We were lucky to catch up with Maggie Hlebarova recently and have shared our conversation below.
Maggie, we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?
Self care is the most important priority for me, before anything else. I know that without making the much needed time for myself, I cannot perform to the best of my abilities, and my creative flow is limited. As far as daily rituals, I focus on a mix of physical, mental & emotional wellness activities to prime for the day. This typically includes regular exercise, meditation, getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water and taking breaks from my phone (this is essential, since I spend so much time on my phone throughout the day for work).
By maintaining these self-care practices, I feel more energized & less prone to burnout, which allows me to stay more productive for a longer period of time. I also feel more resilient and focused, being able to manage stress and solve problems. Self-care has also helped with my emotional state, improving my interactions with others and boosting my motivation!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
As a full-time UGC creator, I focus on producing authentic, relatable content that resonates with diverse audiences. I specialize in creating engaging videos, product reviews, tutorials, and lifestyle posts for various brands, leveraging platforms like Tiktok and Instagram to showcase products in an organic, creative way. My content focus heavily on makeup, skincare, fashion and wellness, offering my followers tips and inspiration while maintaining a strong connection to the brands I collaborate with.
I love how much creative freedom I have in the content I create. I always do my filming + editing myself, and often write scripts based on the goals and objectives of each campaign. Being able to see the footage come to life from start to finish is so rewarding and I get so fulfilled and happy when I receive great feedback from brands wanting to work on more projects together. In addition to creating one off ads and organic posts for brands, I also have several retainer clients, and I post on their accounts weekly.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Being a full-time creator requires dedication, consistency, and deep understanding of audience trends that drive success.
Dedication: It’s important to stay committed to your craft and put in the time and effort every single time. Dedication fuels passion needed to produce high-quality content, come up with new ideas & meet deadlines. It’s all about showing up even when motivation dips & focus on the long-term vision!
Consistency: The key to building trust is consistency. By that I mean not only by posting on your channels regularly, but also producing quality content every single time consistently for brands. By communicating regularly, and sticking to deadlines, it shows brands that you’re a reliable partner for ongoing collaborations.
Deep understanding: It’s important to spend a lot of time understanding industry trends, viral trends across platforms, and understanding different target markets in order to craft content that resonates and converts. By living and breathing social media (but don’t forget to unplug as well), you can create relevant, relatable content that adds value, stands out and effectively promotes products in a way that feels genuine.
Through this journey, I’ve honed my skills for video editing, content strategy & community engagement, which has helped me expand my talent & work with big name brands!
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
The biggest challenge I am facing right now is that I am a one man show. I do everything myself from start to finish with no help whatsoever, and there are only so many hours in the day, so it can get difficult to create the balance, especially as I typically tend to overpromise and say ‘yes’ far too often without realizing how much I have over-committed. I have definitely considered getting some help, mainly for the admin side of things, but I really do enjoy doing everything myself. Part of my strengths is my editing so it wouldn’t make sense to have someone hired as an editor. But I am definitely open to strategizing how best to manage my time and prioritize some clients over others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maggieportfolio.my.canva.site/ugc
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearmagss/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggiehlebarova/
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dearmags?lang=en
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