What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s the age-old question, and one that I’m still not even sure I can truthfully answer. What is it that constitutes a dream job? Most would say the pay; many would say the passion. But the truth is, for this generation, the answer isn’t as linear. Gone are the days when the go-to dream job was to be a doctor, teacher, or writer. More and more young people are searching for ways to step out from behind the desk and thrive in a career fuelled by creative freedom and flexibility. A recent survey found that more than half of young people today want to be social media influencers, to have more control over their lives and carve out their own way to success. But how close to reality is that dream?
I’ve found myself having the same conversation with my friends over recent years, the existential crisis of what am I doing here and how do I make a living while actually enjoying my life? “I just wanna be an influencer,” my friend Jas Jones once joked as we struggled through a university assignment together. “Sometimes I feel like it’s either that, or a nine-to-five grind forever.”
But the truth is, it’s not as easy as it looks.
“It’s essentially like you have your own business, except you are the business- and it’s hard work,” Australian fashion model and social media influencer Kate Wasley told me. Kate has worked in social media full-time for 10 years, and has just recently partially transitioned into a more ‘traditional’ office job. She has experienced first-hand the evolution of social media, witnessing its boom of popularity as more and more people dream about being a part of the industry to pave out a similar career path.
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Social media was originally designed as a way of sharing and connecting with friends and family, and largely, that is still its purpose. But instant connection like that is something that brands and companies find it hard to stay away from, and it was a similar story for Kate.
“It wasn’t until I began my modelling journey that I started looking at social media as more of a way to sell my own personal brand as a model,” Kate said. “I was motivated to pursue it when I was thrust into a world where all my peers had large social media followings, and I could see that they were getting modelling gigs from it.”
Kate described a turning point for her, the moment when she realised that she really could make a living via social media. “I remember it so vividly,” she said. “I was complaining to my friend, who had a really large following at the time, that all the modelling jobs I was doing as a plus-size model were for brands that I personally wouldn’t wear. They were brands aimed at a more ‘mature’ crowd.”
“I was so passionate about plus size women being able to buy age-appropriate stylish clothes, and couldn’t stand the pressures that women of all sizes felt to have this perfect, slim ‘ideal body’.”
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Being successful in the online world is not as easy as it seems. Sure, some people get lucky, but what I learned from Kate is that having a passion or finding your niche is essential if you want to work in social media. Kate created a collaboration with her friend on an Instagram account called ‘@any.body_co’ as a creative and fun way to protest that plus size women should be able to wear the same styles as their straight size friends. And they quite literally experienced overnight success.
“We posted photos and went to bed,” Kate reminisced, “and when we woke up, they had gone completely viral, Khloe Kardashian had reposted them and suddenly our joint Anybody account had 10k followers, and so did my personal account.”
“Then it was 100k, then 200k and suddenly I had job offers flying in, interview requests from every media outlet in the world. It all happened so quickly.”
That was the moment when she decided to quit her café job and start pursuing modelling and social media full time. But the social media industry isn’t as straightforward as it may seem from the perspective of an outsider looking in.
@katewas_ #size20 #decjuba #size20tryon #plussizefashion @DECJUBA ♬ original sound – kate wasley
The pressure to portray a certain image online is something that influencers have a constant struggle with, and Kate has felt a shift in this in recent years, finding the right balance between authenticity and the demands of the industry.
“At first I felt the need to be positive 24/7, but that actually made me fall into a place where I only saw the negatives and how poorly plus size people were treated,” Kate told me.
“I felt really angry at the world.”
“I quickly realised that being positive all the time not only wasn’t realistic, but it was affecting my mental health and how I viewed my body.”
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Putting your life online in such an open and vulnerable way is something that people love to see. It’s what society looks for in an influencer because they want to be able to relate to and empathise with the content they consume daily. However, being in the public eye also puts you in the direct line for receiving endless scrutiny and criticism, no matter how real and authentic you are. But for Kate, the internet trolls were the least of her troubles.
“I struggled a lot with the ‘trauma dumping’ messages I would receive from people who wanted advice on some really serious situations in their lives, including things like eating disorders,” Kate said, “by talking openly about my own struggles with disordered eating and body image, I had opened the door to people wanting to talk to me about their own.”
“I had people telling me that they had no where else to turn for help, which was a lot of pressure, and I wasn’t equipped for it.”
The social media industry is an ever-evolving, complex world that I’m not sure will ever be fully comprehendible. But it is a huge part of how society works today, and we’re better off accepting it for what it is rather than trying to run away from it. In terms of finding your own success as an influencer or public figure, there’s certainly a lot more to it than people realise.
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Kate’s advice to anyone who has influencing on their dream board is this: “find something you’re passionate about, stay consistent with posting every day, and make sure you have fun.”
“Most importantly, remember to keep an eye on yourself- reflect and realise if your self-worth is becoming intertwined with your follower count and engagement rates. There’s absolutely no shame in stepping away from it if it isn’t sustainable for you.”
The recent shift in people viewing influencing as a dream job as opposed to the more ‘traditional careers’ is something that continues to be on the rise. We’ve seen people in social media turn their followings into successful e-commerce businesses, but they’re few and far between, especially in Australia. Kate said that she feels much more relaxed after transitioning from being a full-time influencer into a more ‘traditional’ office job.
“The job security, leave, routine, co-workers and lack of emphasis on how you look is so refreshing to me and honestly my mental health has never been better,” Kate said. “There is so much saturation in the social media industry, the fight to stay relevant like my income and livelihood depended on it became really difficult for me after a while.”
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“I enjoy posting so much more now because it’s no longer a chore, it’s gone back to being something I’m passionate about and can have fun with.”
Reflecting on the conversation I had with my friend Jas, her offhand comment about “just wanting to be an influencer” feels more relatable now than ever. It’s easy to get caught up in the allure of online success and the idea of turning passions into income. But since speaking with Kate, I’ve come to see that behind every ‘influencer’ profile is someone dealing with the pressures of visibility, authenticity, and self-worth. The dream may not look the same up close, and maybe that’s the reality check our generation needs as we start to navigate what it means to truly enjoy our lives and work.
