Meet Israel McCullough

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Israel McCullough a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Israel, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

I overcame imposter syndrome by first normalizing and acknowledging how I felt about imposter syndrome. I had a talk with a trusted friend about my struggles, and I was surprised to learn that I was not the only one that felt this way, that I aren’t competent enough or don’t fit in a certain group with others. I also had to reflect on my achievements based on my hard work and dedication. By writing down my big and small achievements, I can always look back on those achievements to rid the pressure of imposter syndrome. Finally, what has helped me overcome imposter syndrome is becoming a mentor, to provide help to others who are battling with imposter syndrome, teaching people what I know about overcoming imposter syndrome, and it helps me realize how much I have achieved in my career, and helps to reinforce my own confidence

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Hello, I’m Israel. I am a photographer with a talent for fashion and lifestyle content creating. I have been a content creator since 2021 and currently live in Louisville, Kentucky. I love sharing my stories and experiences for fashion, food, and music with my Instagram and TikTok audiences. What started as a small passion project has grown into a thriving small business that continues to grow year over year. I’ve organically grown my following across social media, to a global reach of over 20,000. I enjoy helping others’ vision come to life. I believe that every person and brand have a story to tell, and my goal is to make that story a visually appealing and profitable one. Specializing in content creation and digital story telling allows me the ability to direct brands in the best direction in order to tell a much broader story.

If you enjoy fashion and lifestyle content creation or want to work together to make your story one worth telling, follow me on Instagram and TikTok @spacecowboy_af and I would be very happy to follow each of you back.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think some of what has been the most impactful in my journey was my intellectual curiosity, having a desire to learn and understand diverse topics that resonates with my audience, which ultimately, fosters a more authentic and informed online presence. Resilience is also part of the successful impact to my journey, having the capacity to bounce back from setbacks and overcoming the pressures of public scrutiny, while maintaining a positive and consistent presence on social media. And finally, my understanding of different social media platforms.

People who are early in their journey should understand how to engage with their audiences effectively. It takes building a consistent posting schedule and finding a unique voice. Also, it’s important to ask for guidance by networking with other influencers and learning from their experience, so you can develop invaluable insights.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I am deeply passionate about collaborating with fashion boutiques and brands. Specifically, I am looking to partner with fashion brands that are willing to pay a certain rate for me to model their outfits and create compelling, high-quality IG reels and stories, TikTok Reels, and generate digital storytelling to drive customers to their brands.

Contact Info:

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