We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vivian Ly a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Vivian, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. We’re excited to dive into your story and your work, but first let’s start with a broader topic that might be stopping many of our readers from pursuing their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. How have you managed to persist despite haters and nay-sayers that inevitably follow folks who are doing something unique, special or off the beaten path?
I am going to be honest, it has not been easy and it’s truly something I am still learning to overcome every day. In the past, I would take other people’s criticism and stances towards me too personally. Anything bad someone had to say about me, I took it to heart and questioned everything about whether they were right. I’d be lying if I said I’m not completely that person anymore, but I have gotten a lot better at trumping haters’ opinions of me with who I want to be and the decisions I choose to make.
I started out as a content creator in my junior year of high school during the pandemic. I felt like it was a passion of mine I always wanted to try out, but I have always been afraid of what people had to say about it because it’s not a common thing people do around me. Luckily, I gave myself that push of confidence to start taking pictures and reaching out to brands and I enjoyed the idea of the content creator community believing in my potential. As expected when I came back to in-person school during my senior year of high school, I did receive negative feedback because many peers from school have been watching my content creator journey. I’ve been called a wannabe influencer, an attention seeker, and any of the degrading things women have been called that you probably are thinking of right now. The funny thing though is how all of these things I have been called, I have never been called to my face.
I would constantly hear from others that this person called me this, this person said this about you, or they would overhear so and so say blah blah blah. In the beginning, it bothered me a lot but then I realized that these haters had nothing better to do with their time but watch everything I would post, form an opinion about it, and spread a rumor about me. They can’t even say it to my face so why should I get worked up about why they care so much. It appalls me that even to this day, even when I graduated high school and am currently in my second year of college, I would still have friends message me about something they overheard about me from someone we went to high school with. All I can do now is just laugh and say thank you for letting me know. I know this is cliche but all these negative, hating remarks towards me have only helped me build my character in the way I present myself and live my life more authentically. I have everything I could have wanted as a content creator. I went from emailing hundreds of brands and making my cousin help take content of me to post to show my potential to now working with my favorite brands and getting sent amazing products to try out in exchange for content. If I listened to the haters about how “embarrassing” I was being thinking this could go somewhere, well look at me now.
To anyone who is also holding themselves back from pursuing something they are passionate about because of the potential judgment they will receive, literally just do it. And I know there are always the “what ifs” and worst-case scenarios, but plant the seed and put in the motions to turn a silly thought into making something great out of it. Most people are too worried about their own lives to care so much about what you are doing and if anyone puts you down for doing something that makes you happy, that’s so embarrassing for them to care so much.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Hello everyone!
My name is Vivian and I want to first start off by thanking you so much for tuning in to learn more about me and my story! I am from Orange County, California but more specifically Little Saigon. I am of Vietnamese and Chinese descent, and I am proud to represent those in my community through Bold Journey. Growing up, I always felt that there wasn’t enough Asian representation in the media, but more specifically Southeast Asian representation so I’m glad I have the opportunity to do so now.
I am currently a full-time community college student studying business with a focus in digital marketing. I am also a part-time fashion, beauty, and lifestyle content creator but I honestly make content about whatever I feel I am interested in putting out there and connecting with an audience through them. I actually switched my major from film to business marketing because of my content creator journey.
It started out with stumbling upon videos about microinfluencers and I was curious what this job was. After doing more research on the impact they have on social media nowadays, I learned that micro-influencing has been more successful because it’s not about the amount of followers you have but the quality of your content. I found this concept so interesting because I was always afraid I never had enough followers to try something like this but seeing how many micro-influencers were sharing their experiences and advice, I was inspired to become one as well.
After a lot of trial and error in understanding the balance of creating what would attract an audience and what content seemed authentic to me, I not only started to have a passion for the creating aspect of content creation but also the business aspect. Nothing makes me more excited than being able to collaborate with a new brand that I grew up loving and consuming that I would now be promoting on social media. After being a content creator for three years, I decided this is something I want to do professionally as a career not only as a content creator but also making a career out of being a part of a brand’s marketing team. I find it so interesting from a brand’s perspective to learn what attracts a consumer into being interested and buying a new product or collection and what can be done to grow a customer base that will continue to stay loyal and keep up to date with the brand.
I mainly post all my content on Instagram and TikTok if you want to check out more of who I am and what I post. I immensely appreciate the support and following me through this journey I am continuously learning and growing.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities I would say helped me through my journey were patience, willingness, and passion. Starting out as a content creator, you become discouraged as you are waiting around for people to engage with your content and for brands to be willing to work with you. I would tell myself that my time would come and I needed to let my work speak for itself and that if it was good enough in my eyes and I was confident enough to put myself out there, the rest would work itself out into place.
A lot of how I was feeling when I was debating whether or not to start out my content creator journey was fear of being judged and putting in all this work for it to fail. It felt like I had an angel and devil on each of my shoulders as the devil was telling me what if everyone who’s judging me is right and I am wasting my time? On the other hand, the angel was telling me but what if you regret not starting now and you do succeed in putting all this passion into wanting to start happening. I convinced myself that I was so willing to put all this research into learning more about being a content creator that I might as well also start posting and reaching out. I would say it definitely paid off in the end as I initially thought it was so embarrassing that I was even trying but if I failed at least I gave it all the best I could.
Growing up I found myself leaning more towards creative outlets like learning to play different musical instruments, acting and directing in theatre, and teaching myself how to film and edit. Posting on social media was never new to me as it was always just a fun hobby to make for fun. In middle school, I used to have a YouTube channel where my cousins and I would post the most embarrassing skits and challenges. We would love to come up with ideas on ways to make the funniest and weirdest projects that only we would watch. I always had so much fun filming and editing together these videos which helped play a part in why I had that passion for creating. When I learned that there was a whole industry and market for smaller creators, that lightbulb in my head went off to try it out for myself. The passion was always inside as it was always the most satisfying concept to take an idea in my head, put it in the motions, and bring it to life in any way I could.
For anyone who also is fighting the thoughts in their head that are telling them that what they want to do is embarrassing or improve on not letting themselves hold them back, I would say it is completely normal to have these doubts. The hardest thing about starting a new project or jumping into a new role has to be pushing yourself out of the mindset that you are going to fail or it’s not going to work out in your favor. As long as you put in the time and work into starting and believing in yourself, the universe will reward your efforts.
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
I want to give the biggest shout-out to my cousin Tina. We were practically raised together as we’re only a year apart and grew up seeing each other at least twice a week for our whole lives. Out of everyone in this world, she knows me the best down to practically every piece of clothes in my closet. The saying opposites attract applies very well to us because we have the best blend of opposing personal qualities that mesh well into our dynamic. I find myself protective of her and I make sure that she also has someone to help guide her through challenging times. I am not afraid to be my most authentic self around her and our relationship is the one I treasure the most.
She has been my biggest supporter throughout my journey of finding myself and what I want to do with my future. My favorite quality about her is that she is very honest with me about anything but she does so in a way that is helpful that gives me an opposing perspective rather than in a way that is hurtful. For example, when I was just starting out with my content creator journey, she fully supported me from the beginning when most people around me were judging me for thinking I could make something out of this. She would always help me take my photos, find ideas of which outfits and looks would suit me best, and which photos look the best to post. Tina has a special eye for certain things I don’t see at first so I always ask her for her opinions even for the smallest thing that may seem silly but she has been very helpful especially when it comes to my fashion-based content.
The biggest knowledge Tina helped me learn is that success is so much more satisfying to achieve when you have a solid foundation of a support system. Having her support when I’m struggling or when I succeed and I have her to tell and be excited with me makes my achievements even bigger than they already are. Quality over quantity applies so heavily with your support system because you could have a lot of so-called friends to whom you express your excitement about a recent win but they respond poorly such as not caring enough or becoming jealous that you were able to achieve it. Their responses will make you feel less great about your win compared to a quality support system that is able to be excited with you and believe in you to already know that you are destined to achieve great things.
As sung by our favorite artist to listen to together Taylor Swift, “One single thread of gold tied me to you”.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sickovivian/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivian-ly-86956b241/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sickovivian
Image Credits
Dennis H. Tran (IG @den.nishtran)
