Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Stahl.
So, before we jump into specific questions about your agency, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I moved to Los Angeles from Tampa, Florida to attend the University of Southern California. I received a BA in Dramatic Arts and minor in Communications and the Entertainment Industry from the University in 2012. After graduation, I began to pursue a career in the Entertainment industry, mainly as an actor, but also as a producer, director and writer.
For the next couple of years, I had the classic actor jobs, working in a restaurant, for a juice company, as a nanny, as a personal assistant, etc. I got to a breaking point and came to the realization that if I wanted to continue to pursue a career in the Arts, I had to find a more sustainable way to earn a living that also used my brain and skills that I had learned through earning my degree. Social Media for business was just starting to bud as an industry and I began to freelance for an accounting firm, running their Facebook and Twitter accounts.
A few months later, I ran into an old sorority sister from USC, who had just started her own social media agency. Through small talk, I found out that she was looking to hire as she had just signed some new clients, and I was looking for more work. We agreed that I would start working with her part-time to support the new clients and the relationship grew from there. Almost five years later, I have grown my position to COO of Something Social and have worked with over 100 brands and companies throughout my tenure. Our company has grown to work with some of the biggest names in the lifestyle industry in Los Angeles and is continuously evolving to say up with the current trends of social media marketing for businesses and personalities.
I still continue to pursue my artistic career as well as working full-time at Something Social. I often pop out of the office for auditions, attend acting classes and workshops after work and write with friends or on my own when I’m not at the office. I produced and directed a short film with some fellow actors in 2017 and continue to create when and wherever I can.
I’m of the thought that you don’t have to choose or “give up” something in exchange for something else. If you want to make it work, and are truly passionate about what you’re doing, there is a way to fit it all into your life.
It’s crazy how chance encounters like running into a friend can change the course of our careers! I guess somethings are just destined to happen. Looking back, would you say things have been easy for you?
If anyone tells you their professional career has always been a smooth road, they’re either lying or they haven’t taken any risks.
The beginning of my career after college was extremely difficult. Working in the service industry and having multiple jobs in order to make ends meet is extremely taxing. Always be nice to your servers! People are rude to them all day long, every single day. I am grateful to have had that experience because I learned the reality of those positions, but I will never go back to working in a restaurant. My self-confidence and self-worth definitely took a hit during those years. I saw all of my friends from college beginning their careers and I was constantly facing rejection after rejection from my artistic pursuits.
I am so grateful to have run into Calli that day and to have joined Something Social, this company truly saved me. I was able to use my strategic thinking and actually see results from effort that I was putting in. I’ve had the opportunity to learn and work with some amazing companies and some incredible people along the way.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Something Social – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Something Social is a social media and creative agency based in West Hollywood. We specialize in social media and digital marketing strategy and content creation for all of our clients. Companies come to us at one of two phases in their business. Either they’re just starting out and need to implement social media in order to grow their business and customer base, or they are well-established and need a revamp on their social media strategy.
We walk every company through the process A to Z. We discuss their business & define their goals, really getting down to the nitty gritty of what success looks like to them. We then develop a complex social media strategy for all of their platforms, breaking down the type of content that should go on each platform, defining their voice in the digital space and getting clear on the aesthetic they should be putting on out on their social channels. From there, we create all of the content, produce all of the photo & video shoots necessary to support the strategy and then utilize all of the content created to execute the strategic vision. We handle all copywriting, platform management, customer service, paid social ads, analytics tracking and more.
I’m most proud of the work that we produce. Our teams are made up of some incredibly hard-working individuals who truly care about their clients and the content that we’re putting out there. We’ve worked with some huge names, such as Skechers, Wildfox, Waldorf Astoria, The h.wood Group, Westfield and more.
We really pride ourselves on the personal approach. We love building relationships with the people that we’re working with and getting to know them as we help grow their business. We find that establishing a personal repertoire is the best way for us to integrate into their goals and visions of their company and produce our best work. In getting to know someone, their likes and almost more importantly, their dislikes, you can gain an understanding of what they’ll respond to, what their taste is and be able to represent their business in the best way.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We just began launching training and educational materials this year and I’m personally really looking forward to growing that side of our business. We truly want every person and every company to feel proud of the social media representation of their business, but we recognize that we won’t be able to work with everyone who comes to us. We launched an online course called Instagram Strategy for Business this summer and have a few other educational products in the pipeline.
Pricing:
- Instagram Strategy for Business online course, $179
- SSLA Mobile Lightroom Presets $29
Contact Info:
- Website: somethingsocial-la.com
- Email: letschat@somethingsocial-la.com, marissa@somethingsocial-la.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/somethingsocial, instagram.com/marissacstahl
- Facebook: facebook.com/somethingsocialla
- Twitter: twitter.com/somethingsocial, twitter.com/marissacstahl
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissa-stahl/
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
