more importantly, TikTok is a relatively easy platform to get into because it heavily rewards jumping on trends.
"I made all these TikToks in 2020, and I started to get some followers," she recalls. "Everyone was on their phones, and there was nothing else to do. But by the time I went back to school, things were happening as if I had 200,000 followers – people would ask to take a picture with me. It was weird but still pretty normal compared to what came after."
Unfortunately, Jackie Leigh also experienced the other side of having some level of fame at that age – people tend to be reckless, put too much stock into their social status, and envy others. To focus more on her studies, she decided to continue her education online, away from the classroom and the feeling that she could be attacked at any time.
She continued growing her social media influencer career, though. She has an answer ready to go when discussing what sets her apart from her peers and helps her thrive online.
"I have guts. Some so many people want to do things but don't have the guts to do it, but I'm not one of them," she explains. "I can be reckless, too, but I don't try too hard to fit in. I'm more concerned with saying what I want and being heard than not sticking out. And that's worked great for me."
Jackie Leigh is only 18 years old and has a whole future ahead of her. Whether that future has content creation or something else is in the cards for her it's yet to be seen. But, if the speed at which she's growing her influencer career is anything to go by, whatever she chooses, she'll take it by storm.