Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Brown
Hi Karen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am from Ohio, born and mostly raised in Cleveland. I went to college at the University of Cincinnati to study Architecture and Design. It’s also where I met my husband, Will. After we got married, we decided to stay in Cincinnati.
I’m a small influencer, with a following of over 20,000 people. I got started on Instagram when my friends and family kept asking for photos of vacation, wanted to see what I was wearing and, of course, what food I was eating. I often refer to myself as the “accidental influencer”. It was nothing I really set out to do or wanted to pursue.
I started to see a big change in my feed, after I posted vacation pictures of Austria and London in the wintertime. I was with my family and randomly posted some pictures of the snow- covered Christmas markets. It was a pretty magical experience and incredible places we visited. Soon, I discovered that people want to know details. Where did I stay, what did we eat? Instagram is a fun way to connect with everyone.
As soon as I post any interesting picture on my feed, my engagement and numbers go up. I’m Meta Verified, so it helps to show the followers that my profile is authentic. It’s very cool to see that there are people all over the world checking in to see what I’m doing. I also get many ideas of places that I want to visit from other followers. I would tell anyone who wants to be an influencer, it takes consistent work, and commitment. You will never be caught up and if you’re not passionate about it, it will show.
For someone getting started, I think going in with a plan is super important. Decide who your target audience is and what value you’re going to offer them. Then, show up every single day and provide that value. I definitely have room for improvement in this area.
Becoming an influencer has brought many opportunities. My most recent opportunity came right after Mother’s Day. A large well known, luxury clothing brand contacted me and gave me a budget to purchase clothing. These are investment pieces and are often seen on celebrities all over the world. It also happens to be one of my favorite brands, Needless to say it’s been AMAZING and a bit humbling.
Most of my collaborations are for food or clothing. I am always happy to post about wonderful food and service if I’ve had a good experience. Conversely, I will not trash a restaurant for a bad experience. Instagram is supposed to be fun and a place to connect with like-minded people. It’s also a wonderful tool to help support local businesses.
Alright, 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?
I suppose one of my biggest challenges is that I post about travel, food and fashion yet, have I no photo or video editing knowledge. I am literally learning everything as I go. I get ideas, then have to figure out how to execute them.
In the beginning it was hard to develop a strategy. It’s a balance to stay unique and develop my own style. I want to create fascinating content that will inspire my audience which has brought me to what I am doing right now. I am constantly pushing myself to do better.
Another challenge is making sure that I only share things that I really like. For some influencers, their choices are their income. I prefer legitimacy and authenticity. The pressure that every trip, every bag, has to become content and generate more views and money. For me, I don’t want to be stuck in a hamster wheel of consumption. The bigger you get, the more content your audience wants to see. And again, I’m producing my own videos.
So, whenever I share something on my page, I only share what I truly love. If there is something I don’t like, I just won’t post about it.
It’s also difficult to make time for everything. There is a lot to juggle. I get a lot of dm’s, asking to attend events or try new things. I cannot get to it all, but in my downtime I look forward to reading all of it!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have always been artsy. I grew up drawing, painting and being creative, I painted my way through college selling a lot of art to my professors. I don’t have a lot of free time now to paint, but I do try to pick up a brush every few months and complete paintings. I also enjoy updating our 120-year old, Georgian style home.
I am most proud of my beautiful family, I have 3 wonderful kids and a very supportive husband (and a dog and 3 rescue cats).
Besides art, I am especially passionate about my philanthropic work for pediatric cancer, specifically Neuroblastoma. It’s empowering to do something positive because there’s not anything obviously positive about childhood cancer. The only people who are going to shed light on the issue are the people who have been there. I’ve supported the fight against childhood cancer for almost 20 years and worked with Congress to provide funding increases of $3.4 billion for NIH and $2.6billion for NCI. I was incredibly proud to be a part of the Childhood Cancer Star Act which Congress unanimously passed in 2022. It’s important to give back either with your time or money or, preferably, both.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio we were always guaranteed to have snowy, blizzard like winters. I believe it was the storm of “79 and after the crazy winds calmed down, my parents let me go out and play in the snow with the other kids from the neighborhood. At the time, we had a brand new 2 story garage with a pitched roof. The roof had to have been about 18-25 feet off the ground. The snow pile was as high as the gutter, so we made a slide that took us down to the driveway. One of my favorite memories is sledding off the roof of the garage and living to talk about it.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Karengbrown01
