Today we’d like to introduce you to Gisselle Miller.
Gisselle, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Oh, where to start! What a journey it has been shall I tell you! In April of 2018, I started my Instagram Gissellita Bonita shortly after finishing college. I had been recruited to play NCAA soccer for a top ten school in the country for both of my majors in Speech-Language Pathology and Child Learning and Development at The University of Texas at Dallas. I had graduated at the top of my class accumulating almost 1,000 hours internship experience in every scope of practice the speech-language pathology field and thought I had been a shoe-in for getting accepted into grad school with my extracurricular and astounding GPA as a double major, however, to my despair, I had been turned down by every program and was left in deep worry and depression about how all the sleepless nights and not mention the life-threatening illnesses I had put my body through in college just to get into grad school were for nothing. At that particular moment in time, I felt a great self of loss and unhappiness with my self and with the outlook of my future. It was then that I started my Instagram as a way for me to regain happiness back into my life through my love and passion for fashion.
From a young age, I had always shared a love for fashion. I would always wear the flashiest clothes at school and would get so many compliments and of course stares, but I didn’t mind at all. I absolutely loved standing out and being unique. It is what makes me, well me! 🤪 My blog aspires to bring happiness to all who come across it! Designed to be loud, bright, and fun I provide models and photographers with fun, colorful, and affordable outfits, style, and travel photography inspiration to assist in creating his/her dream portfolio. Creating my blog has been the most amazing career choice I had ever made in my life and has given me so many once in a lifetime opportunities such as becoming a fashion influencer, boutique owner, creative content creator, and craziest of all a published fashion, promotional, and commercial model represented by multiple modeling agencies across the country. I wouldn’t trade it in for any other job in the world and thank all the amazing friends that have followed me along on my journey to make this dream possible! ❤️
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Haha, no, the road has not always been smooth. As a social media influencer, one of the biggest challenges I face is an Instagram algorithm. When you think you have mastered Instagram or Pinterest marketing, they come back with a new algorithm that throws away the new marketing strategy you’ve been using to grow your audience. It’s really quite annoying, to be honest, but it forces me to go above and beyond to research what strategies provide me with the most optimal results. When it comes to the world of Instagram, there is constant pressure to count the likes and followers. For me, this primarily occurred due to my inclination to appeal to brands and land those high paying sponsored posts in the beginning just to get the paycheck, however, I have found more success creating content that I know will provide more value to my audience as opposed to creating content that I know that brands are looking for when choosing bloggers to work with.
For anyone just started out, I want to inform you that blogging does not follow a get rich quick scheme. It takes hours and hours of hard work, patience, and continual educational growth to run a successful blog, brand, or business. I personally have spent thousands of hours and dollars on modeling workshops, learning how to create killer social media content, grow a highly engaged following, collaborating with photographers and brands, and how to run a successful boutique across my social media platforms on Instagram, Pinterest, and Poshmark. With my resilience and constant drive to show up for the audience I currently have acquired 22K followers on Instagram, 55K on Poshmark, and 600K on Pinterest in just a year and a half. Yes, it is a lot of work, but a lot of fun work! If this truly is your passion, just know that there is a long road ahead, but enjoy the journey because each day you get closer to your goal and you are doing what you were born to, and lastly, don’t let anything or anyone stop despite the circumstances ahead! You got this girl!
What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
Ahh, great question! What don’t I do feels like a more accurate one! I specialize in fashion & travel niche! I have been dipping my toes into travel blogging recently by assisting Texas models and photographers in locating the best photography shooting locations for their portfolios throughout Texas. I hold the title as a fashion influencer, boutique owner, creative content creator, and craziest of all a published fashion, promotional, and commercial model represented by multiple modeling agencies across the country!
As for what sets me apart from most, well I’ll ask you what doesn’t? From the obnoxiously loud, brightly colored perfectly matching outfits to my unique personal physique and at 5 ft 9 inches, I stand out like a sore thumb and I absolutely love it! I love radiating my positive energy to all those that approach me! Maybe one day, you’ll be lucky enough for me to grace your presence. 🤪 As for my blog… well, it truly is a representation of me! Wild, crazy, fun, sometimes overly obnoxious, but always a great time for everyone! My blog ultimately aspires to bring happiness to all who come across it! Designed to be loud, proud, bright, and fun, I provide models and photographers with fun, colorful, and affordable outfits, style, and travel photography inspiration to assist in creating his/her dream portfolio. My ultimate goal is to bring happiness to others and put a smile on their face! After all, I was meant to help people and I absolutely love what I do! I am most proud of being able to help out others, whether that be by making them laugh or providing them with some educational tips that will make their life easier in this industry as a model, creative, or photographer, or just an ordinary girl living in an extraordinary world!
Looking back on your childhood, what experiences do you feel played an important role in shaping the person you grew up to be?
Oh yes, the experiences I had in my childhood set me up for success for sure!! I was always very disciplined! I went to Catholic school and had a Costa Rican mom who was always super strict. Getting Straight A’s was an absolute most and being the best at everything became, well my thing! I grew up playing soccer for 18 years and even got recruited to play in college. Competition was basically in my blood! I was always an NCAA academic scholar every year and one year, I pushed myself to become the fastest player on the field and guess what I did. I became that girl that ran a 5-minute mile. Soccer definitely was the main factor that shaped my overly competitive nature. But there definitely were times when so pushed the limit too far like the time I broke my foot and climbed up a mountain on a family hike the next day but didn’t tell anyone it was broken or the couple times in college that I would stay up four days in a row to study for exams and only drank water and didn’t eat a single thing. I was a little obsessive, to say the least, but the strangest was that most of the time I wasn’t exactly competing against anyone but myself. I honestly just really just wanted to be the best and would do anything I could to ensure that I was. Some call it crazy, but I say that’s just me. I’m one unique kid I tell ya!
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.poshmark.com/gissellitab
- Instagram: Www.instagram.com/Gissellitabonita
- Other: www.pinterest.com/
Gissellitabonita
Image Credit:
Terrell Sistrunk @terrell.sistrunk, Alejandro Estrada @theestradaesxperience, Tami Kaye @tami.kaye
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