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I don’t know about ya’ll, but whenever I’m at a party, dinner, or even just going out with my friends, it’s become habitual to post something about it on social media. And though there’s nothing wrong with keeping the girlies updated on my moves, in this day and age, it’s important to know what’s good to share and what could potentially impact your future if the wrong eyes see it.
To talk through this with me, I’m joined today by Brooklyn-based Gen-Z lifestyle content creator, Cedoni Francis. Cedoni has worked with a variety of brands such as Vaseline, Disney and Marshalls, and through sharing her journey — from tech girl, to laid-off tech employee turned full-time entrepreneur, and incoming MBA student. Cedoni is creating content specifically for women in her age range, empowering and inspiring them in the process.
In our conversation today, Cedoni shares her do’s and don’t’s for posting on social media, setting boundaries around what the public gets to know about vs. what’s kept private, and dealing with haters when posting online.
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Congratulations, you've been accepted into the inaugural class of Therapy for Black Girls University. Whether packing for a new year on campus, thinking through your gap year, enrolling in a community college, or grabbing your souls for graduation, tbgu is here to help you thrive at this stage of your life and beyond. Hi.
I'm Sorria Taylor and I'm the TBG podcast production intern. We'll return to Jana right after the break.
I don't know about y'all, but whenever I'm at a party, dinner, or even just going out with my friends, it's become habitual to post something about it on social media. And though there's nothing wrong with keeping the girls updated on my moves, in this day and age, it's important to know what's good to share and what could potentially impact your future if the wrong I see it. To talk this through with me, I'm joined today by Brooklyn based gen Z lifestyle content creator Siddoni Francis. Siddoni has worked with a variety of brands such as Vasilene, Disney, and Marshalls, and through sharing her journey from tech girl to laid off tech employee turned full time entrepreneur and incoming NBA student, Siddoni is creating content specifically for women in her age range, empowering and inspiring them in the process. In our conversation today, Siddoni shares her dues and don'ts for posting on social media, setting boundaries around what the public gets to know versus what's kept private, and dealing with the haters when posting online. Here's our conversation, Siddoni, thank you so much for being here with us. I'm so excited to talk with you today and yeah, I'm ready to dive in. So you are an influencer, content creator, tech baddie and the luxurious big sister we never had. Take us back to the very beginning. Where would you say your love for content creation came from?
Oh my god, hilariously. So, when I was in college, I don't know if you guys are familiar with the brand ambassador programs that companies will do for colleges. Were like, you know, they'll give you a couple dollars and like, you know, you pretty much like promote the app or something like that on campus. So in the spring of twenty twenty, which was my last semester of college, I was a TikTok brand ambassador. I was posting like the dumbest videos. I only had like a hundred followers. It was just my friends and people I went to college with. And then obviously I had sue graduation unfortunately, and literally the day I graduated from college, my cousin at the time, she was like nine, I think, came over and helped me record a TikTok where I just like it was like set to Tom's Savage and it was like I'm that girl and no girl stoda girl pretty much was like the point of the video, and I captioned it, when you graduate from Vanderbilt with honors, a full time job at Google and no student debt. And I literally just like put my phone down. I had no followers, and I woke up the next day and I had like almost ten thousand and that video had gotten like three hundred thousand views, and I was like, wait, how did strangers see this thing? And I guess from there, it was always fun. It was just something that I was doing. It was good vibes. And then twenty twenty three rolls around, I get laid off from my full time job and I'm like, well, I guess this is what I'm doing now, this is my thing, right.
I definitely remember it felt like everybody was a brand ambassador, whether that be for Pink Good molecules. It felt like everyone on campus had content creation in their bag.
When I tell you, I was a brand ambassador for a million different companies, because it got to the point where my mom was like, girl, I'm not sending you money. Like you are twenty years old. You are able bodied get outside and go do some work. So I had done, Like I was a brand ambassador for like Natural Light the beer when I turned twenty one, and that's what paid my rent my senior year. Then I did HBO. I did run the runway, bumble. I was like a bumble campus leader, anything you name it, if they had money for it and there was something free. Absolutely I can go on campus and hand out these posters and I can make an Instagram post not a problem. So I guess the content creation has been It's been around for a minute now that I think about it, since like my sophomore year of college, for.
A little minute. For a little minute, we know that the content creators like Jackie Aina or the money Michaels have turned their content into all encompassing brand. How would you describe your brand?
I would say I am one hundred percent a lifestyle creator, but I'm lifestyle for the girls that just want a little more. You know, I feel like when I think about what I create, I'm documenting my life, but I'm also documenting the experience of someone in their mid twenties in New York and you know, the ebbs and flows of how life can take you. So, like I said, you know, I started off vlogging about my life, you know, as someone who was working in tech. I was at Google at the time, and then you know, obviously they laid me off, and it just kind of transitioned beyond that, it got a lot bigger than me. It was this is how I'm spending my time post layoff, or come with me on my first brand trip. Let's talk about my dating life, Let's talk about this insane story time that happened to me at a club in Manhattan. You know, it's just every single thing that is going on in my life at this point has become content, and I think with that it's given me the ability to just relate to a lot of people to where it's relatable but it's also aspirational because I'm twenty five, I live alone, I've made something of myself like beyond my parents, beyond my education, and I think is something that's super fun to watch, which is why I also follow a lot of creators that are similar to me, because I love to seeing what the girls are up to.
You know, let me know what you're doing right, Put me in your life, tell me the story exactly. Tell me your business, all of it and all of it, and take me through all of it. We know the word brand can mean several different things, but here we're defining it as someone's company slash business and how the general public US basically perceives someone. Is there anything you'd add to these definitions? What would you say makes a good brand?
I think, honestly, what makes a good brand is consistency. Even when I think of it in terms of like personal brand, or I think of it as products that I use, consumer products, or even like B to B products, it's consistency. Are you consistently delivering excellence and are consistently delivering quality? I think that's what makes a brand in my mind.
And is there a difference between a personal brand and a professional brand, and how do they intersect.
One, I think your personal brand is who you are at all times. I think that is your personality and the way you know your experiences interact. I think your professional brand is usually a lot more refined. It's usually more polished and curated. But they do intersect, like, for example, a lot of people who make career based content, their professional brand becomes their personal brand and vice versa. But then you'll see people leave that switch. Like for example, one of my favorite creators, her name is Annie. She went to law school, she was working in big law, left that job. She'll still reference her time, and you'll see her professional brand kind of move away and instead of being you know, the lawyer and the buttoned up person, she's still composed, but it's a lot more free as she starts to introduce more of a personal brand. So I think there's an opportunity to collaborate those two things and bring them together. But for some people they'll stay super separate depending on what they do. For others, they join, depending on how you choose to move through your career.
Got it, Got it? Thank you for explaining that. Let's go back to Sidonian College. Outside of brand ambassador programs. What seeds did you plant on campus and internships and career programs that contributed to your current personal brand?
Oh my god. Yes, So I'm a Posse scholar. So the Posse Foundation is a scholarship program designed for student leaders spaced in twelve different cities across the United States, and it started in New York where Vanderbilt University was the first partner because there was this woman named Debbie Beale who was a teacher. She had a student who was super promising, and then he went to an elite university and dropped out and said he wouldn't have dropped out if he had his Posse with him. So the program pretty much puts you with ten to twelve other people from your city and you all go to one school together to be like a support system for each other. So I was a Posse scholar at Vanderbilt. So going into college, I knew that I'd received that opportunity because I was a student leader in my high school, Like I was the president of the Blacksoth Union, I played sports things like that, So I knew that the expectation was to come on campus and be impactful. When I got to college, the first thing I did. Legitimately, in the first week, I made two stops. Won the Black Cultural Center because I wanted to meet the director. I wanted to see what they had to offer there, and to the Career Center because I had to leave with something. I was going to have a job one hundred percent by the time I graduated, So I spent a good chunk of my time in college working on my professional skills. So I'm from Brooklyn, like almost every single person I know is like a healthcare worker. I did not want to work in healthcare under any circumstances. I initially thought I was going to be a lawyer. I thought I was going to maybe work in political comms for a little bit. And then I actually had a professor who used to be the Vice President of the United States, and he strictly told me don't do that. So from that point on, I was like, oh, great, thank you for telling me that your time was not good. I appreciate you sharing that with me. So as I started refocusing and thinking about what I wanted to do, I switched my major like ten times. But throughout those ten times, I kept going to the career Center. I kept doing resume workshops and mock interviews, and I was doing everything from investment banking and wealth management to like media internships, and then landed at Google after like a series of trying things and realizing that marketing was kind of like what I wanted, but I knew I wanted to do marketing in an environment where there was more than one product, which is why I didn't go to like a traditional ad agency. So at that point, I feel like I developed the personal brand of being someone who's like incredibly dedicated, like determination and will to get the things that I wanted because I made sure that I was one networking super heavy, but two also maintaining community in the spaces that I was networking in. So you know, that would mean if I saw one of my friends who was interested in something, and I meet a recruiter at a job fair who's looking for comp size students, but I'm not a compside student, I'm sending that email like, Hey, I want you to meet so, and so, you know, I think a good portion of myself in college was bringing other people along with me as I experienced success, because people who were older than me and you know, Vanderbilt, were doing the same thing.
That is so real. The first stop being the career Center. I want to give a big kudos to you with that. I did not think I wasn't thinking that far ahead. I definitely realized I only went to the career center one time or once in my college career during my senior fall, and I realized very quickly how behind I was. So kudos to you for being attentive in that regard. Shout out to you. That's amazing.
So I went to the career center a lot, but primarily because I was applying for things that inherently like I had no reason applying for. I was a political science major. I took a ton of theater and communications classes. I was super artsy, you know, like I nothing in my profile gave investment, banking or wealth management, but something just told me to try it. My older cousin who worked in banking, he was just like, I think it's a good learning experience if you like it if you don't. So I went to the career Center and pretty much was like, Hey, how do I pivot my experience from being a research fellow in the Latin America Research Center where I'm like doing statistical analysis on governments in South America, how do I pivot this into data analytics and financial acumen for this investment banking position. And thankfully, you know, the Career Center. They were great and they showed me that research and like what I was studying was actually super relevant, you know, even though I wasn't an econ major. We also didn't have a business major at Vanderbilt, so like almost everyone who's a liberal arts major trying to do these things, and they were super, super helpful. And I think for me, once I did that internship that was at Goldman Sachs that was my sophomore summer. I did it, and I hated it, deeply hated it. It was not for me in any way. But I learned a lot in that internship. So I took those learnings and then applied to Google to be a marketing intern the following summer. Got that position, and then stayed at Google for about three years until the layoff, so started postgrad and then was there until the beginning of twenty twenty three.
I think a lot of people want to leave college with a job in connections, but maybe unsure about what they want to do long term. How can you build a personal brand if you're uncertain about your preferred career path.
I think the biggest thing I can say in this is kindness will be rewarded one hundred percent. I think if you're uncertain, if you're switching your major, or if you've sat four years in something and then you want to pivot into something else, the way you treat people when you first meet them will be what makes them help you down the line. I've been in situations where, even to this day, like some when I'm met in college, there was a girl she was three years older than me, just senior when I was a freshman, and we had a class together. It was like an elective class, but we did a group project and she got super sick if you had like mono or something like you know, standard collegiate illness. But she really couldn't work for she couldn't do the work for like a week. And I texted her. I was like, hey, like, I know you're sick. I've handled it. You know, I really appreciate you helping as much as you could. Thank you so much. That girl is now like an account manager at Ogilvy in the influencer marketing department. Almost every month I'm getting an email from her like, hey, here's this campaign that i'd like you to get on. And realistically, she's a huge reason why I'm able to like earn a comfortable living simply because it was kind to her when I was eighteen years old, and you know, it's been like a graduate in college four years ago. So I think the way you treat people will be the reason that they choose to help you, and that that's just being sincere in your interactions. Like I think a lot of people. I experienced this a lot when I was like Google. People would just send me messages and be like, hey, give me a referral. I'd be like, I don't know you, Like I don't know what to write in this thing because we haven't interacted with each other. I don't know what to say here. But you know, the people who have reached out and even today when folks are like, hey, I see you're connected with someone at this company or like you went to high school with this person, would you be willing to talk to them? And you know they come and they speak kindly, and you know they make a genuine requests like yeah, of course I would love to help you, because I would hope in the future you'd be able to do the same. And I think a lot of folks they look at networking as like networking up, which I don't love the idea of that. I think it's more so networking across like people who are having similar life experiences, people who are you know, your age or in your age range, who are trying to do the cool things that you're trying to do. I think those are the people to look to instead of the director who's thirty plus years older than you. I think a lot of my great experiences and things that I've been able to do have come from like folks I went to college with, or people I went to high school with, or someone who I meet randomly outside at an event, like I've been able. For example, I'm starting a business venture that's launching this year, and when I was looking for angel investment funds, that came through literally someone who I met at a party at another event, and I reached out and was like, Hey, you know, I know you work in this industry. I want to tell you about something that I'm working on. Can you give me some feedback on my pitch here? And instead of giving me feedback at the end of my pitch, you gave me a check, so you know, I think there is the opportunity to create and build things with people who are similar to you, instead of looking upwards or looking super super far outside of your network. It's the person who sat next to you in that sophomore English class is probably just disqualified to give you advice as someone who has ten fifteen years of experience, I.
Think there definitely needs to be a shift of how we approach like the networking up idea, just because I don't know, I just feel like it was taught to us like in college, like you need to network to your professor's network, to the dean of art, like all these people who are just not in our age range. And there are so many qualified people, like you said, who are doing similar work as us and who are extraordinary. So I really love that gym. It's amazing. I love that.
Thank you. For example, I just flew to Nashville to be like a guest on another influencer's book tour, and when she gave me that invitation, one it was we had randomly met three four years ago at a party like a brand event, and she was super cool, so we've just always kept in touch. But when I was thinking like, oh, what am I gonna wear? What am I going to do? Like the photographer that I brought literally someone I've known since I was sixteen years old, you know, like the person who styled me is the friend of a friend who is trying to make her name in the fashion industry. And I was like, yeah, like I would love to work with you. What's your rate? Can you help me out? This is gonna be big, It's gonna be photographed, you know, things like that. So ensuring that instead of looking at the you know, the super famous stylists with one hundred and fifty thousand followers, it's like, let me see who's in my network, who creatively can do this, Like even with my own ventures. My brand designer who did all my assets for like the new upcoming brand. She's someone who I worked with at Google, someone who I've known since I was nineteen, you know, when we were interns. So I love the idea of just keeping with the people that you know, because I'm sure in ten years she's going to be like the biggest name in design. But it's good to know that when I was twenty five I saw that and was like, yeah, I want to work with you. I want the stylist to be the next law Roach. It's like, yeah, I worked with this person way back when, and it's great to know that you can support people because these are the people who supported me. So it's honestly love.
With you, Wing, I love it. I'm curious how do you decide when and where to share different aspects of your brand, so your interest, hobbies, accomplishments, when you're known for different things.
That's a difficult one because everyone isn't going to love everything. I think as you transition and you create different kinds of content, you have to be willing one to lose people who were originally there, but also knowing that people won't say yes to you if you don't risk being told no. And I think that's the philosophy that I moved through my entire life with. So when it comes to sharing things, for example, when I share that I was applying to business school, I share that as like, Hey, this is my next step in my career. I'm going to go further my education, and I want you to know that it's perfectly okay to be someone who is self employed or working on your own venture and going to school doesn't mean you're giving up on yourself. It just means you want a bigger base to you know, spring your launch from. But even within that, like I haven't shared where I'm applying to school, I haven't shared you know, like acceptances or rejections. Those are things that I feel like will come later on down the line, because there's a certain level of privacy that you do give up as a creator. You know there are strangers invested in your life, and thank you for being invested in my life. But you know, at some point you have to say what is for me. So like, for example, I'll speak about dating, but like I'll never share my partner or who I'm dating. I'll you know, talk about like nightlife and like being out with my friends, but only my friends who have explicitly consented to being recorded are featured. So that's why you'll see like my best friend Dante a lot more than you'll see like some of my other friends from college or from work because they don't want to be on camera all the time. But he's super cool with being on camera. So you know, it's just you have to have your limits and know that even though it's work, it's still personal. So ensuring that the people around you feel safe and in kind. I think that's what creates an engaged audience, is they see that you love your life and you love the people who you interact with, and you know they want to watch that and they want to experience that with you.
No, I've always wondered how do those conversations go when content creators have friends and they allow the audience to view their friendship. So I love that there are boundaries set in place in your friend groups and there are conversations being had about privacy and just keeping that intimate with your own experience. I love that my.
Friends are great, honestly, but they have their moments where they'll be like, get that camera out my face, you know. Like, and my friends alway joke specifically on my last birthday trip we went to Arizona for a week and my friends joke, they're like, one thing about you, We're gonna record that cheers three times. And I was like, you are absolutely correct. We're gonna do it in point five, we're gonna do it in one, and then we're gonna do it on my blog camera for the YouTube video you are absolutely correct, but they're so used to it because they're like, it's fine. And then you know, if anyone ever does get like a little annoyed, it's like, hey, you want to be my plus one to this movie premiere? Like could come with me? Go it? Then it all works.
I love that it's hilarious. So a good brand is one that is authentic. So how can college age women share their true personalities online without jeopardizing future opportunities?
I think the primary thing I would say with this is you don't want to work anywhere where you can't present your full self, So use discernment to determine what your full sete. For some people, that means they talk about every aspect of their life, whether or not it's deemed socially appropriate or not. For others, they have boundaries where they're like, I won't discuss my sex life, I won't discuss dating, I won't use profanity. Some people are a lot stricter than others. I will say, this is super dependent as to you know what career field you want to go into. There are some fields that are a little more conservative, like the law or medicine, and then there are other fields like beauty or fashion where girl put that on, put that whole outfit on it, you take a picture because that, you know, beyond your resume, your Instagram is part of what is going to help you get hired. So I think using your discernment is the best advice I have here me personally, I'll post what I want because if someone is choosing not to employ me or not to admit me into a school, because my life is public consumption for someone else, and that's okay, that's their loss. Because the way I see it is I think of like content creations epically is like a new field in marketing. It's direct to consumer marketing is the best way I can explain it. You know, you are creating brand love and brand loyalty for an individual, and in kind, brands will hire you to you know, promote their products or be a trusted partner for them because people value your expertise. And I think if people value your expertise, you've clearly proven yourself as a marketer, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner. So someone else doesn't take you seriously because they don't value the industry or they don't value what you create, then that's their loss, so post what you want to post. Like, I have some things in my digital footprint where I'm like, damn, I google myself. I see it. I'm like, oh, well that's that. You know that was four years ago. You know. I see things pop up from when I was in high school or I'm like, shouldn't have said that, but it is what it is. You would hope that with age comes growth, and I will say, as I get older, I'm getting a lot more wiser.
I will say that, Hi, I'm sorrya Taylor TBG podcast production intern. We'll return to Jana right after the break.
I think partying and going out can still be seen as a taboo on social media. What advice do you have about balancing the desire to have fun with the need to protect your personal brand.
I will say with this one, you don't have to go everywhere. Everything does not require your attendance. And I actually was taking to another creator about this and he said something to me that has really stuck with me. And he said to Smith a year ago, said, your presence is exclusive. Who you spend your time with is exclusive. You should not be for everyone. I think like going out and enjoying yourself is super fun. But even in a large party, that's still an intimate experience. You're still surrounded by people. We living a digital age or being watched things like that. Sometimes pick and choose what do you want to set yourself at and when do you want to stay home and relax. When do you want to pour into yourself versus pouring into your community. And I think that's the difference I feel like specifically me like living in New York and being in Brooklyn. I go out every weekend. I say the same people. I see, the same people I've been seeing since I was about eighteen or nineteen years old, since we were in mlt Cohorts. I know these people. If I miss one party, it's not going to kill me. You know, if I miss one thing, it's going to be okay. So I think you don't have to engage with everything. It's okay to be exclusive with your time because you can cultivate community five days out the week, but you have to take some time for yourself. And that's why consistently every month, I'm like the fifteenth rolls around. I'm like, most time to stay in my house, lits to a face mouset's watch. Some TV. You know, I'll watch a good rom come, paint my nails, mindlessly, scroll on the internet, put my phone away, things like that. It's like you have to take care of yourself. And I feel like people want to be outside and people think that time is super fleeting. But I promise you not being in your twenties does not mean that you're old. Like, if anything, you're probably in the peak of your life when you get out your twenties. So true, there is no rush, there's no rush to be there.
Heavy on those get out of the mindset that your twenties are the last years of your life. I'm really trying to reemphasize that, and that you have to be in everyone's face or just at every social gathering. There's something about saving your energy that I've started to see more post grad that I should have probably implemented a little bit more during college. But I enjoy it. I want to be in my bed, I want to be my robe, I want to have my topicals. I'm ask on I rather have it, actually, so I fully agree.
I agree wholeheartedly. I was that girl in college. I went out six days a week. Yeah, you know, I was in the books, but I was partying to the point where my mom came to visit me my senior year and she was like, girl, and I had just gotten surgery. That's why she came to visit me. And two days after the surgery, I'm like, okay, yeah, you know, I'm gonna go I'm gonna go out. And she had to sit me down and was like, baby, no, you're not. She was like, you're gonna sit down. You go to the same bar every week with the same people that you go to college with. It's okay. You don't need to do things like this. And I think for me, as like I've gotten older, pouring into yourself is super important because you can't pour from an empty cup. And I think a lot of people like to over exert themselves and it happens so naturally that you don't even know that you're pouring from an empty cup. But at some point that's gonna break. So you have to take time to just relax. And I'll tell you one thing. Me and topicals. We I got the faded serum on my face, got my eyemasks on, I've wrapped my hair up. Oh I'll finish all that. Sit down, pull out my mirror and just start doing my makeup. I'm like, yeah, let's let's see how this blush is looking. Let's see how we're going to carve these eyebrows. Just for fun, put on my favorite YouTubers and just watch just till and make a good meal, something hearty in my house or even you know, order something real greasy on uber eats. It's like reward yourself for spending time with yourself. Like, how can you exist and say you're going to interact with other people if you can't identify what you like about yourself and you don't like spending time with yourself, you have to be alone at some point to understand how to be in community with other people.
I'm gonna take that in for sure. But moving on, tell us how important are LinkedIn and other professional and social media platforms in building one's brand.
LinkedIn is the goat. One thing about me, here's what I'll say. When I was nineteen, i joined this program called MLT Management Leadership for Tomorrow. It's like designed to train you know, black and brown young people to be like business leaders. And my coach, her name was Coach Stancil. He said something to me in my first call with her because she asked me what I wanted to do, and at the time I didn't know. I told her I had finance experience, I had marketing experience. I'd done some social work, but I was interested in tech, music, consumer baggage, goods, sports. I was like, I'll do anything I like, because in my mind, a career is not linear, like you don't start something and have to do for the rest of your life. I was like, oh, I can work this and then I'll figure out a way. You know, if I wanted to go work for the next Like I figure out a way to go work for the next It's okay, you know, we'll get there. And she said something to me where she was like, you just need to start searching on LinkedIn. She was like, search for the companies that you like, search your school, search your high school. Search people who are connected with your other friends. I would literally be in the search bar like NBA, Vanderbilt University political Science, just searching like who was a policy major at this school? And you know you'll find people in a to act with people were so much older. But I would literally be like, hey, can I get fifteen minutes of your time to talk with you about this, this, this, and this. I'm super intrigued about what you do and I'm thinking about my career plans. And a lot of those people responded and were super kind, and I'd actually say the biggest person who responded to me. I don't know if you're familiar with the Creative Collective and like culture Con, but the person who founded that Imani. She graduated from Vanderbilt about eight years before I graduated, but I saw her on LinkedIn at the time. He was a manager at NBCUniversal working on publicity, and I saw she was working on Bravos Up Atlanta, and I was like, oh my god, I love that show. Like we send her a message. I sent her a message. She hops on a call with me, She's telling me about her career hilariously. Like a year later, I ended up being on exec for a club that she founded when she was a student at Vanderbilt. We kept in contact over the years, you know, just like hi, and by passing messages. And now she's taken the Creative collective full time and is doing culture Con and things like that. And I'm working as a creative full time, and she's consistently inviting me to things consistently keeping my name in conversation. I've gone to events where it's like I'm meeting someone who the VP of influencer marketing at Carol's Daughter and then telling her how much I love the product. It's like, yeah, like my mom's been using this on me since I was a kid. And then I'm getting brought onto campaigns for Carol's Daughter, like when they were doing the Color Purple movie launch, And I think for me, it's like none of that would have been possible if you just didn't have the fear of rejection. Your fear of looking stupid is holding you back, Like that's really what it is, because she could have ignored it, and that would have been completely fine if she ignored it. There's so many people who ignore you, who don't want to help. But good people will respond to you, but you have to put yourself out there first for them to respond, for them to say, hey, you know I'm doing this. And I think a lot of people stop at the initial interaction. If you're a college student and you connected with somebody who works that job that you want in the end, keep them updated. For me, it'll be like every semester I'd send a message to anyone who was like super intrigued, and I'd be like, hey, like, i just finished up my sophomore year and i'm studying this now, but I'm working with ESPNU on campus and a student government. We're doing this. Keep me updated, like what's going on in your world? And like, I think just having those conversations has really done a lot for me, because I remember posting on LinkedIn after the layoff, Hey I'm not looking for a job, but if something pops up, that's excellent. I'm totally willing to entertain this and the amount of people who sent me messages and they were like, oh, I'm hiring here, or like my team is looking for this, or consultancy opportunities that have come through just like using LinkedIn and people seeing what was going on there. I think LinkedIn is truly the most powerful social networking app and people don't even think about it in the conversation with like a TikTok or a Twitter, but it's one hundred percent just as powerful, and there's really good content and useful information that you can find there that will truly help you.
So once you secure your dream job or opportunity, how do you continue building your brand and communicating your wins, interests and aspirations.
So this is something that my older cousin taught me, so for reference, he's seven years older than me, but he's been working for a minute. But when I did my first internship, which was in high school, at I did at spray Ground Backpack, like a company that makes really cool backpacks. And I got that internship because I called their warehouse and I was like, hey, I'm a huge fan of this brand. I want to work for you. Guys. Who was in charge of your internship program? And they were like, we don't have an internship program. This is a company of four people. We do not have that. And I was like, okay, who's your president, who's in charge, who's the big man here? And you know, reached out, sent this long I was sixteen, sent this long email about how much I love the company and I see it all the time and I have all these different bags and I'm trying to learn these new skills. And they were like, okay, well if you can get credit from your high school, then sure. So I went to my guidance counsel and say, hey, I need credit for a work study, I'm trying to get this internship and they're like, we don't do that. I'm like, okay, but some's gonna have to shake here because I had already finished, you know, the graduation requirements, and I wanted to do this thing, so let's see, and you know, they figured it out on the back end and allowed me to do that. But when I started that internship, my cousin told me, he was like, even though they're not paying you, you need to prove that you're brilliant. So you tell me accountability is the biggest thing that anyone seeks in the workplace is knowing that someone will hold their own when you need them to hold their own. So since that internship, I've done the same thing, and I even do it now as a creator. When I'm like looking to recap or like I'm working with brands and stuff. At the end of every week or every big milestone, you just got to send a simple update. So how I would do it. I would track it in Excel or Google sheets, right, have every single deliverable that I was working on, and there would just be a progress tracker, like you know what step am I on? Have I finished the deck? Have I done the research, all that, and just a simple quick email at the end of each week like hey, I've done this, I've done this, and next week, this is what I'm working on and this is what I'm building out from really helps you so much. Keeping a running document of everything you're doing with your manager or if you're self employed, just everything you're doing because you got to write resume bullets, you got to be able to advocate for yourself when it comes time to go for promotion. You never want to be not on the same page as your manager when it comes time for you to get promoted. And if you're not on the same page, that's your record that proves that you did everything right instead of just flying by the seat of your pants. So I think for me, showing accountability has been the biggest thing that I've been able to do within my time in the corporate world, my time now as a creator, even now that I work on campaigns, I literally have my manager send thank you notes to every single person that I work with, like, Hey, this was a joy. You know, even if things like we're on the campaign and things are late and it's like, hey, I'm delayed on this flight, but I'm going to get this to you by the end of the day, but it's going to be like eight pm. You know, just be on the lookout. It's like, if you are holding yourself accountable and you're being consistent, that behavior will be rewarded and that will show that you've been able to, you know, deliver good work, like you're a trusted partner. And that is held up even now because there have been times I've been on campaigns where things were late, or things were out of my control, or they give me twelve hours to bring back a concept and the content from the brief that has three words and you're just like, okay, well I got it. It's cool. But because of that, they keep coming back and they're like, oh, I want to keep working with her because I like her. And I think a lot of people don't look at consistency and account of ability. They want to have the biggest project and have the most in your face thing. But sometimes it's as simple as just maintaining consistent communication with the person who manages you or you know, a cross functional partner. That'll make all the difference and how you're perceived in the workplace and how your reputation moves forward.
That is I'm literally taking that like okay, Like no, I need to be accountable and consistent. That's a huge gym I think is overlooked. I think young professionals get placed into the workforce, and I'll speak for myself and that mentality of college of like grind and get it done and just do it and learn along the way. But taking a step back and just remaining consistent in all that you do and holding yourself accountable and all that you do can also go a long way in addition to the grind, in addition to the hustle. So I love that.
That's perfect faith with that works, Like what's the point?
What's the point?
Which point? Okay, where are we gonna go from here?
Right in your perspective, how important is someone's social media account when finding opportunities? Can you confirm or deny the idea that jobs, internships, and or colleges check their applicants social media pages?
Okay, so this is a little iffy. I can say yes and no. So I've been in situations where jobs have checked it's part of like the background check. Then I've been in situations where like working admissions and stuff in college, Like if someone mentions that they're a creator, you're like, Okay, well I'm gonna go look. And I know, personally from my experience and applying to business school, like my work as an influencer is on my resume. It's listed as my job with metrics and partnerships and like links to like all the stuff that I've done. So I'm not shocked when, you know, in an interview someone's like, hey, I watched like your last ten tiktoks. Tell me about this. Tell me about that. I think some places that are more conservative or you know, are more tightly laced. They're checking to see if there's anything negative. But if you are mentioning it as part of your story, they're checking to see what you do. This is your job, this is your passion. I I do like college application mentorship through this organization in New York. And one of the people who I was mentoring this past cycle, she was a YouTuber and she maybe had like five or six thousand subscribers, which had a really engaged community, and it was something that she put on her resume, and she was applying to all these schools and was like, hey, you know, this is what I do for fun. This is my main extracurricular activity. I don't play a sport. I'm not a student government. I make content and there are six thousand people who watch this content, and I will continue to grow. I saw that, I was like, yeah, they're definitely gonna watch the video. Like it's part of your stories, what you wrote your essay on. So I think if your content and the things that you put out become part of your story and as a result, become a part of your personal brand, it's the expectation is that would be looked at and checked. But some places they're just nosy. I'll tell you one thing. My mom's a nurse. You know, when she's looking to hire a new nurse, she's on that Instagram making sure that there's nothing crazy on there. You know, She's like, are you arguing with somebody on the internet? Are you saying mean things? Do you have an uncaring spirit? You know? Things like that. But I feel like most of the time it's usually pretty chill because people aren't posting super outrageous things. Now, god forbid, you post a tweet or something that goes viral and you're getting heat. I've seen that happen to people where one of my TikTok must rules. She goes to the TikTok that was like about the former president and she literally lost her job because of how up in arms people were about that she was not employed. But that's also because her company was conservative and they were unwilling to have that. Meanwhile, when I was like, oo, why, multiple people be like, oh I didn't like her TikTok of how the sister is report me, and they'd be like, okay, I wasn't a company time like thank you for sharing. So it depends.
Going off of that, What are some other immediate no nos regarding what we're posting on our social media pages?
Okay, I would say the big no no is anything that's illegal. People can tolerate your political views. They can tolerate how you feel about a musician. You know, I tweet almost every week that I don't like Drake and Travis Scott. I'm like, I don't like it. It's not for me, it's not fun. But you know, I know the girls are throwing tomatoes. I don't throw to fanos everything. I don't like them. I made a TikTok or I was like Drake's concert was the worst waste of money. I asked Amex for my money back. I didn't like it because I'm a Beyonce fan. I want to see performance. But no one's going to be like, oh, that's outrageous. I don't like that she dis likes this artist, or I don't like that she doesn't like this food, or like things like that. The one thing people will one hundred percent look and be like that's a red flag if it's something illegal, drugs, things like that. That is just like the biggest no no that I can give. And I know, hilariously, Like, I had a conversation with another creative about this recently, because I live in a state where marijuana is legalized on the state wide level. Recreationally walk down the street and see people smoking leed and it's not an issue. But she was looking at her numbers and she's like, yeah, like I smoke leed, but I can't post that because a lot of people who follow me live in Middle America and that's not legal there, and I don't want to mess up my money. And you know, she sat down and been like, that's the line that she's drawing. Meanwhile, there are other creators who have entire brands based on cannabis. I know someone who his entire brand on TikTok is like advocacy to get people of color into the cannabis space because we're overincarcerated for cannabis offenses but underemployed in the industry. I think there's ways to make something that isn't inherently positive become positive. I think his spin is great, But one of my friends, like, if my influencer friend was just like, oh, I'm a pothead, she could just expect to not get paid for that month because that's not productive realistically. Meanwhile, what the other kid is doing is super productive, where he's like, hey, we over index on incarceration for this offense, but these new things are coming. You should apply for your license if this is something that you did. For example, New York vacated a lot of cannabis related convictions and the people who were convicted for those offenses were able to get priority and getting legal licenses to open up storefronts. Post about that. Beyond that, it gets a little dicey because that's the only one that's really you know, legal anywhere else, Like, please your habits if you have habits, you know, we cannot share those habits publicly with people because that can turnish you on an insane insane level.
Hi, I'm sorrya Taylor and I'm the TBG podcast production. We'll return to Jana right after the break.
On the flip side, what types of content might one lean into posting to their social media accounts to attract brands or job opportunities.
This is a great one. Finance is a huge one. If you are someone you are about your money, you maximize your credit card points, you talk about managing debt, or you're young and you're trying to figure your money out, that is a great, great thing to post about. I feel like to my most successful videos have been this is how I've managed my money as someone who's twenty five and self employed and trying to do this. I think beauty is long standing, you know. I think like black women consume like trillions of dollars in beauty product each year. That's always going to be something that's super super relatable and it's evergreen. And in general, lifestyle, like, if you are posting about your life, you are able to bring in deals from so many different verticals like I've done deals with food companies, like I have something coming up with Burger Game. Then you know, like I've done like cleaning products or like H and R block for finances, airlines, things like that. You know, there's so many different things to do if you're an everything poster and you don't necessarily niche down super super niche. But I would say those are the big three. But finance is definitely the biggest one. If you are somebody where your coins are together and you're on that Marcus app or you're on that you need a budget app and your money is right, share that with people because there are a lot of people who don't have their money right who are trying to figure it out and they're struggling because they can't find the information that applies to them. So, you know, if you have student debt and like you're paying that off, I think that's valuable and that's important to a lot of people, and that market is unfortunately not very it's not very black, and I would love to see more black people, more Black women sharing their journeys and talking about that, like where is bad advice? You know? I think that is really something that's super helpful to everyone young, old, no matter what you identify as. Everyone's trying to figure their finances out. So that's a great way to build a community. And you can also integrate a lot of other things from that finance perspective. You can integrate lifestyle. You can talk about your spending habits for personal maintenance. There's so many ways to make that something impactful.
Right, So, we know you can't have a pop in brand without haters. So how have you navigated negative comments or animosity from others?
Oh, I'm not gonna lie. I'm from Brooklyn, So there are some things where I'm going to let it roll off and I'll be like, you know what, I don't really care. But there are some things I'm like, that was so disrespectful and I'm actually going to get you and I will address this deep because you are out your mind if you think you can speak to me like this. The one thing I always say to anyone who's looking to create content is there's three things you need to think of. One. Everyone wants to be an influencer, but influence can't be manufactured. It's inherently innate. Are people interested in you in your personal life? If so, go ahead and post that video. Go ahead and post that video. If not, it's like, maybe you don't need to work in front of the camera. Maybe you're the production maybe you're you know, the editor. Because every single person who I know who has made like a career out of this is someone who was pretty dynamic in their personal life. The second thing, how thick is your skin? How thick is your skin? Because if you're in front of the camera, everything you do will be criticized. Like I have been criticized for gaining weight, losing weight, you know, Like I've literally have people say I don't like the way your mouth moves. Do you have botox? I'm like, this is my face. There's people who chat about you anonymously on different forums and you have to just be willing to take it. I've personally gotten to a point where the only way to protect yourself from those kinds of things is to not engage with it. So my comments are filtered. I don't check anonymous forums. Things like that, but you know, don't get to you at some point, And I think every person has their breaking point, and there are some that are stronger than others where they don't even entertain it from the beginning, and then you know some like me where you're like, damn, w don't you say that, Like my feelings are hurt. That was not okay. I've had to find that balance between clapping back and just ignoring it. But I always say, especially when someone has disrespected me and they're like, oh, well, you post your life online, you know you should expect criticism, and I'm like, this is not a safe space. This is my space, this is my account, like we that's not how this works. You don't get to just randomly disrespect people under the cover of anonymity and expect that they won't respond to you, you know. So, I think when that has been the case, it's a little different. And I've I've been in situations where people who I know in my personal life, I've clicked the link and it redirects to their TikTok and I'm like, oh, that's you. Why are you doing that. It's one of those things where it's like it comes with the territory, but it doesn't make it any less hurtful. You just have to at some point develop a skin that's thick enough to where it's not the top of mind. Freedom.
Yeah, I don't know the point of I guess expressing negativity to strangers, I don't know. So I definitely agree like keeping a thick skin and having that mindset over anything else. It's a bit strange when that happens to content creators and providing opinions about strangers' lives. So I don't know. That's just what I've gathered from that.
I think there just comes a time where you have to sit down as a creator and be like, what is constructive and what isn't. I had someone, hilariously like six months ago, send me the longest Instagram DM multi I scrolled for what felt like four minutes about how they don't like that me being a self employed person. They feel like I'm no longer relatable to them, and you know, they missed when I was like fresh out of college and like going to the office and things like that. And there were some constructive points in there where they were like, you know, I'd love to see you know your family again, I'd love to see your friends. The things you're just doing. I don't want to see you on vacation twenty four to seven. That was helpful, Thank you. I will incorporate that feedback, but then you know, other times it's like I don't like your face, or you know, your hair looks crazy, and it's like, all right, now I'm in my house, you know so. And I think as a creator, you also have to be very accepting of the fact that something you post on one app could you reposted on another. There are multiple times like a TikTok of mine has made us to Twitter, and Twitter is ruthless. At that point, it's lock, they countdown. We're in hiding what is what it is? Or like knowing that someone will take one thing that you say out of context and run with it and create an entire perception of you in their head when they've never met you, and they could point you out on the street. But I think it's really important to know as a creator, but also as a viewer that social media is curated. You're never going to get one hundred percent twenty four to seven of someone's life, and knowing that what you see, whether you relate to it or you aspire to it, through it all, it's entertainment. It's not one hundred percent what that person is going through. So just acknowledging that as a viewer but also as the creator has really just changed how I feel about a lot of the content that I interact with and a lot of the things that are said to me. I'm just like, all right, cool. If you're not entertained, then I'm sorry. You know, I find somebody else entertain you.
So where do you see your brand going in the next few years?
Oh my god, Well, I'm going back to school in August. TVD where I'll be. But you know, fingers crossed don't be my tough choices. So for me, I see my brand moving backwards a little bit, going back to you know, my student era, and going back to the networking and the building that I was creating. I think as a creator, no one knows how long your life SPAN's going to be. I think the average is like three to five years, and I'm on your four. If I make it past five, woo, you know, I pretty much got the creator pension. I guess. You know, it's like, this is lovely when I think of like myself, I don't see this as a forever thing, because you know, trend change, people change, I'll change. Who knows what my life will look like in a few years. But what I do see my personal brand continuing to do is building community, whether that means online or in person. Building space is inclusive spaces for people who want to achieve things in their lives and for people who you know are the builders and want to make the spaces that they don't have. And whether that's through like my upcoming venture, whether that's through social media, whether that's returning to a traditional job and you know, another industry. When I look at my brand, all I can see is consistency and accountability, because no matter what I end up doing, I know those are the two things that I will continue to do, doesn't matter how flips I love it.
I'm so excited to see your school era. I feel like that's going to be so exciting to see and just sending you the best energy towards that. That's amazing.
Applying to business school has objectively been the hardest thing I've done as an adult, between testing and figuring out where you're going to apply, interviews, things like that. This process will be over in a month, and I could not be happier.
Well, we're celebrating, celebrating an advanced period.
We are. I'm excited. I'm excited.
Do you have any recommended podcasts or social media pages that we should look into to deepen our knowledge on building a brand.
I love Balanced Black Girl by Lez. I don't know if people are familiar, but she does a lot of stuff in the wellness space. But there's an episode in particular that one of my friends, Kitlin Cooney, was featured on and it was about your personal finances in your twenties and how you know, build the dream life that you want starting from the ground up with your finances. And I think that is the biggest thing you could possibly do for your personal brand, is make sure that you are getting paid. You know a lot of people don't necessarily think of finances as part of the brand, but it's one hundred percent part of the brand. I will stand on this. And then I love Go Offices from Refinery twenty nine. I think every episode provides insight, shows me something that you know, I wasn't thinking of. Particularly, they did an episode of Joyofudu. She's a voiceover actor, and she talked a lot about like her journey leaving her corporate job to move into creative field. And I think the idea of betting on yourself is super important because if you can't bet on yourself? What can you bet on? And those two podcasts have definitely made me think and like really just deepen my connection with myself and as a result, that's been a huge part of my personal brand and how I look at myself and how I'm growing. So those are probably my big two that I could recommend now. If you just want something fun, to listen to Sisters Who Kill. If you like true crime, I love some true crime. That was just funny. You want to turn your brain off, go listen to Maran Taz talk about that.
Love true crime, love turning my brain off. Love both of those things. So I love all of those ships. So Sidoni, where can we keep up with you? What are your social media handles and website?
Yes so Soidnifrancis dot com is all thanks to Dony. But you can find me on TikTok and Instagram at Francis and then you can find me on YouTube with my government name Saddani Francis. It's all. It's all the same.
Thank you for being the big sister that we never knew we needed. This conversation was amazing. I appreciate you so much for talking with me, and again, congratulations on applying to business school in that venture. I'm so excited to see it.
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. I'm such a big fan.
Of course, I want to thank Sadoni once again for joining us for this episode. Classes over for now, but before we dismiss, take the following notes from my conversation with Sidoni home with you. Get with your college's career services office to see what internships are available. Complete an audit of your social media pages to make sure you're representing yourself in the best way possible. Message someone you admire on LinkedIn and set up a call to learn how they got to where they are. To learn more about the work Sedoni is doing, or to do more research on this topic, be sure to visit Therapy for Blackgirls dot com slash tvgu This episode was produced by FRIEDA. Lucas, Elise Ellis, and Zaria Taylor. Editing is by Dennison L. Bradford.