The Power of Influence

Part One: Brand Events

Jun 14, 2025

Welcome back to Gracefully Unfiltered, a bi-weekly edit where I share all my deepest, darkest, and unfiltered thoughts on motherhood, marriage, fashion, and so much more. As a woman who left the fashion world, I’m thrilled to be on this new journey with you.

Ten years in the beauty and fashion space teaches you a lot. One of the most valuable lessons I learned early in my career, especially working at a startup early on, is the power of influence.

And I don’t just mean the macro influencers with a million followers and a discount code for every occasion. I’m talking about the micro influencers. The ones with under 15k followers, high engagement, and a loyal audience who actually trusts them. Those were the ones that mattered.

Back in my influencer marketing days, we were laser-focused on these micro creators, especially those with a 90%+ authenticity rate. We used tools like HypeAuditor to sniff out the ones buying bots or faking engagement (which, at the time, was basically a sport). These tools were game-changers in an era when everyone and their mom was buying followers.

So what’s the point of an influencer anyway?

Simple: we live in a consumer-first world, and the smartest strategy became ditching overly polished, brand-perfect ads in favor of UGC (user-generated content). Real voices. Real experiences. Real results. UGC outperformed polished ads every single time. And naturally, that ROI caught every client’s attention.

My pitch?
“People buy sh*t from people they trust.”
(Okay, I said it way more professionally, but you get the idea.)

Even me, with my humble 2,000 Instagram followers. I’ve unintentionally sold products just by saying, “OMG this actually works.” I’m pretty sure GHD owes me at least 30 sales based on one story post. That’s how it worked: brands would select creators from our CRM, and if the creator genuinely liked the product, they’d opt in, post content, and share their review. No forced scripts. Just authentic promotion.

The next big strategy? Brand events and IRL moments.

When my clients trusted me to run influencer pop-ups or branded events, the results were always next-level. Content flowed nonstop (I mean, who wouldn’t want to post from a stunning event setup?), but even more valuable were the relationships built between the brand, the creators, and ultimately, the consumer.

These events created emotional equity. Influencers started forming real connections with the brands they loved and that kind of loyalty? You can’t manufacture it. The brand awareness? Sky high. The data doesn’t lie.

Even the other day, I went to a brand event for LALA LÉXA. When the founder, Alexa, initially launched her lifestyle brand, I wanted to support a friend. But now, as a full-grown adult with a more defined style (with a more flexible spending limit), I’m drawn to pieces that feel creative, intentional, and a little bit special. Her designs are beautiful and thoughtfully made, exactly the kind of things I want in my new selective closet.

As someone who proudly loves to shop, and yes, sometimes splurges on things that are definitely overpriced, I’ve started gravitating toward pieces that inspire me. The ones that make getting dressed feel like self-expression instead of just routine. Sure, I still love my plain Jane staples, but I also believe your wardrobe should have a little magic in it.

The older I get, the more I realize I don’t want to wear what everyone else is wearing. I want to wear what reminds me who I am, an extroverted grandma with a pop.