the orange sky at dawn snow dusted Peaks
this is the kind of beauty many of us
only see on Instagram and this
Instagrammer delivers these views to you
for a living
she's a new kind of celebrity and she
makes money by promoting things to her
fans it's a lucrative world with
billions of dollars rushing in
as technology replaces old jobs it's
also creating new ones I'm Aki Ito and
I'm here to show you the jobs of the
future my name is Megan young and I'm an
influencer all right we're heading out
for our river cruise at first glance
Meghan's job doesn't seem like a job at
all check this out
[Music]
for a living I go and outdoor adventures
take photos of it and then share it
across social media platforms when I get
home but unlike you and me Megan gets
paid to share some of these photos she
has almost 200,000 followers on
Instagram and all kinds of companies
Payard endorse their products on her
feed it can be things like technical
gear from raincoats to pants to boots it
can be different snacks that keep me
going on the trail and also travel
destinations which are my honestly my
favorite things to do because it's
really fun to explore new landscapes
Megan is on track to earn between 50,000
and $100,000 over the next year about
10% of her feed is sponsored
[Music]
for a story's post on Instagram that
usually starts around $200 per day and
then for posts to the social feed
channel about $1,500 or more for one
post right now much of that income is
helping pay for this home Meghan moved
in last month with her partner Matt he's
a biologist and a regular fixture on her
feed what's it like to have a mini
celebrity as a girlfriend the same I
really don't think about it that much
she uses her phone a lot yeah yeah yeah
we're applying their boundaries of like
oh this is work time and this isn't work
time it's definitely important I mean
it's a conversation we have all the time
what's your favorite part of her job
probably it's when I get to go on her
adventures yeah yeah is there stuff in
the outdoors that you've learned from
her I have never been a person to lay
out my gear to make sure I have
everything appropriately for each trip I
tend to wing it
but yeah preparedness is definitely
rubbing off a little bit on me which is
nice because you do have to really make
sure that you bring everything that you
need it's guys gonna come out and then
this tent and then the boots
tomorrow Megan's taking me on one of her
signature mountaineering adventures I
have to make sure that all the gear is
clean it's repaired that we're safe
everything is ready to go she's also
packing products from two companies
she's hoping to promote on the trip a
beer company that's an existing client
and an energy bar maker she's pitching
for a future sponsorship deal we're
planning a four and a half mile hike up
the Cascade Mountains climbing around
2,500 feet
we'll be camping overnight and then
hiking down the next day we get an early
start
good morning it's 5:06
cloudy start to the day rain and breezy
conditions expected for Western
Washington with highs in the low 50s and
expect showers this evening and likely
for tomorrow
a few years ago Megan was in law school
studying to become an attorney and it
was there that mountaineering came in
surprisingly handy in order to get
through the stresses of law school I
started going back outside with the
vengeance I would post photos on
Instagram about the trips we'd been on
in places we had been and eventually
brands began to take notice of that and
reach out to ask if I wanted to
collaborate in different ways
she ended up deciding against a career
in law and after holding an office job
for two years she quitted March to focus
on being an influencer full time there
have been tough moments along the way
[Music]
sometimes I get pretty nasty messages or
hateful comments telling me how I am
allowed to use my voice on how I'm
allowed to use my platform I blocked
them and I don't have any qualms about
that I think that doing this job people
can think of he was less of a real
person but I'm a very real person with
very real feelings and fears so it can
be a little weird sometimes and then
there's the constant pressure to make
sure people are liking commenting and
following her feed metrics are
incredibly important in the world of
social media influencing and early on I
became really obsessive with checking
them and honestly it got to the point of
being exhausting these days I try not to
focus on it because it will drive you
insane and for me to live a healthy
balanced life I can't do that but we've
left all that behind in Seattle
blue skies really nice hopefully this
way yeah that's the hardest part about
this time of year in the Pacific
Northwest the weather won't cooperate
would you get me into
[Laughter]
[Music]
this was supposed to be a mild hike and
it's a total breeze for Megan but not so
much for me it's not easy I always want
to make sure we're as safe as possible
but there are always these moments where
on something exposed or we're climbing
something I'm thinking about what if
there's a rock fall and we plummet to
our death those fears are very real so
warm outside you guys finally four hours
behind schedule we arrive at the
campsite
[Music]
like a really fresh layer of snow with
the weather worsening we start boiling
snow to make water for dinner
I remember that beer Megan was planning
to promote it's way too cold for that
and she scraps her plans for an evening
photoshoot altogether a little past 7:00
p.m. we retreat into our tents shivering
in her sleeping bags
[Music]
but after the coldest night of my life
we wake up to this it's the window of
good weather Megan was hoping for and
she uses it to stage a sponsored photo
for the energy bar she brought along I'm
always trying to think about how do I
take something and make it look at home
or natural or normal in these wild
landscapes I think a lot of people will
be watching this and think this looks
miserable you should do this oh do you
do it I am so happy out here it's a
little ridiculous
you wake up with morning's like this and
you sort of forget the sweating and the
heavy bags and sort of live in that
moment and they may not last with global
warming so I feel this sense of wanting
to see things while I can so now you get
this yeah I'm not so bad pretty good
office I'll take it
mehgan's post of the energy bar has now
been seen by 16,000 people and since our
trip she signed sponsorship deals with
three new clients making the 1.6 billion
dollar market for Instagram influencers
just a little bigger
but the world of social media changes
fast and Megan knows there are plenty of
things that could derail her newfound a
career what if Instagram goes away at
the end of the day I have bills to pay
and sometimes you're looking at your
calendar going don't have any projects
coming up and those moments are really
scary but for now she can't imagine
living her life any other way Sam came
out so beautiful I've had young women
reach out to me and say that they've
found inspiration or they've gone on a
hike or climbed a peak that's the upside
to social media you have this ability to
inspire people and to actually touch
their lives offline and that's pretty
cool
you