Social Media | Maegan
A nomad’s ode to social media.
Like most Millennials brought up during the times of Black Planet, Mi Gente and MySpace, my love for social media runs deep. I commend those who manage not to engage but also, they’re missing out on SO MUCH classic content. I use Instagram, Twitter and Facebook everyday for different reasons.
- IG to be an Instathot, feature my travels and promote my creative projects (like this here blog).
- Twitter for news and (un)popular/unsolicited opinions (and to see which of Kenny’s exes is slandering him this week 😂).
- Facebook to keep up with my fam and international homies.
As a nomad, social media has been imperative to me being able to travel the world as I please. Whether I’m in Bangkok, Buenos Aires or Boston, I can keep up with my friends & fam on the regular and it’s been a major tool for reacquainting me with old friends & lovers alike all over the world. 🥰
Here are five times when social media held it the fuck down for me.
1 | My resumaes.
Earlier this year, I decided that rather than work for the man, I wanted to dive into offering a custom resume design service. I’d always designed resumes here and there for friends & fam for a small fee so I figured why not go full on and promote myself across my social channels? I’d built up a small, yet engaged following because of my travels and after a few weeks of promoting my service and my new website, I made $1,000 in my first month. I also used this audience to sell a manifestation challenge and promote myself as a travel planner. #bosstings
2 | A free, newly-built flat all to myself in Ipswich, England.
I found a $200 ticket from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to London, England that I was not going to pass up on. I fell in love with London while visiting fellow Genius, Vonyeezus, there in 2010. Since I had already had a taste and was well aware of how next level expensive it is (think NYC on crack), I wanted to get a different English experience. I became good friends with sisters Brogan & Georgia while living in Koh Phangan, Thailand and luckily Georgia was home in Ipswich at the time. She offered for me to stay with her and her parents at their flat which I interpreted to mean staying with Georgia in her room. At best, a guest room.
No. Instead, I got a beautifully-decorated, one-bedroom apartment above their garage that their dad had built. It was brand new and I was the first to stay there. High-end appliances, a mini-fridge stocked with wine & cheese and one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept in. Georgia even took me grocery shopping my first night there to buy me all of my favorite snacks. I spent my time thrifting with Georgia, chillin’ in their family home and going on nature walks through the English countryside.
3 | When friends from different phases of my life had the greatest time together in Paris.
Not only did I get to introduce the crew to my favorite city in the world but also to two of my favorite friends. I met Eliza — a Canadian who’s been living in Paris foeva — in 2015 while we studied full stack web development in Barcelona. I met Oceane — a born-Parisian — in September that same year, while we were both working at a yoga studio in Brooklyn. (Fuck a career path btw.)
Not only did my friends instantly love them, but we all legit spent the entire weekend together roaming the streets until 4am, picnicking under la Tour Eiffel, drinking A LOT of wine and sharing our favorite music. It was one of those beautiful moments in time where everyone is so blissfully in love with each other and I truly knew it was meant to be once Eliza & Oceane starting making fun of the boys. A strong shell and sense of humor are key to surviving the Geniuses.
4 | A novel-worthy, romantic night in Paris.
While solo backpacking throughout Europe in Winter ’15, I went to Paris for a night before meeting my homies Lovell, Dom & Laina in Barcelona for New Year’s Eve. Thanks to Facebook, I connected with my American homie Sylvia who I got to know while studying abroad in Paris in 2010. She was still in the city living life comme une vraie Parisienne and offered me her couch for the night.
In true Maegan-fashion, I also linked up with a mec that I got to know in 2011 when I moved back to Paris. I spent the evening bar hoppin’, drinking wine, smoking j’s & making out along the Seine. Turns out I didn’t need Sylvia’s couch for the night. 😜
5 | A live Soulection set featuring Joe Kay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Thanks to a Facebook group named Blackpackers that I’ve helped managed and grow, I’ve met too many dope POCs to count in Southeast Asia. Once Soulection started promoting their first Asia tour, I knew I was going. Even better that there was a show in KL, my favorite Southeast Asian city, and the homie Kristen (also an OG Blackpacker) was living there at the moment working for MindValley AND it was at TREK, a cute complex of clubs & bars.
It was such a mindfuck to sing throwback R&B tracks with a room full of Malaysian hypebeasts. Best “concert” I’ve been to abroad to date.
As I continue to grow my brand and turn foreign strangers into besties, I can only imagine what social media success stories I’ll have for you this time next year. Follow me on Insta for pretty pics and Twitter for vulgar thoughts. 😈
