Today we’d like to introduce you to Edward Digges.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
People usually ask where I’m from and I’ve never had a clean answer. My dad was a Navy captain, so we moved about every two years. I was the fourth of five kids, homeschooled the whole way through. What that gave me was a high tolerance for starting over and not being afraid of new experiences, whether that be mobbing to a new city, new friends, new job, etc.
I always loved being creative. I took art classes, theater, photography and film courses growing up. I loved working with a camera, so I went to film school planning on eventually moving to LA to work in the film industry. For my last semester of college I moved to LA for an internship, and when it ended, I stayed. Myself and six college buddies all had the same goal to stay in LA, but none of us had any real jobs, so we all rented a two bedroom apartment together, with three guys in each room, mattresses on the floor.
I paid rent by scrolling the creative listings on Craigslist every morning. Headshots, LinkedIn photos, cover art for musicians trying to break into the industry… even getting a hundred dollars was money towards rent, so I said yes to everything. Apart from the paid gigs, I would DM any influencer, want-to-be creator or personality in LA on Instagram and ask to do a photoshoot with them. I wanted to meet and shoot as much as possible. It wasn’t the film career I’d pictured yet, but I was shooting almost every day, and I knew it would pay off in some way.
Eventually I went in house running video for a national beauty brand, which is where I learned the other half of the job: marketing. I learned the piece of content isn’t good enough if it just looks good, it needs to convert. Then COVID hit, an opportunity came up in Texas, and I took it.
During my career I was around creators and influencers constantly, either through my corporate job or freelancing the side, helping them build their business or personal brand. About a year and a half ago, the obvious question finally showed up: If I get paid to build this for other people, why can’t I build it for myself? One Day I was pitching my freelance services to someone and he said, “If you know so much about content and personal branding, why do you only have 2,000 followers?” The tough part to swallow was, he had a point.
So in January 2025 I started posting more consistently, on purpose, the way I’d have built it for a client who was paying me. I went from about 4,000 followers to 50,000 in a year, and it kept going. My biggest video has passed 43 million views on TikTok, and these days I average close to 15 million views a month on Instagram. The numbers have been great, but what excites me most about social and building a personal brand are the doors I never expected to open… the people you get to meet, and the rooms you’re able to walk into. I’ve been able to partner with some of my dream brands already, like Adobe, Expedia, and more.
I still have the nine to five, and so I’m running my freelance business and creator page on the side after hours and on the weekends. It’s a lot of work and takes a lot of time, but it’s so worth it. The money is the least interesting part. A personal brand puts you in rooms, and introduces you to people you’d never have crossed paths with. I encourage everyone to start building a personal brand on social media. Not to get famous, but to simply open yourself up to receive the opportunities that I know were already destined for you.
Alright, 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, there were lots of struggles! The dream outcome you have pictured for yourself probably isn’t the one you’ll end up with… and that’s a good thing. My first dream didn’t come true… and neither did the second or third. I wanted to be an actor, then I wanted to be a film director in Hollywood, then I tried climbing corporate, and then I tried to run my own freelance production business. What I couldn’t see then is that none of it was wasted. Acting taught me how to be comfortable on camera and how to hold an audience, which is most of what I do now. Film school taught me story and craft. The corporate years taught me the marketing side that it has a job to do beyond looking good. Trying to run my own business taught me sales, and clients, and self discipline to start something from nothing. All four play a part in what I do today. I’m now the actor, the director, the marketer, and the business all at once, and I only have all four because the first three didn’t work out the way I wanted. Every “no” life gave me wasn’t a call to quit, it was just a re-direction. Every part that “failed” gave me the tools to do what I do now. I fully believe that there are no mistakes and everything happens for a reason, you just have to believe in something long enough so you can step back one day and see how all the fragmented pieces fit together to build where you are now.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have two sides. One is the professional side where I do content and creative production through photo, video, editing, and the strategy. I’ve been doing that for about a decade, mostly in health, wellness, and fitness, and it’s still my full time job.
The personal side is my own channels, and it’s really just about my life and to make you smile. Lifestyle, travel, comedy, apartment content, and a lot of videos incorporating my two cats, Miley and Demi.
What sets me apart is that I’ve built content from all three seats of the industry. I’ve worked in house in marketing, freelance creative, and for myself as the content creator.Each one teaches you something the others can’t.
In house you learn what a brand actually needs: the constraints, the approvals, the fact that there’s a business attached to every post. Freelance, you learn to walk into a company you’ve never worked with and find its voice fast, because nobody’s giving you six months to figure it out. And building your own, you learn what it’s like to post and be creative while connecting to people and see what actually performs and works.
Most people I meet have a background in one or two of these, but I’ve been fortunate to experience all three.
The thing I’m most proud of has nothing to do with my own numbers. It’s that I’ve inspired other people to start posting, and some of them have surpassed me in their audiences. I couldn’t be more proud of them. Watching somebody go from “I could never do that” to doing it better than you is a strange and wonderful feeling, and it’s easily the most rewarding part of any of this.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Probably most surprising is that my faith is a really big part of my life. Being gay and christian surprises a lot of people. I think I’ve only posted about it once, but it’s probably one of my most frequently asked questions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.diggesmedia.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwarddigges/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwarddigges/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@edwarddigges
