Influencer Esther Susag Shares Her Top Selfcare, Wellness, and Beauty Tips

An Interview With Ming Zhao

Have a day where you actually take some extra time and do your make up, put on your favorite outfit, and go and do one of your favorite things. Especially with this almost two year long pandemic, finding any opportunity to dress up and feel beautiful is the best and fastest route to feeling beautiful. When I’m feeling just blah, I will ask a group of my friends to go to dinner, where we can all get dressed up and enjoy each other’s company.

At times it feels like wellness or elevating one’s well being, is diametrically opposed to high achievement and high performance in one’s career. The stress, mental energy, long hours, lack of restful sleep and preoccupation that result from a high-achievement life seem to directly inhibit wellness. And yet, in order to sustain the creativity, flexibility, mental acuity and resilience that are necessary for high performance, wellness and wellbeing of the mind, body and soul are also mandatory. So how do we achieve both? This is the question I’m hoping to answer through conversations with high-achieving leaders and influencers who are practicing their own philosophies about how to maintain their wellbeing.

As a part of our series about “Social Media Influencers Share Their Top Self Care, Wellness, and Beauty Tips, I had the pleasure of interviewing Esther Susag.

Esther Susag (@esthersusag) is a passionate and talented photographer and content creator in the travel and lifestyle niche. Having been to over 80+ countries and 6 continents, she is quite the expert in everything travel related. Her extensive experience, drive, and love for helping others is what has helped her achieve credibility in the industry with an audience that is growing and following her journey daily. Over the past couple of years, she has been able to build a portfolio working on collaborations with luxury accommodations and experiences all over the world. But, this isn’t her main motive. She just wants to be able to travel the world and help others do the same.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory of how you came upon this career path and to where you are today?

Yes, of course! I am originally from Minnesota but have been living abroad ever since I graduated from my undergrad. I am currently based in Germany where I’ve been able to pursue my passion for travel and adventure. Because of this and my love for photography, creating content for brands and companies while I travel has been the perfect way to combine these two things. But, more than that, my main goal is to help and inspire others. I want to show them that they can do anything they want in this life with the right mindset and drive. I want to help people step outside of their comfortable box and experience something or somewhere new. I believe that when you stop doing what’s comfortable and start doing what’s uncomfortable, that’s where growth happens and that’s when you get to really figure out who you are.

So now, what I mainly do is manage social media channels, work alongside brands to create unique and intriguing content, and use my own Instagram page as a source for travel advice, tips, and tricks to try and help those willing to take the leap like I did!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I could never narrow it down to just one person. There are so many people that have supported and encouraged me throughout the years. I knew that I wasn’t taking the traditional path after graduating from my undergrad and that was always a constant battle in my mind if I was doing the right thing or not. But the endless support that very special people in my life continued to give me, is truly what kept me going. Also, I wouldn’t have been able to have all the opportunities I’ve had without the people that I have crossed paths with over the years as well. You truly never know who you are going to meet and what can come from each and every interaction you have!

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

Oh so many mistakes have been made over the years, but I am grateful for all of them because that’s how I learned and was able to keep moving forward and improving. To be honest, I know this is lame, but I really can’t think of any “humorous” mistakes. There are ones that definitely made me laugh to cover up all other emotions. One thing does stand out though. A couple years ago when my Instagram was just really beginning to take off, my account got hacked and the hacker was demanding money to get my account back. It was just a couple of days before Christmas and I had no idea what to do. Instagram had no real way of contacting support and the hacker had already changed my username and email so every attempt I made to get my account back, would just go write to his inbox. I was so distraught and felt this overwhelming sadness because of the potential of losing everything I had worked for. After 48 grueling hours of talking to so many people and finally being able to verify my identity by sending in a picture with my license, it was the biggest relief. But, honestly those two days served as a huge reality check for me. I realized that I had placed way too much importance on my social media and that I needed to find additional ways to do what I loved, if anything really were to happen.

As an influencer, you have been blessed with great success in a career path that many have attempted, but eventually gave up on. In fact, perhaps most people who tried to follow a career path like yours did not succeed. 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?

I know this sounds so cheesy, but you HAVE to believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, then who else will? If you can’t see yourself at that finish line, then you will never get there. You have to believe in yourself and your goals and believe that you are capable of achieving them and then nothing can stop you. Every day think about those dreams and goals of yours, and then think about what you can do today to make one step closer to them.

Can you share with our readers some of the strategies you’ve used to build an engaged, loyal, and large online community?

Engage and connect. You have to remember that these are real people on the other side of those usernames and being able to relate to one another is one of the most trust building things we can do as humans. One of the best parts about social media is that you have this opportunity to get to know people all around the world and connect with them. And so I don’t find it to be “work” to respond to my messages or comments and I think that has really helped me build a good relationship with my community.

Can you share with us two routines that you use to help your mind or heart to thrive? (Kindly share a story or example for each.)

1. I think that keeping a healthy mindset is so incredibly crucial to not only your emotional and mental health, but also in accomplishing your dreams and ambitions. The way that you spend your time as soon as you wake up has a direct impact on how you will go about the rest of your day. If you wake up and immediately go to your phone, and do the things that we all are guilty of like scrolling on social media or go through your emails, you will find yourself falling right back into a routine that isn’t benefiting you or setting you up for success. I am very big into goal-setting and to accomplish my goals, I need to have the right mindset. So I try to start off my day by not looking at my phone for the first hour and take that time to journal and write down what I am grateful for that morning. I then like to think about my short term and long term goals and what I can do today to make progress towards those goals. This has really changed the way that I go about my day. Doing something that is for me as soon as I wake up, really helps me feel even more ready to accomplish whatever I have going on that day.
2. My routine is I find some kind of way to work out or get my heartbeat up every single day. Whether that’s just a walk outside or a strength training workout at the gym. Exercise is something that I have incorporated into my daily routine so much so that if I don’t, I can truly tell a difference in the way I feel.

Can you share three ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”?

1. I think that in order to truly feel beautiful, we have to remember that beauty isn’t just about physical beauty, it’s about your inner beauty as well. Who you are as a person is what makes you beautiful and that will shine through on the outside as well.
2. Affirmations! Negative self-talk can bring you down so quickly and if it starts to become a habit, then you will start to believe those inner thoughts that, in reality, aren’t true. So instead, look in the mirror and find the things you love about yourself and say it out loud. Do this every day and I promise that slowly but surely, no matter how silly you feel, your mindset will start to change.
3. Have a day where you actually take some extra time and do your make up, put on your favorite outfit, and go and do one of your favorite things. Especially with this almost two year long pandemic, finding any opportunity to dress up and feel beautiful is the best and fastest route to feeling beautiful. When I’m feeling just blah, I will ask a group of my friends to go to dinner, where we can all get dressed up and enjoy each other’s company.

Is there a particular resource, a practitioner, expert, book, or podcast that made a significant impact on you and helped you to thrive? Can you share a story about that with us?

Oh man, the amount of books and podcasts that I have come across in the last couple years that have impacted my life is hard to even fathom. Many travel photographers and content creators have come into my life, whether they know it or not, and inspired me in so many ways. Additionally, people like Jay Shetty, have pushed me to be more mindful and look at things through a different lens and that has really helped change my perspective on things and given me a new confidence about my career.

Do you have a story about the strangest, most bizarre or funniest wellness treatment that you’ve ever experienced?

I did a Sensory Deprivation Tank or a “floatation tank” in Japan and it was very interesting. The purpose is to help you truly relax to the utmost intensity and it also helps relieve any pain because you are legitimately in a full blown float stage. I am not one for being able to relax but that experience absolutely put me in a zen state of mind. I don’t know if I would do it again, but I would say it’s definitely worth trying at least once!

As an influencer, 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.

Being an “influencer” was never my goal, or something that I was set out trying to be. That being said, if I could inspire even just one person that they have the power to change their own life, do what they want to do, and be who they want to be… that would be everything to me. Too many people think that their life is stuck where it is and that “things just happen to them”. Of course there are going to be obstacles and challenges that everyone faces on their own individual path, but if you want it badly enough, you can make anything happen if you believe it can happen.

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 with whom you’d like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this. :-)

How do I even pick!? I would love to meet Sara Blakely. She has done such an incredible job in her career and her success is so inspiring. I would absolutely love to pick her brain on how she got to where she is and advice she has for other women entrepreneurs trying to do the same!

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

@esthersusag on all social media! :)

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!