Meet Vanessa Collazos

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vanessa Collazos. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vanessa below.

Vanessa, so happy to have you with us today. You are such a creative person, but have you ever had any sort of creativity block along the way? If so, can you talk to us about how you overcame or beat it?

As someone who works in a creative field, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re creating content for 10–20 brands every single week, week after week. When I start to feel that way, I do the opposite of searching for more inspiration online – I go outside.

It’s important to detox, to let go, and to find inspiration from real life. And in order to do that, you have to actually live it. When you work for yourself, you have to consciously remind yourself to take breaks and step off the clock.

Coming back refreshed will always be more valuable than any amount of research.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I launched NessaCo Agency after spending years helping businesses go digital during the pandemic and realizing there was a real gap in support for small, independent brands. I’ve worked across hospitality, fitness, and even plastic surgery, but what I’m most proud of is serving LGBTQ+, minority-owned, and women-led businesses.

As a member of these communities myself, it’s an honor to build visibility for people I see myself in – to help them grow, be seen, and succeed without carrying the entire weight of marketing on their own shoulders.

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?

Early on, I grew by mastering one skill with the help of a mentor. If you don’t have access to a mentor, I always encourage seeking some form of formal education – even if it’s not directly in your field. My background in Political Science taught me how to research, understand context, and make nuanced decisions, and those skills became essential in my creative work.

Another thing I recommend is spending time online observing – but not just scrolling. Pay attention to the content you absorb, analyze why it works, and translate that into your own perspective.

And finally, start your own channel or platform. Experiment. Try things. Build your voice. Especially if you’re a social media manager – you need to know your own style and your own value before you can confidently offer it to others.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

One of the most important books I’ve ever read is Critical Statistics: Seeing Beyond the Headlines by Robert de Vries, a university professor in the UK. Even after studying Political Science and considering myself a strong researcher, this book showed me how to take those skills to another level. It taught me how to look past surface-level data, question narratives, and really understand the deeper context behind numbers.

Thank you, Professor de Vries – that book shifted the way I think.

Image Credits

NessaCo Agency