Despite still considering herself as a newbie in the scene, Kayi Tamsi’s portfolio proves otherwise. Kayi has already landed herself several high-profile gigs as she already collaborated with well-known brands such as Bioten, Maybelline, Kiehl’s and Loreal Paris to name a few. As for someone who has already worked with big brands in the industry, it may come as a shock that she only started becoming a content creator a few years ago.
Began when Sunsilk approached her with the request to collaborate before the pandemic. But before then, Kayi had never really set any goals for herself in terms of becoming a social media content creator. At that point, though, brands started approaching her with the idea of collaborating on Instagram posts to advertise their products, and she realized that the potential of doing so was increasingly fascinating to her.
Now with over 5,000 followers and growing on Instagram, Kayi is unquestionably establishing a name for herself.
Besides being an influencer, Kayi also juggles her time as a student. Currenly taking up Communication Arts and Advertising Management at De La Salle University. For someone who balance both work and academics, these don’t come without their own set of challenges. That’s why I asked Kayi a few questions about her inspirations, mistakes, goals, and even the ethical part of her job.
Who are your inspirations?
Ever since I got into content creation, I’d say I definitely had some people that inspired me to continue being an influencer/content creator. I’m always so inspired by Lily Chee and Olivia Ponton. They’re influencers/content creators, and models. I think one reason why I was also inspired by them is that they’re models — and I aspire to be a model someday. Moreover, the reason why they inspire me a lot is that they’re always true to themselves — like their personalities echo through their content. That’s how they inspire me to do it — I want to be able to make content without compromising my personality and how I am as a person because I wouldn’t want to be different in social media, and a different person in real life.
What have you learned so far from your job? Have you made mistakes? How did you handle it?
Learn how to say no. Being an up-and-coming influencer/content creator means that at some point you will always be open to brands wanting to collaborate with you. Whether the reason is because of monetary income or personal likes, an influencer should always learn how to say no. That’s one thing I’ve learned as an influencer since I always used to accept collaborations without considering the brands I engage with. I remember at one point, I always said yes to every collaboration that was offered to me. This resulted in not having the motivation to do some of them because it became more of a “forced” collaboration for me since I piled them up. I also accepted collaborations with brands that would give me free products in exchange for my work — which I now regret because some of these products were put to waste since I don’t really use them — which leads me to my next point. Be selective. Being selective means that an influencer values his/her work, time, and priorities. Perhaps, one thing I’ve learned from being selective is that I was able to create meaningful and substantial content.
What are your goals? Your vision in the next 2 to 3 years?
Perhaps, three years from now, if I still continue being a content creator, my goal is to create visually creative content — content that’s not just carelessly edited, as well as create content for brands that I dream of working with. These brands that I dream of working with are not necessarily limited to makeup or skincare (since these are mostly the products that I promote) but also clothing brands, because, again, I aspire to be a model. My vision for the next three years is to hopefully be able to thank myself for being an influencer that will help me reach my goals and be in places that I’m uncomfortable in — because who flourishes if they’re in their comfort zone all the time?
Given that there are no fast rules in what you’re doing, how do you ensure that you don’t end up doing unethical things? Or, are you even aware of the ethics behind your practice or work?
There may be no fast rules in this job, however, I always ensure that I don’t end up doing unethical things by declining collaboration offers if I don’t align with their brand. For example, I don’t feel the need to accept a collaboration if I know I won’t be using their products on a daily basis. Being able to say no to collaborations also mean that I’m able to steer away from unethical practices such as wasting these products and at the same time lying to my audience that I “recommend” these products.
As our conversation continues, I’ve noticed that Kayi places a high value on being genuine and authentic. In fact, this is her number one priority, and one of the questions that is constantly going through her head is whether or not a particular brand collaboration would accurately portray her personality and who she is as a person. She is an influencer who is aware of her own worth and has the ambition to provide content that is both of high quality and of value for every brand cooperation she participates in.
