Call for better influencers on my social media feeds
An influencer used to be – quite simply – someone or something who influenced another. Nowadays, an influencer is usually associated with marketing and, in particular, social media.
Social media influencers irk me. Not all of the them. Only those who use social media as a platform from which to find fame, rather than credibility or because they have or can do something worthy of influencing others.
There are so many millions of truly inspirational people in the world; I want to see more of these people as influencers on my social media feed.
As a personal brand photographer, I have the opportunity to work with many incredible people and I’m slowly building social media pages which celebrate the type of people I want– and want others – to see more of.
Running a business, no matter how large or small, is challenging and everyone I’ve had the opportunity to work with in the last year is powering forwards, against the rather dismal odds at the moment, to ensure success. I think this is why I want to see them in the privileged position of an influencer - and why I’ve decided to spotlight some of the amazing people I’ve worked with recently.
First up is Chelsea Jarvie.
In 2015, she graduated with a first-class honours degree in Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures and was the UK Computer Science Undergraduate of the Year. Not surprisingly, Chelsea’s successes haven’t stopped there and she is now the director of Neon Circle, a cyber security company focused on supporting clients efficiently reduce their security and information risks using a pragmatic and risk based approach (yes, this is straight from Chelsea’s website!) This is just one aspect to Chelsea’s work and since 2012 she has been a STEM Ambassador and has been fundamental in attracting and supporting women into the cyber security field through her delivery of presentations, conferences and events. Added to this, she also has an eco-friendly clothing store, Neon Threads.
With many years experience under her belt, Chelsea is now looking to support women, particularly within Computing Science and STEM fields with carefully tailored, career focused mentoring.
Her CV is impressive but what was she like to work with? For me, the title of influencer is about so much more than being good at what you do and being able to cascade your knowledge to others; influencers have to be able to build relationships with the people they influence.
Incidentally, this is the point where I feel that images speak louder than words, so I’m going to leave you to make up your own mind about how she was to work with…
Feel free to comment – I’d love to see if your opinions match up to my experience!