(calm music)
- I like to think
that social media is high anxiety
and low connection.
And when I think about that,
it makes me realize,
okay, I cannot give my energy to this thing,
that's causing a lot of anxiety
without the connection that we really want
from each other.
I am Anna Mae Groves
and I am a lifestyle content creator
based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
I am sharing things
that I do in my life
that I wanna teach people how to do.
It's a lot of stuff, it is,
it's home, it's beauty,
it's fashion, it's wellness,
it's kind of everything.
Okay, guys, I am gonna show you
how I made a pole to hold up
all of the lights here,
and a planter at the same time,,
it doubles as both.
So take a look at what I did.
I feel like people don't love
the word influencer anymore.
There are probably a lot of examples
of people who are only selling all the time,
that's why they switched content creator.
I try to make my content helpful,
I try to make it entertaining or inspirational.
I had been wanting to start
a blog for a very long time.
I finally just thought to myself,
I'm never gonna know if I don't just try.
I finally started in May of 2019,
I was following somebody
who had a 30 day challenge
of like posting quality content
every single day for 30 days.
So I was like,
I'm gonna do that challenge.
The day after I finished that challenge,
a Blackout Tuesday happened,
people kind of all over the country,
they all started sharing black content creators.
I went from 2,500 followers
to within a couple weeks, over 30,000 followers.
All right, I've got this perfect boxy tee
and it's cropped.
I'm gonna show you a couple ways
where one would be just...
I'm still myself,
I still say no to the things
that I would've said no to,
whether I'm getting paid or not.
And I say yes to the things
that I would've said yes to,
whether I'm getting paid or not.
A lot of my audience doesn't look like me
and I had been answering like a ton of questions.
And so I was very vulnerable,
about just my background,
and the struggles my family
and I have been through
as Black people in America,
and my sons, and just the fears that I had,
'cause I wanted people to understand
that it's real,
and I feel like
because I have been so authentic
that they would believe me.
A lot of us have been focusing
on small businesses
and locally owned businesses
throughout the country.
But I think it's especially true
here in Cincinnati.
I enjoy Cincinnati
because there's a friendliness about the city.
For me personally,
there have been small businesses
that I've connected with
and that I'd rather shop with
because I have that connection with them.
Cincinnati's really like a hidden gem.
I think people just don't know
that it's actually got a very rich culture
and history.
It's not a giant city,
so it still feels like you can connect with people.
(calm music)
So I love having a blog
to house all of my content,
because you have a place
that really you own.
All my domain names,
I went to GoDaddy first,
It's like the thing you do.
It's a name that is known by everybody.
And it's really easy to update my blog,
I just upload pictures,
upload my text from my blog posts,
put in my links, type in my SEO,
and things like that,
it's easy to do as far
as like putting up a new blog post,
anytime I want to
During 2020, I think we all
kind of went through collective trauma.
It was just very overwhelming,
there was a lot of stuff to do,
there was a lot on my mind,
and I really became like depressed.
And so I started going to therapy
and one of the first things
that my therapist asked me was like,
"Have you been outside?
Do you go outside?"
And I was like. (gasps)
There were some days where I'd start working,
and all of a sudden I look up
and I'm like, oh my gosh it's like three o'clock,
and I haven't even seen the daylight yet.
And that got me to thinking
that there are other people
who haven't been outside yet either.
So every day when I get on Instagram,
I asked the question,
"Did you get outside yesterday?"
I just want people to get outside,
and get some fresh air,
and get some light on their face,
because I know it really does help.
My advice to anyone
who wants to become a content creator
or an entrepreneur in general,
is you've got to be consistent.
Consistently show up to whatever it is
that you said you wanted to do.
And before that,
I would say start.
I didn't get better at this until I started.
You have to start.
(upbeat music)