00:00So me coming in, it was something that I was actually a little shaky about, because I was like, is this a space for me?
00:10My name is Morgan Brown. I was born and raised in Chicago, now living in New York City.
00:18I am a social content creator. I started about five years ago on social just for fun.
00:25So now I am a full-time social media creator with a focus on skin care.
00:30When I think of an influencer, I mean from its origin, it's definitely someone who has an influence, right?
00:37But influence doesn't necessarily need a hundred million people to follow.
00:42It doesn't also need a hundred, I don't think numbers
00:46matter when it comes to influencing. Rather, it's all about
00:49the content that you are actually putting out or giving to someone for them to receive in order for them to make some change.
00:54Like in their life or a shift in perspective in some way. So that's how I view myself.
00:59I actually coined myself a creator as I love to create stories.
01:04I love to tell stories and I love to give them to people
01:07in order for them to kind of see something a little differently or learn about something that they possibly never like encounter or never experienced.
01:15Don't get me wrong. I don't work a nine-to-five, but I work hard in what I do.
01:19This was a path that was not paved out for me.
01:24There was no one-two-three-step guide. A lot of the people who are in the influencing world, they started from ground zero.
01:31It was nothing like giving to us.
01:33I think we deserve a little bit more than, hey, she just has numbers on Instagram or some social platform.
01:38Two years ago is when I lost my father.
01:40I would say since that moment, I started living in just a different truth about myself, how I receive things, how I take things in, how like my perception of things.
01:51So when I see how I move now in my career or more generally in my life, I definitely love to, I have to move intentionally now.
01:57I move with purpose. I move with light that beams like from my father.
02:04I have prioritized doing things that always feel good for me.
02:10So with a marketing degree, which I now have, I had a interest in consumer behavior, which makes a lot of sense with what I do.
02:18Also digital analytics and social production.
02:21So when I look at five years from now, I don't plan to always have this face value platform.
02:27I actually want to be behind the camera with a focus on working with brands on how they can optimize their social channels.
02:36I remember first getting a social media game. It was probably 2013, so social media was just getting its legs, Instagram specifically.
02:42And I didn't see a lot of people like me.
02:44I started on YouTube and who ran the YouTube community was definitely like young white girls sitting in their bedroom.
02:53They looked absolutely nothing like me.
02:54And I always had a question like, where are like the girls that represent me?
02:58So me coming in, it was something that I was actually a little shaky about because I was like, is this a space for me?
03:05Like do black women sit in social media? Do we have a voice like are we able to connect with people that's not in our immediate circles through this like beautiful thing of social media?
03:16And once I started getting further and further in my career, and of course I started seeing more people come into the space, it encouraged me to live in my truest and honest and most vulnerable self as a black woman.
03:27What social media has done for me that's been the most impactful is when I can have people who look just like me, young girls, women, to be like, you know what, because I saw you do that, now I feel like I can do it.
03:37And for a long time, even we think in media space, I mean, we're still getting there. We didn't have that. So to have something as tangible and quick as social media, I mean, it's like, it's life shifting.
03:49Hey, what's up, guys? My name is Morgan and this is Behind the Magic.
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