Today we’d like to introduce you to Hope Leigh.
Hope, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was a performer my whole life. Literally, Suzuki pre-school playing violin by age 3, performing arts high school, a degree in musical theatre. I moved to Los Angeles and started a band. (I know, how very typical) We did pretty alright. Some tours, a Ted Talk, we even won Pop Album of the Year at the LA Music Awards. I sang with Charli XCX on Jimmy Kimmel. And overnight my whole world changed. Myself and a group of friends started a viral campaign that became the top trending topic on Facebook and Twitter overnight.
We ended throwing up a fundraiser event through it with the help of Moby, Pharrell, and a slew of non-profits we grew to love with appearances on Good Morning America, Today Show, etc. It got hectic quick! (Virality is… a crazy beast) I realized, I kind of hated being the in the spotlight – as the internet became a place where comment sections and anonymous messaging was as nasty as a high school bathroom fight. I stopped performing. It just felt like closure. I had found the success I wanted and realized that a lot of the industry and what’s attached to it isn’t for me!
My dad has always worked in marketing and operations on a high-end corporate level and suggested that I offer to companies the same services of helping to rally communities online and create buzz and organic engagement. I gave it a whirl, and now just 2 years later I run social for over 26 brands and create content for over 75. We are running a full blow branding and digital marketing firm and I’ve never been happier with life.
Aside from when we actually capture photo/video for clients, we can do most of this work remote and I’ve been able to travel a lot more. It’s been awesome – my quality of life is truly incredible with the freedom found in working in the digital space. And it’s pretty simple. We just find companies, brands, and personalities that we think are cool… and we try to make them look as cool online as they are in real life!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
For the most part, it’s been really smooth. The question I get the most by others getting into this field is how I find clients, and we’ve been lucky enough that its all reference and word-of-mouth. The hardest thing is probably staying focused when you are your own boss!
It takes discipline and routine. (I also had a hard drive crash last summer after shooting a summer tour for NPR… woof… technology is a blessing but when your whole business relies on it and you are working with thousands of large files… a few get lost and that is a challenge).
Please tell us about Sherpa Consulting.
We specialize in social media strategy and content creation. We are known for creating photo and video content that is high quality while still feeling natural (some people call that lifestyle vibes haha). We are pretty casual about it, and I think what most of our clients would note about us is that because we are such a small brand agency (really just my dad, myself, my boyfriend and one intern!).
We are super accessible. You don’t get passed around to a ton of people – you get to know us, and know that we are available and stay on top of our accounts (likely to a fault) 24/7/365. I am most proud of the light we are able to shine on small businesses. We help focus on their digital properties so they can focus on running their business.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Great question! If I were starting over I would have implemented organizational practices that could grow well with expansion from the start. How we we’re tracking little things like passwords for accounts, what is in what file on what Hard drive, how and when to clear memory cards… it seems small, but the protocols we set up make a huge difference and I wish I would have thought about some of them before we desperately needed them!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wearesherpa.net
- Email: hope@wearesherpa.net
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/hopeleigh
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