Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly McFarland.
Kelly, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I began working in the press and digital space after I graduated college and worked in celebrity and hospitality PR. During my first year of working with celebrities, I started to see the rise of “bloggers” and brands starting to gain interest in not only gifting celebs for potential product placement in magazines but also gift influencers to post on their social media channels. My cousin, Courtney and I had been blogging for about a year but as Instagram began to gain traction as a social media channel, we began posting our looks to the platform. We were living together in Brooklyn and our platform started to gain traction as we shared content from where we were eating, to events we were attending, to products we were using.
Utilizing what I was learning on the “influencer” side of my career, I started building out social media and influencer marketing departments within traditional PR agencies as more brands were inquiring about this new medium. I then started working at Small Girls PR heading up influencer marketing campaigns for brands including Jason Wu, PGA Tour, GE Lighting, Zola, Olay, among others. As the agency grew, I moved to Los Angeles to help build out their West Coast office! I still work full-time at Small Girls along with blogging and utilize the “insider” information from both sides of my career to inform best practices for brand campaigns.
Has it been a smooth road?
The first few years of my career were extremely difficult. As an assistant working in public relations in New York, I was making $30,000/year and was working around $80 hrs a week to keep up with the amount of clients we had. I thought at the time that this was normal and was going to be what the rest of my career looked like until I learned the value of when to say “no.” As you begin your career, it’s important to try and learn as much as possible, take on responsibility if someone is trusting you with it, going out and networking but it is also important to understand your value and know how to leverage it. My advice is to hone in on a skill or build out something that sets you apart from your colleagues so you are able to flex your value to your employers. For me, my value was being at the start of the influencer space and understanding how to leverage my knowledge of social media to build the business.
We’d love to hear more about Mimosas and Manhattan (@CourtandKelly).
Along with my cousin Courtney, I am the co-founder of Mimosas and Manhattan (@CourtandKelly), which is a destination for millennials to come for style inspiration, career tips, dining/travel and beauty Inspo. I am based in LA and Courtney is based in New York so we share style tips from coast to coast.
I also work full-time as a Creative Supervisor on the digital team at Small Girls PR. I have worked on everything from start-up brands to Fortune 500 companies to build out their digital strategy, influencer management and celebrity partnerships.
Do you recommend any apps, books or podcasts that have been helpful to you?
I love listening to podcasts on my way to work every morning because it really pumps me up for the day! I love The Skinny Confidential which is a podcast that features interviews from best-selling authors, to female founders, to inspirational figures. But it’s all about how to be the best version of yourself, no matter what career path you choose. They give truly tangible life tips on productivity, time management and health/wellness.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.mimosasmanhattan.com
- Instagram: CourtandKelly
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