Pinterview with … Rebekah Nkirote

Our next creator Pinterview is with the amazing Rebekah, @iamnkirote, the winner of the Black Gold creator competition. Sit down with us to find out about her top tips for getting started on Pinterest, where she finds her inspiration and what board she currently has on her Pinterest widget. Don’t forget to read till the end to find out her answer to Alex Surrey’s question from our last Pinterview

Congratulations on winning the Black Gold creator competition! I’d love to get to know you a little better and hear about your journey as a creator.

To make it a little more fun, are you ready for some quickfire questions?

First off I just want to say thank you Georgia for having me and for the judging board for selecting me as the winner. I can’t actually believe I am having my very own Pinterview, it’s wild!

I am ready for the questions, hit me!

Describe your style in 3 words?

I would describe my style as

1. Modest

2. Comfortable

3. Timeless

If you could eat anything right now what would it be?

Nyama Choma, Kachumbari and Chapati

Nyama Choma — Kenyan dish of grilled meat

Kachumbari — Kenyan tomato and onion salad dish

Dream post-COVID travel destination?

South Korea or Japan

Favourite trend of the moment?

The Chunky Boot Trend — I could wear “clompy” boots all day every day!

When do you think it’s appropriate to listen to Christmas songs?

As soon as it hits December 1st and not a day earlier! I am counting down the days till I can play Micheal Buble on repeat guilt-free!

I am with you on the Christmas songs. As soon as the 1st December hits I cannot get enough!

You have such a beautiful aesthetic for all your content! I’d love to know where do you find your inspiration?

Thank you so much! My inspiration comes from an array of things; Architecture, Interior Design, fashion icons such as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and artists such as Barkley L Hendricks.

My inspiration as of late has been from my immediate surroundings (of course) and combining the minimal interiors of my home with my outfits.

Ordinary moments like the light coming into the kitchen in a certain way or the contrast of the marble dining table against white walls has been the recent source of my inspiration and has helped me curate my aesthetic even more.

On iOS14, there is a new Pinterest widget which can display Pins from one of your boards on your home screen. Which of your boards would you choose to show on your widget? For example, I have my positive quotes and illustrations board on mine.

Nothing like a good positive quote, I’ll definitely have to check out your board!

I have my absolute favourite board Black Girls Beige Aesthetic as my current widget board.

I love seeing aspirational images of black women on my home screen, it’s so refreshing! The board gives me so much inspiration to create content that is within the beige aesthetic but also represents me and my experiences.

[Find out how to get the Pinterest widget, find out here.]

What are some of the best tips/advice that you learnt from Pinterest Presents: Black Gold Event?

I just have to say thank you to Pinterest, because that event was wonderful. The speakers and topics being covered were brilliant!

I was only meant to attend a few but after the first webinar I was signing up to every single one. Trying to narrow down the amazing tips and insights I got was a tough task, but some of my favourites were :

• Celebrate every single win
• Start implementing practices of that those more successful than you have at their disposal. Implement them into your daily routines, business/job and lifestyle.
• “Don’t dim your light because it shines in someone else’s eye” a wonderful quote from Mark Maciver of Slider Cuts
• Be everywhere. Whether it’s on several online platforms, in person, or continuously displaying branding for your own brand/business/profession.

I’m so glad that you enjoyed it and for sharing the amazing advice that you heard. If you didn’t manage to watch the event live, you can check out the recordings here.

What advice would you give to other creators who are just getting started on Pinterest?

Save Everything! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen something that has caught my eye, but I have forgotten to save it.

I would also say to keep reshuffling. Sometimes you might come back to a board you’ve made and it isn’t giving you that spark of inspiration that you need.

Don’t be afraid to move some Pins, archive boards or even create a new board, it’s all part of the creative process.

Lastly, I would say to switch it up, mix in different types of content, I’ve been really enjoying creating and finding video content and I can’t believe how late I was to video Pins. It’s a game-changer!

You create amazing video Pins. Do you have any tips for repurposing video content from other platforms?

Thank you! This is actually something I’ve been learning recently to make sure each piece of content is suitable for each platform.

• Creating several short-form videos from long-form video, for example, a 1-minute Styling Video can be edited into four 15 second videos for a video Pin. This can also be posted on Reels/TikTok.
• Link everything, whether it’s linking back to your Instagram, Pinterest or website. Link, link, link!
• Always have a clear title/clear text at the beginning and during the video, so it’s clear what it’s about (I learnt that the hard way!)
• Adding closed captions to short-form videos. It’s really easy to forget this, but making videos accessible to everyone on every platform is so important.

And of course, making sure that the content is original and actually represents who you are and what you love!

Do you have any Pinterest creator recommendations that you think everyone should be following?

• Sarudzai/ @jsarudzai : I just discovered her page this week, she is like an encyclopaedia for Black girl skincare and beauty. I’m excited to learn how to get my glow back. Her skin is absolute goals!
• Curate and Display / @CurateDisplay : Her interior style is just beautiful, every Pin is so perfectly curated. If you love paired back but textured interior inspiration, she is your go-to!
• Xaniah/@wavyia : All the black girl magic and hair inspiration I’ve ever needed. The page even made me start a whole new board Black Hair is Magic!
• Yossy Akinsanya / @withloveyossy : I adore her cosy aesthetic! She is so talented at creating perfectly curated images and her food content has definitely influenced some rather decadent dishes to be made

Our last question is from our last creator in the Pinterview series ‘Alex in Colour’ She would love to know — what it is you love most about Pinterest?

Thanks for the question, Alex! She’s such a wonderful content creator, I really enjoyed her Pinterview and she gave some great tips from it too!

There are quite a few things I love about Pinterest. I love how much inspiration it gives me, especially when I need it. I’ve been using Pinterest since I was planning my 18th birthday party (that board was hilarious to look back on, so many candle mason jars!) and whether it was finding precedents for an architectural project at university or now creating content for my own page, I have always got what I came looking for and then some.

There’s so much creativity on the platform it’s impossible to not get creative inspiration! Lastly, I love the process of having a project or idea and getting that excitement as you compile your board and start to imagine the result.

It’s such a wonderful feeling and I love that I can come to Pinterest and experience that every time.

That’s so lovely to hear and such a great way to think about Pinterest as a platform that grows with you.

Last but not least do you have a question that you would like to ask the next creator in the series?

If you didn’t have social media how else would you share your creativity and have it reach the people you want it to reach?

Thank you so much, Rebekah, for taking the time to chat with us. It was so lovely getting to know you and hearing about your story so far. I can’t wait to see your profile grow and get Pinning all the amazing content that is to come our way.

Thank you again Georgia for this Pinterview, it’s been great to share a little about myself.

And another huge thank you to Pinterest for putting together the Black Gold Event and competition and for celebrating Black creators on the platform!

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Make sure that you follow Rebekah’s profile here to you can keep up to date with her amazing content. Keep your eyes peeled for the next Pinterview to see who our next Creator in the series is and find out their answer to Rebekah’s question.

For more Pinterviews with our best-in-class Pinterest Creators and more Pinterest tips and tricks, check out the Pinterest Creators Blog and make sure that you’re signed up to the Creator database to hear the latest from us.

Georgia — Pinterest Creator Specialist, currently Pinning to… Positive quotes and illustrations.