Meet Trailblazer Stephanie Trotter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Trotter.

Stephanie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In 2015, I found out I was pregnant with twins. I had just launched a successful bakery, I was studying for my National Counselor Exam then everything was put on pause. At that moment, I put down my spatula and books and picked up a camera. I filmed the reaction of me telling my husband and family and it went viral. We were newlyweds, in a one bedroom apartment downtown with no plans to start a family anytime soon so his action was expected. Since picking up the camera, I knew I wanted to keep documenting this new life we were getting ready to enter. There was going to be a lot of learning, mistakes, good times and bad times, but I wanted people to see REALITY TV for once. We all know YouTube is a resource, so I went there immediately to learn about carrying twins, what to expect, things to avoid, things to use, and so on.

However, when I started, I noticed there wasn’t a lot of video resources with women of color carrying multiples. At that moment, I decided to become that resource by documenting my pregnancy journey, tips and tricks, I knew I didn’t want to be makeup guru channel or fashion guru channel, I’m just not that girl. Instead, I found a connect my love for counseling to my new found love of digital creating. I wanted people to come to my channel to get something emotionally, leave with the knowledge that could heal dark places, even if it was from a laugh or two from my crazy family vlogs. My channel is not a replacement for therapy, but maybe it’s a start to see if there’s something there that needs to be further examined.

Has it been a smooth road?
At first, it seemed easy. The plan was simple, I was going to have the babies get back to the bakery, continue studying, and vlog. The channel was doing very well because we were being ourselves. I wasn’t too concerned about being liked, just wanted to be relatable. Continuing the bakery was difficult because my mom, who was a huge contributing baker, was diagnosed with cancer in 2017, so the bakery, again, was put on pause. Which was fine because I put all my focus into my channel and creating more videos addressing mental health topics and self-help. I started more and more the direction I wanted to take my channel. My advice to women wanting to start any business would be don’t try to be anyone else. Be your authentic self and create your own lane. Shake the habit of comparisons, and set healthy boundaries between yourself, social media, and your business.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am a YouTuber and social media content creator. I specialize in self-help topics and mental health awareness. You can consider me an inner beauty guru for the modern person, male or female. I’m most proud of my braveness to put myself out there and connecting the dots for my passion for therapy and social media influencing. When I create a video, I am in service mode. It’s no longer about me but about helping my audience that came to my channel gain a better understanding about something rather it through a family vlog, Talk with Stephanie Yoshi segments or fitness tip from my pro-bodybuilder husband, Deron. I’m constantly figuring out ways to set myself apart. I want people to be able to get your beauty and makeup tips from one channel and come to my channel to figure out what else is missing.

We’re interested to hear your thoughts on female leadership – in particular, what do you feel are the biggest barriers or obstacles?
In my industry, low self-esteem is a barrier. So many women have what it takes because to come forward. There are so many people to compare yourself to but If you compared yourself all a day, you’d never get out of bed. I’ll admit, it’s hard to stand out amongst the crowd. Females have to knock down the barrier of feeling the need to compete, feeling inferior if someone else is better, and feeling the need to keep up. It can be intimidating because many would say the industry is over saturated but no one should let that stop them if their motives are real. There’s the only one you and someone is waiting to connect with you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Stephanie.Yoshi
• Facebook: Stephanie Yoshi
• Youtube: Life With Trotters

Image Credit:
The Onyx Collective

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.