Millie Cotton: The Age of Influence
“I’m more interested in other people than I am talking about myself,” Millie Cotton, a rising content creator, tells me over a cup of tea. I find it funny, given the fact that her job is to create content that’s focused on her appearance, style, and music taste.
Cotton is a micro-influencer, but she insists she’s a content creator because she dabbles in Instagramming, podcasting, and DJing. She has upwards of 20,000 followers on Instagram, where she styles outfits and shares bits of her life. Her success didn’t come overnight, Cotton informs me when I enquire about how she grew her audience. “If you don’t work very hard, you don’t get results,” she says simply. “You really do get out of it what you put into it.”
When the topic of Instagram is brought up, Cotton laughs and mocks it with a brief eye roll. Although Instagram helps her pay the bills through paid advertisements, creating content on the app isn’t her passion. It started a way for her to share her outfits back when she still had her popular blog, It’s a LDN Thing, and from that, she was able to gain followers as a fashion blogger.
Cotton joined the platform in 2012 and originally posted about her London life, including nightlife, interning at editorial publications, and fashion. Today, Cotton shows various aspects of her life, from lounging on the beach on holiday, attending press trips in sunny Los Angeles, and posing in designer outfits.
Cotton’s Instagram portrays a glamorous lifestyle, but it’s only recently that Cotton has earned a comfortable income. Scrolling through her page, there are paid advertisements and sponsored posts, but it took a few years before Cotton made any income on the app, as it started as a hobby after seeing bloggers post their outfits on the ‘gram and she wanted to give it a try. “I’ve worked really hard, but then it’s only been over the past few years that I’ve been in a place of privilege,” Cotton tells me. Being an influencer has helped Cotton make a living and afford a flat near Waterloo, and has meant she’s been able to turn her hobby into a career.
Although Instagram is how Cotton makes a majority of her income, these days she’s more focused on being a DJ. Speaking to Cotton, it seems that her motto is: “if they can do it, why can’t I?” which has inspired her to try new things and expanded her content.
“I’m not quite sure how the content creation thing now works,” Cotton admits. “That’s something I’m really still figuring out.” It’s difficult to transition from fashion content to DJing without losing followers, Cotton explains. “Now I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m a DJ. I do music, please still support me.” She manages to appeal to the people who still follow her for fashion inspiration by weaving in brand deals, and then showing aspects of her DJing through her stories and posts, giving viewers a peek into her sets at parties for brands like Victoria’s Secret.
But DJing and Instagram aren’t enough to keep Cotton busy — she also hosts a podcast in her spare time. Since September, she’s been transitioning away from her successful podcast with 20,000 monthly listeners, Keeping It Candid, co-hosted by fellow blogger Sophie Milner, and into her newer project, Women in Music. Unlike her previous show, which discussed topics like abortion and influencer marketing, Cotton is now the sole host and interviews aspiring female musicians and gives them a platform to talk about their work.
“It’s one of those things where I want to try and educate young women to realize they can do these jobs because I had nothing like that when I was younger,” Cotton shares. “I don’t think I would’ve gone into fashion had I realized that music was a viable option.”
Cotton’s podcast is her passion project. Unlike Instagram, which is both a hobby and career, her podcast costs her money because she hired an editor, but she says it’s worth it because she loves being able to talk to rising women in music and hearing their stories.
After spending an hour with Cotton, I learned there’s more to her than what she portrays online. At the heart of it, she’s a woman using her influence to bring awareness to issues in the music industry and who just happens to be popular on Instagram.
