CdM Fashion Careers: Tara Millamena Influencer and Instagram Queen

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A post shared by Tara Millamena (@taramillamena) on Dec 27, 2018 at 9:44am PST

Meet Tara Millamena, Youtuber, Instagram influencer and fashion lover. She is living her dream of being a fashion influencer and collaborating with some of her favorite brands. Find out how she makes the dream work in the interview below!

Being an influencer is such a confusing term to people and it can mean so many things how do you define it?I define being an influencer as someone who has the exposure to inspire people. Whether they inspire you to travel to a country you never thought of, read a book you never heard of, or try a new makeup look, influencers can inspire in many little ways. Ultimately the goal is to create a community of like minded individuals. 

Did you always know this was something you wanted to do?

In 2011, I stumbled upon the very beginning of what is known as being an "influencer." Girls were just starting to put up videos on Youtube and just having organic conversations with their audience. At the time, the audiences were always very small. Regardless, I always found it intriguing so I started putting up Youtube videos with similar content. That become my little hobby. Fast forward 8 years later and this little hobby I once knew is now a whole industry. So in a way, yes, I was always interested in being in this industry. 

When did you make the decision to go full time? 

2018 was the first year I made any income from being an influencer. It started out as not being consistent but by the end of the year I was able to make it a side gig. I have seen huge progress from when I first started and I know with consistent hard work this is something that potentially can be full time. 

How do you manage your time and make sure you stay productive?
I believe that it is important to set SHORT term goals for yourself. It is easy to see the big picture of what you want for your life but creating steps on how to get there little by little can be hard and overwhelming so creating short term goals helps you manage your time on a daily basis. It also shows you that without being productive on a daily basis it will take you longer to reach your goal.

Do you receive guidelines from brands when doing a sponsored post or do you get to use your own creativity to design shoots and write captions?

Most of the time, if a brand chooses you for a sponsored post that means that they already like your work so they don't really tell you how to take the photos/what to caption. They just let you know what hashtags and what tag to use for their brand. But there are times that a brand will direct you on what they specifically want but I personally haven't experienced too many brands that do that. 

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I see myself still being in a creative field like this. Another reason I loving being an influencer is because I love being in front of the camera and creating my own content. So anything that gives me creative freedom!

What is your most successful platform? Why do you think that is?

My most successful platform is instagram and that is because I put the most time into it. I post consistently on it and I engage in other people's profiles more.  Instagram is also very easy to be on. It is quick and straighforward  I do want to develop my Youtube more- just to have another platform that I am consistent on.

What would you recommend to aspiring influencesrs?

I would first focus on making sure that whatever you post is "crisp quality." You don't need to invest in any camera gear. I take all my Instagram photos on my iPhone8 Plus. I just make sure that I take my photos in good lighting (outdoors) and use a consistent filter. That is really all that you need when first starting out. As for content, share whatever you want to share. The right people who are interested in the same things as you will gravitate toward you!