Anna Crollman of My Cancer Chic: Five Ways For Influencers To Monetize Their Brand
I hope that one day my story will influence women everywhere to take control of their breast health and feel more confident and empowered when it comes to their body and health.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Anna Crollman of My Cancer Chic.
Anna is a young breast cancer survivor, new mom and style enthusiast. She uses her experience of facing breast cancer in her 20s to create resources, community and inspiration for young women facing breast cancer. Her blog became a place to share not just her cancer story, but her passion for all things style and beauty. Now, five years into remission, she continues to inspire young women through wellness, positivity, style, and self-love.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit more. What is your “backstory”? What brought you to this point in your career?
When I was 27 years old I was diagnosed with breast cancer out of the blue. As someone who always loved reading blogs for fashion and beauty advice, I immediately looked to blogs for support during my cancer journey and came up empty. I decided to start blogging to fill that void for young women facing cancer by sharing my story and how fashion and beauty helped me navigate hair loss and the trauma of my mastectomy, chemotherapy and reconstruction. Over the years my platform grew and expanded to inspire women of all backgrounds facing adversity to thrive through self-confidence and style. I share my life and journey through cancer and infertility to where I am today as a mother, a blogger, a health advocate and a content creator. I love inspiring my followers to live their most authentic lives filled with vulnerability and confidence.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you in the course of your career?
I think the most interesting thing that has happened in my influencer/blogging career has been walking the runway at NYFW in 2018 for AnaOno Intimates. I never in a million years thought I would walk the runway in my underwear nevertheless after having a double mastectomy and reconstruction. Walking that runway while terrifying was so much more than just overcoming my fears it was blazing a trail for women everyone who have faced cancer or undergone a mastectomy showing them their bodies are beautiful and resilient.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I started by helping young women facing cancer and have grown to include healthcare advocacy, racism justice work and political education. I see my platform as a gift and an opportunity to influence others and make the world a better place. I see the influencer space as a community and I hope my success opens the door for other influencers, bloggers and advocates around me.
You have been blessed with great success in a career path that many have attempted, but eventually gave up on. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path but know that their dreams might be dashed?
The hardest part of pursuing your dream is just getting started. At the beginning my website wasn’t pretty, I had no idea what I was doing and I made a lot of mistakes but those learning experiences shaped my work ethic and helped me develop the perseverance needed to sustain my business in the long term. Don’t be afraid to get messy at the beginning so the hard parts yourself and learn from your own mistakes. No one expects perfection from the beginning except you. The second important piece of advice is that your voice is unique. In my market it is very oversaturated and a lack of confidence delayed me starting my business for a long time. What I realized when I got started is that there is room for every unique voice and one person’s success doesn’t mean there isn’t room for my success as well.. Think about your talent, the value you bring with your voice and business and never lose confidence in the
None of us can achieve success without a bit of help along the way. Is there a particular person who made a profound difference in your life to whom you are grateful? Can you share a story?
Yes, my husband was my biggest supporter. I know it sounds cliche, but he talked me down from every ledge, encouraged me when I wanted to give up and celebrated my growth when no one was around to recognize it. I remember this one night a few years ago when I was upgrading my website theme and needed to fix some backend coding. Neither of us has a coding background but I would watch youtube videos and read articles to figure out what I needed to know. This one particular night I was stuck and couldn’t figure out the solution. My husband stayed up with me until 2am researching and working on the code until we fixed the issue. It’s those kinds of actions that show me how much he is willing to support my business venture.
So what are the most exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
I am really excited about a few partnerships I have in the works focused on health advocacy and self-confidence. I truly find that using my own story to empower women to take ownership for their health has been the most rewarding for me. And in my case self-confidence and health are very closely aligned. I find the more we focus on our health empowerment, the more we connect with our body. I hope this year to help more young women find ownership in their health and their confidence.
What are your “Top Five Ways That Influencers Can Monetize Their Brand” . (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. Affiliate/Commission Networks — I use programs like RewardStyle, Amazon Associated and direct brand affiliate partnerships to provide my followers with discounts and links to products I love. When followers make a purchase I get a small commission of that purchase.
2. Paid/Sponsored Content Creation — I work directly with brands to create sponsored content on my blog and social media focused on a product, brand or topic we have agreed upon.
3. Speaking Opportunities — In a pre-COVID world I loved speaking, event hosting opportunities as a wonderful way to build community, expand my brand awareness and bring in additional income.
4. Writing Features — As a blogger, I write for many other platforms in my niche area. This is an additional source of income and another means of traffic back to my blog
5. Ad Revenue — As I blog grew I added paid ad content to my site and take in revenue monthly based on views and clicks on ad content by my followers
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I hope that one day my story will influence women everywhere to take control of their breast health and feel more confident and empowered when it comes to their body and health.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this. :-)
Brene Brown. Watching Brene Brown’s Ted Talk on Vulnerability during my own cancer journey changed the entire course of my life. I was forced to confront my long standing beliefs and insecurities in order to move forward with true vulnerability. Talking with Brene Brown now about how I have been able to take my pain and use my vulnerability to thrive would be full-circle for me.
What is the best way our readers can follow your work online?
I would love to connect on my blog mycancerchic.com and on social (Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest) @mycancerchic.