56: Instagram Influence and the Exciting Unknown — Elise Swopes

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week on 5.6.7.EIGHT, Aleksandra speaks with Elise Swopes,</span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">an Instagram superstar who currently boasts over 282,000 followers, has been featured on billboards and commercials, and has partnered with some of the world’s biggest brands, including Adidas, Adobe, and Apple. Recently, Swopes has become committed to sharing her methods with the world and encouraging other photographers through her</span> <em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">SWOPES SO DOPE</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">podcast, newsletter, and tutorial video channel.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Elise lives the “rags to riches” story, as this college dropout used her phone and some free apps to share her art through a relatively new medium at the time — Instagram. Fast forward to years later, and Elise is working with huge brands, vacationing with celebrities, speaking at Ted Talks, hosting podcasts, and so much more. On the podcast, Elise walks through her life and speaks to her art while sharing the many lessons that she’s learned along the way, including the value of even seeing the negative experiences in your life as positives.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Moving Quotes:</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s interesting when you’re going through all of your struggles. You don’t realize that they’re there for a reason. Now, I get to do Ted Talks about my struggles. Now I get to share these with other people and have this triumphant story."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“There’s so much pressure to be the person that has a lot of followers and likes. But the difference that you can make is just by simply being yourself and being consistent with being yourself."</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s tough to put yourself out there. But I try to make friends with doubt, fear, the things that will consistently be coming up for me. Because they’re never going to go away. But that’s the fun part — w