A Brief yet Elaborate talk with Hallie- A Pioneer in the Fashion Industry
Our readers would love to know about the incredible work you are doing. Please tell us about yourself and your work profile.
Throughout my social media career, I’ve worked with hundreds of brands as an influencer/content creator majorly in the field of fashion. I spend a good amount of time just replying to emails and working with brands who reach out to me through my email. Some of my recent favorites are Dior, Aéropostale, Maëlys Cosmetics, Kopari Beauty, Peri Addicts, and Playboy. To put it simply, for any collaboration, a brand and I connect, we talk about what they’re looking for, and then I create the content! I’m relatively selective when it comes to working with brands, though- I believe if you’re a creator with any amount of influence, you should choose wisely about who and what you support. Research, transparency, and honesty are really important. I want to be genuine and earn the trust of my followers, and I also really want to be a positive influence. I want to give people confidence and be personal with my audience. It’s tricky behind a screen though, and I’m pretty awkward in front of a camera. My significant other takes most of my content for me which makes it easier, but I can’t talk on video for the life of me. It’s all been a learning process for me and still is, but I’m proud of where I’ve come!
As far as my other projects, I’ve been a writer from a young age. I enjoy creative writing, and can’t wait to finish the pretty long ongoing process of getting my work out there. I’ve waited so long because I want the best for my books when I do release them- I’ve read my manuscripts over probably hundreds of times and still find something to change every time. It’s tedious, but that’s writing, and hopefully, I’ll get with a literary agent soon.
You have a huge social media presence and a strong fanbase. How do you juggle philanthropy and life as an influencer?
That’s tricky! I consider myself to be a light and positive person. I have a lot of empathy and care deeply for others. Unfortunately, it’s hard to express that through a screen. Most of my social media work is done for brands, so I don’t have a whole lot of space to talk with my followers and be more than just a beauty/fashion creator. Other than that, as I mentioned, I only promote brands that I would genuinely use or buy from if I found them organically. It wasn’t always that way, when I first started in the beginning I was young and excited. I couldn’t tell the difference between a brand that scams and a legitimate business. I’ve learned since then, though. And still am learning! You know, everyone’s human, and everyone’s just trying to figure it out. But since I’m in the public eye, I don’t have as much leniency in taking the time to figure it out. There’s more of a moral responsibility. I want to do good and spread good. I want to only promote brands with good values, and good products.
With more power comes greater responsibility. How do you remain strong in your mind, body, and spirit when there is so much on your plate?
This hasn’t been easy. I have struggled a lot, and I think most people on social media do more so than people might expect. If one works alone like I do, you’re your manager. There are emails, lots of planning, lots of back and forth, and the mental aspect. I used to struggle a lot with all of the content I was consuming and thought I needed to look a certain way all of the time. I’d wake up, get dressed and ready, shoot for hours, and then eat for the first time by 5 P.M. and feel bad about not making it longer. I got so tired of trying to look a certain way that showering, doing my makeup, or my hair, all of it became a chore to me because I associated it with work, and with someone I wanted to be but wasn’t. I stopped doing it for fun or myself, getting ready became stressful and I hated it for a while because I’d feel disappointed in myself. It wasn’t healthy, and I consider myself beautiful now, but I wasn’t the type that I wanted to be for a while. Since then, I’ve learned that one person’s beauty isn’t greater or lesser than another. A rose is beautiful but so are hydrangeas and they look nothing alike! People are the same, so remembering not to fit me into a box has helped. That and meditation, downtime for reading, checking in with my body and its needs, having days to be in the sun, and fueling my body properly have been huge.
We would love to know about your ongoing and upcoming projects. Would you like to spill some beans on the same?
Other than my books, I’ve got another project coming up. I can’t say much, but I can say that I’m super super excited. I’ve had a lot of experience with people through the years, and my advertising background along with that has shown me that there’s a need for something in the fashion industry- and I want to help fill it! I hope everyone will love it. I hope it will help people be and feel like themselves, and the best version of themselves. I want it to bring people confidence.
How can our readers connect with you? Where can we find more about work?
Well, I’ve got a couple other platforms that I’m on outside of Instagram. I don’t really respond to DMs (there’s too many, and a lot of negativity- I don’t subject myself to going through them all the time), but I try my best to respond to every comment I get, and try to chat with people on my stories from time to time!
For more of my work, I’m also on TikTok and post more casually there for right now. Really, Instagram is my main page for all my work and I’ve got Hoo.be in my bio (it’s like a link tree) that takes anyone to everything else I’m doing out there. My future projects will be linked there from my Instagram. This has really been the only place I’ve been able to share anything past a caption, so this has been great! I’m really happy I got to share!
