Today we’d like to introduce you to Ivonne Kwan
Hi Ivonne, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My name is Ivonne. I graduated with a degree in Business Management from Loyola Marymount University in LA. I didn’t know what I wanted to do for most of my life but I didn’t want to go in undeclared so I chose business as my major! A personal story that has contributed to the majority of my growth is the car accident I got into in 2016. I lost 4 of my front teeth and almost had to repeat a semester because it happened the weekend before finals week of my Junior year. I had to withdraw from my study abroad program and I was most sad about that. Luckily things turned out okay and I recovered from that 6 years later. That event has played the biggest role in my life so honestly talking about how I got to where I am today professionally doesn’t feel as important to me.
After graduation, I thought I enjoyed event management so I went into the wedding industry and did sales and coordination. I liked it but it was tiring and late hours. Then covid happened and when they asked me to go back to work a few months later, I decided to change my career path. I went into freelance social media management starting in 2021. Then I got hired as an in house social media manager for a year. After that, I took some time off working to recalibrate for a bit, went to Europe a couple times – full circle as I hadn’t gotten to go since I had to withdraw from my study abroad program in Spain. Then started applying to jobs again. Eventually I went back into freelancing. Fast forward to 2024, I started working at a start up social media agency as Brand Manager and Social Media Manager.
I enjoy that my job has a creative element, I get to tell stories on social media, I get to take photos videos etc. and make a vision in my mind come to life. I truly see my profession as something I want to WANT to do. I would never want to hate my job or just do it for the money. Sure, I want to live comfortably but I would never sacrifice my happiness and sanity for that. That’s what my accident taught me and no one could ever convince me that having a huge salary is something i should stress so much about in this lifetime. I’m content 🙂
On the side, I shared my accident story on social media in 2021 and I was inspired to open up after so many years of healing silently. i think another shift in my life happened when I decided to publicly show my smile without my front teeth in. Lots of feedback both positive and negative but I knew I was inspired to continue to share my story in hopes of reminding others going through anything similar that they aren’t alone. I wouldn’t consider social media a part of my “job” but it’s what i like to do for fun and it’s a passion project of mine
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As I’ve mentioned my main challenge in my personal growth has been my accident but at the same time it has empowered me to become the version of myself that I am today. The main challenges in my life have been my accident (appointments during work, surgeries, recovery etc.) and COVID. Being in quarantine was a challenge because the world felt like it was on hold but honestly the quarantine period was the start of my career. Starting freelancing connected me with so many amazing members of the community and I learned what it was like to work for myself and create my own schedule. Of course, that came with its own challenges, Not really having a team to work with and collaborate with was hard. I had to do everything on my own and I was creatively burnt out often. That’s why I decided to join a larger company and be their in house social media manager. That also came with its challenges as I soon began to feel like I was not valued as much as I knew I was worth.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I do brand strategy, social media management, content creation, community management, graphic design, video editing, influencer management, digital marketing, paid ads. Everything in that ball park! I am most proud of my creative mind and ability to story tell authentically. I run my own social media pages as well that are in the mental wellness space and it’s so important for me to use social media in a positive way for both my personal use and for clients. I think social media is an incredibly powerful tool and to know that and how to use it is to align with goals and visions is my strength. I have been doing social media basically since i graduated and I’ve worked on my own and for brands and I think because of that I have a very wide range of experience – a wide range of industries (food, beauty, services, personal brands, etc) and team sizes (worked on my own, worked in bigger and smaller teams). I have been in all parts of the creative process. I don’t JUST do social media management is what most people think social media managers do. I am now currently a brand manager but I am confident in my skills all the way from strategy and conceptualization to the execution.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
My friend Alex has always been the one to take a chance on me and believe in my skills even before I believed fully in myself. When we reconnected in 2021, he asked me to do social media for the clients that he shot photos and videos for (he is a professional videographer). And from there my career kicked off and I will forever thank him for that! He was the first one to believe in me and give me a chance at doing something that I had little prior experience doing. And from there I built an extensive creative portfolio and the rest is history.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ivywithin
Image Credits
Photo of me wearing jeans – Brenda @brendasnikon
