Today we’d like to introduce you to Genevieve Watson.
Genevieve, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
In October 2018, I was in my last semester at UT Austin. I was feeling burnt out at work, bogged down with school work, and definitely suffering from senioritis. I was craving a creative outlet. Some other space I could put some of my energy that was productive but wasn’t work or school. So I decided to finally stop being afraid of judgment and start a lifestyle Instagram account.
Since YouTube become a thing, I had followed creators like Aspyn Ovard, Lindsay Hughes, and Alisha Marie who are all also around my age. I had a turbulent relationship with my sister growing up, so I felt like watching their lifestyle videos kind of filled in for the sister chats I was missing. I listened to them chat about high school, then college, getting married, and starting families all pretty close into alignment with what was happening in my own life. Having had that connection with three girls, I had never met over the Internet inspired me to create my network of internet sisters which is where my IG blog was started.
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?
Something that can be really difficult getting onto the online space has been letting comparison steal your joy. As a new influencer, it can be really easy to fall into a comparison game with other influencers. I let myself fall victim to that for a few months and IG went from being fun to feel like a chore. I felt like I had lost my WHY why I starting blogging, which was to connect with other “sisterless” women.
Here’s where I want to offer a little advice that helps relieve me of the crappy pressure I was putting on myself. I’m not going to say don’t let comparison steal your joy, because it’s going to happen, it’s human nature. But know how to kick that shit to the curb when it starts to consume your or change what you’re doing. Whether that’s comparing yourself to another blogger’s growth, or to someone IRL who looks like they have it all together on social media all the time. Your life, your IG. It’s yours and only yours. So make it your own and OWN that. Slow growth is still growth. No growth can still mean growing real connections. A perfect social media presence doesn’t make a perfect real life. Just do the best for you and show up for yourself!
We’d love to hear more about your work.
My IG motto is “Here to be the sister you never had, love you, support you, and empower you” that’s exactly what I came to Instagram to do. Banding together “sisterless” women sharing and supporting each other’s successes. I think something that sets me apart and drives social media coaches crazy at the same time is that I don’t have a “niche”. I’m not a fashion blog or fitness IG. I’m an internet sisterhood that just can’t be put into one box. My Instagram is about sharing my life and supporting yours, whatever that may look like. I think women connect with that.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite childhood memories is going to the library. I was OBSESSED with books and reading when I was young. I was homeschooled until the 5th grade, so once a week we would go to the public library and spend a few hours milling about and picking out books. For those of you who don’t know, public libraries usually have a limit on the number of books you can check out, but after years of my mom bringing my siblings and me there each week, we got to know the librarian VERY well. Bless her heart, she let me check out as many books as I wanted because she knew she’d see my freckled face back at her check out counter the next week for another laundry basket full of books. That’s right, laundry basket. When my limit was lifted, I ditched our homemade library bags for a laundry basket. Books were such a great escape from reality for me.
Contact Info:
- Email: genevievewatsonn@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/genevievewatsonn
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