Why @shutthekaleup is Kale-ing it.
If you’re not well-versed in the world of health and wellness on Instagram then you may be asking who the KALE is @shutthekaleup!? Well, I’m here to tell you who she is and why she is absolutely killing it as an influencer.
Introducing @shutthekaleup (AKA Jeannette Ogden)
Jeannette Ogden started her Instagram account several years ago, and she expressed in this podcast episode from Soul on Fire that she never expected it to blow up, let alone turn into a career. To date, she has over 265k followers interested in getting a sneak peek into her everyday life, which revolves around health and wellness, and gets about 8000–17000 likes per post . Healthy food, fitness, skincare, the mom life (she has an adorable two-year-old boy named Elliot-Grey), she’s got it all covered — yes, she literally hits two out of the three largest influencer categories (Food and Parenting). Just take a quick scroll through her account and it’s alllll there. However, one defining feature that sets her apart from other Instagram influencers (for example, Tammy Hembrow, a fitnes guru who only reveal the glamorous side of her life) is her ability to be perceived as real. I’ve been following Jeanette for about 2.5 years now and despite her brand (and follower count) growing bigger and bigger, she hasn’t changed. She’s still the bubbly and genuine Orange County gal that I first followed who isn’t afraid to show the world her good AND bad days. I’m a big fan of hers — and I hope by the end of this post you will understand why.
Keepin’ it Real
Keepin’ it real is what makes Jeanette unique, and why she is important as an influencer. Elana Golub from Forbes puts it perfectly: “Jeannette Ogden…only has one strategy: to have no strategy”…with a “what you see is what you get” mantra. It’s evident from her posts that she isn’t afraid to say or show what is currently happening in her life. Especially with her son Elliot in the picture, she truly brings all her followers along on her journey through motherhood while keeping up her health and wellness routine. To reiterate, she doesn’t sugar coat anything, which amounts to her being that much more relatable. People are obviously attracted to that approach because it makes them feel like they know the influencer personally and can connect with them.
She disclosed in that Soul on Fire podcast episode that her journey to find balance in eating has been a roller coaster, and she has suffered from an eating disorder in the past. However, now, she makes it clear on her account that it’s OKAY to eat the gluten, the dairy, etc. because that’s what being healthy is — it’s enjoying everything in moderation. This is such an important concept to preach as an influencer within the health and wellness Instagram community, because many influencers just post their highlights (AKA the extremely healthy food they consume, the productive workout days they have, etc.) and none of their indulgences and off-days. The “highlight reel” was cited as social media stressor #1 by Bailey Parnell, as it causes us to judge our ‘reality’ against someone else’s highlights. That’s why it’s awesome that Jeannette is trying to remove that kind of filter from her feed. She lets the world know that even as a health and wellness influencer, she isn’t doing or consuming ‘healthy’ things 100% of the time.
Pictured below is a post she made about the pizza she consumed and, most importantly, ENJOYED:
I admire how she is dedicated to being truthful to her followers. In that podcast episode previously mentioned, she also stated that she would never partner with a brand that she didn’t believe in and enjoy using herself. I’m sure money is still a factor in who she decides to partner with, but primarily it’s about how much she loves the product itself and if it aligns with her brand. For example, she expressed that Del Taco (a US fast-food chain) reached out to her to do a campaign with them, and obviously she declined. How odd would it be if she, a health and wellness influencer, was promoting greasy tacos? Anyway, this knowledge reassures her followers that her opinions posted about products on her feed are real (however, I always remain critical about this, as you never really know). That trust factor is huge in this era of mass information, as it can be hard to grasp individuals’ attention and sell them on your brand.
It’s evident she is trying to use her power for good, as she realizes that she has the ability to influence individuals to purchase items and brands she posts about. However, compared to other influencers, she doesn’t post much sponsored content on her feed (or, rather, *seemingly* sponsored content). This communicates to me that she chooses her sponsors wisely and tries her best to stay true to her goal of staying ‘real’ by only promoting products she loves.
Here is an example of a sponsored post on her feed for Bob’s Red Mill (a natural baking products company):
Of course with a two-year-old not every day is going to be easy (I mean… they do say they are the “terrible twos”, right?). Since I’ve been following her for a while now, I’ve gotten to watch her son Elliot grow up. She always stresses how motherhood is an incredibly hard task to take on yet incredibly rewarding, and I admire that she shares both sides to that. She has made him a big part of her account because, again, she wants to stay genuine and allow people to see what actually goes on in her day-to-day life. Elliot has been a wonderful addition to her account (read: brand), and has enabled her to tap into the third largest influencer category (already mentioned): Parenting. Nontheless, maintaining an active social media account can be difficult in itself, and she is showing people that even with other important responsibilities (AKA another human) it’s still possible to run a successful account and make it all work!
Here is a post about one of her son’s not-so-great mornings:
It’s also important to mention her admirable fitness routine. She frequently posts Instagram stories from her workouts and I’m literally tired just from watching them! However, she has stressed that working out is more for her whole well-being rather than “just to look a certain way”. She makes it clear that she does it because she WANTS to not because she HAS to. It can be motivating for people to see that kind of attitude where appearance doesn’t take the cake. On a platform filled with triggering photos of idealized body-types, loving the body you’re in is an important message to spread. Some days she expresses in her posts that staying in bed rather than getting her butt to the gym sounds better, and that’s totally cool. It shouldn’t be a chore.
Overall, no matter how much bigger her brand has gotten, she seems to be the same Jeannette who allows her real self to shine through, is dedicated to authenticity, and is the influencer that people can actually find similarities with. All incredible qualities to embody as an individual with power. And, that is why she matters.
That Aesthetic, Though.
It’s wild to me that Jeannette has mentioned that she manages this account all on her own because her feed is beautifully curated. It’s the perfect mix of food pics, fitness videos, selfies, and family pictures that makes you want to scroll for days. She is a talented photographer, and it’s evident that she takes the time to make sure her content is high quality. As we’ve learned, visual communication is incredibly important (I can’t believe that 90% of information communicated to our brains is visual!). She makes veggies ALWAYS look on-point, and you can tell she is meticulous in ensuring that all the details of her photos are justttt right. I believe that her content can motivate someone to want to live a healthier lifestyle because she makes it look good. She exudes the idea that being healthy can still be exciting — and who wouldn’t love to see that?
I mean, look at this wonderful (*and delicious looking*) bowl of health she posted:
However, as you can see from the caption of the above post, her captions are detailed and personalized as well. It’s not uncommon for her to throw in a little life update and/or humour into them. You can tell her posts in general are not just quickly put together — but this is her job after all (other than being a mom!). It’s evident that she cares about giving her followers the best content she can give, which has resulted in a loyal audience.
Lovin’ the Crew
Just to clear this up right away…yes. This heading is meant to be an ode to The Weeknd because Jeanette is a hard-core R&B and rap fan on top of being incredible at engaging with her followers (hence, ‘the crew’). In many of her posts I have seen her replying to comments, consisting of her thanking individuals for their kind words, replying to questions, etc. Jeanette talks to her followers like they’re her friends, making her appear more down-to-earth. There are often lots of exclamation marks and/or dragged out words (see the photo below!). In her Instagram stories, she also often posts followers’ recreations of her recipes, which shows that she wants to outwardly thank them for their ongoing support. Jeanette is aware that it’s an exciting feeling for her followers to get acknowledged like that. This may lead to a ‘fan-girl’ moment perhaps?
All in all, her level of connectivity to her audience is STRONG, which can therefore lead her to make an even greater impact on them (AKA affiliative bond creation). It’s that personal approach she takes that entices people to want to engage with her content. Who knows if she wasn’t this engaging with her audience if she would have garnered as much success as she has?
A look into her engagement with followers on one of her posts:
The intro story to her spree of reposting followers’ recreations of her recipe:
Loyal to the ‘gram
What is interesting about Jeannette is that she hasn’t expanded to another social media platform and is happy where she is. She does have a blog, but it’s clear she doesn’t update it very often. She is an Instagram girl through and through, and she has mastered the art of it. I find her approach to Instagram so refreshing in that nothing is off limits. As has been previously mentioned, it’s apparent that she makes a conscious effort to let her followers know that her life has been by no means perfect and has her own set of struggles. Again, Instagram can be a dangerous tool for creating a “highlight reel” that masks anything that may be going on behind-the-scenes. However, she is trying to defy that norm, which is what I believe has triggered her immense success.
Here’s an example of a photo with a very personal caption about her hair-loss after having Elliot. By sharing this, it creates an open and public discussion about something that many women may be embarrassed about:
I love that she preaches self-love and the idea of embracing our insecurities. All in all, she is a role-model and a compassionate human-being.
Kale-usion
So, I’ve just given you the run-down on @shutthekaleup, and I hope by now you understand why I’ve decided to write about her. She hasn’t garnered that large of a following for nothing, and I’ve tried to identify the key points (realness, engagement, high-quality content, etc.) about her that I believe have been the primary contributors to her success. She started from the bottom and now she’s HERE and making waves in the health + wellness Instagram world.
