Today we’d like to introduce you to Eylul Savas.
Eylul, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I first started the @llamawithnodrama account, I was working remotely, already traveling the world while working as a Digital Marketing Consultant.
2016 was not the best year for the world, with the elections in the US, terror attacks in Europe and such. Even my IG feed was full of negative messages. So I wanted to start something with the pure intentions of bringing positivity, happiness, motivation, and travel encouragement to people’s lives. And Llama With No Drama was born.
I started posting from different places around the world and I immediately got amazing feedback from all these people on the Internet, and then one day Travel Channel got in touch with me asking if I’d be interested in giving an interview, and I of course said yes. Following that interview a couple of other big publishers reached out, and at that point, I decided to use my own PR skills, too. And boom, the account went viral. I got featured in over 300 media channels within the first three months. Mashable, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post, BBC…
The account has been growing since then. I’ve partnered up with over 100 international brands, including tourism boards of several countries like Japan, Antigua&Barbuda, Anguilla, Barcelona, tech companies like Samsung, huge hospitality brands like Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, Loews and so on.
With the account’s success and the booming llama trend, I turned it into a company, started selling some merch and stuffed llamas.
But in the meantime, there were many other clients wanting to work with me on a consultancy basis. So I decided to branch it out as an agency so that I could serve to more brands and companies on a larger scale with a wider skill set with the help of my co-founder Burcin Kurkcuoglu who is a super talented UI/UX designer. Now we have an extraordinary team of 6 powerful women. And we provide services in the following areas: Branding, website creation&development, content production, social media management, corporate social responsibility project development.
It’s crazy how one little stuffed animal has changed my life.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
While working as a travel influencer, managing an agency is not the easiest I have to say. I’m always on the go, and I’m responsible for both my agency’s clients and the brands that I’m partnering up through my IG accounts, @llamawithnorama and @eylulsavas. I’m always on different time zones, flying from one place to another, creating new content in each location and have to be available most of the time to jump on client calls and manage them.
There’s no luxury to call in sick or to take a break. When your job is in the digital marketing/social media field, that’s pretty much the case for most of the people I guess, as the digital world never sleeps. Don’t get me wrong though, I still feel so lucky to be able to do what I’m doing today.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Lw/ND Media & Llama With No Drama – what should we know?
Lw/ND Media is a boutique digital marketing agency, committed to creating powerful social impact-focused brands.
Because of the powerful brand I created with Llama With No Drama via social media, most of our clients approach to us for their social media marketing needs, but we actually have a very powerful team that is capable of covering all aspects of digital marketing, from branding to website creation, or content production to CSR project development.
But I can say that whatever client or project we’re working on, our main focus is on social impact. Meaning, our goal is to work with brands and companies that consider social awareness and impact as part of their digital marketing strategy.
I think it’s very important to consider impact in today’s world and unfortunately there are not many digital agencies focusing on this subject. So I think that’s what differentiates us the most. Not only do we develop CSR projects for our clients, we consider social impact as a vital part of our agency’s mission. Through Kiva Charity, we lend a percentage of each contract to female entrepreneurs in need around the world. Kiva Charity is a crowdfunding platform allows people to lend money to low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries and around the world. This is so important for me because in the end we’re all humans, we’re all equal and I believe that everybody has to have a chance to do what they believe in.
Also, through ‘Llama With No Drama’ we’ve been partnering with groups supporting wildlife and conservation efforts. And we are committed to donating a portion of our proceeds to these organizations. One initiative we love is World Wildlife Fund’s ‘Adopt a Llama’ program.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Passion and courage.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lwnd.media & www.llamawithnodrama.com
- Email: [email protected] & [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/llamawithnodrama/ & https://www.instagram.com/eylulsavas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/llamawithnodrama/
Image Credit:
Eylul Tokyo image by Gregory Dava, EYLUL&LLAMA ANTIGUA image by Angelina Cox, LLAMA & EYLUL MEXICO image by Burcin Kurkcuoglu, LLAMA & EYLUL LA ART SHOW image by Derin Kivaner
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.
