Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla Anapurus.
Carla, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in 2006 I moved to NYC after I graduated from college with a degree in Business to embark in the Modeling World. Modeling is not easy and I had to work very hard to find my place in the market and fill in all the necessary requirements of the industry. Most of the time that I think I didn’t accomplish enough, I will look at a big blue box I keep all my immigration files that filled with pictures from jobs I performed throughout the years, then I know that in some way I left my mark in somewhere.
I still follow an Itinerary with modeling jobs until these days but I built other ventures too. I always had an Entrepreneur mindset with a Visionaire mind for new ideas since I was a kid. I remember when I was in college for my final project, I created a monthly membership system for Beauty Saloons in times when nobody had their eyes on that.
Nowadays, I run a couple of different business putting together all the expertise I accumulated around my life in different fields with all the concepts completing each other. It has been a long journey with ups and downs with a lot of learning along the way. Perseverance and courage kept me going throughout my path.
Has it been a smooth road?
Not at all. Nothing was ever easy to achieve in my life, I work hard every single day. The biggest challenge I face right now as an Entrepreneur is that I am one person playing too many roles which makes it difficult to develop my ventures to the top. At this moment, I am on a process to start to work with a Mentor to be able to model and scale my businesses.
Being a female Entrepreneur is a big challenge, especially in a business concept like Miss Caipi. Most of the mixologists are men and I don’t think they credit women properly in this business yet. That’s one of the main reasons why I personalized Miss Caipi into a persona, always dressed in yellow, full of style so people would always remember her when she is around. The idea is to create memorable experiences with her personalized cocktails with a touch of Brazil.
My biggest challenge with the Digital Diva that some brands still don’t see the importance and the value of Social ads to advertise products and services. Marketing concepts changed a lot; the way you advertise is completely different than it was before. You still have to pay for advertisements like before, it not only doing a post and be online that will make consumers knock at your door and it is not for free either, you should some budget for marketing and advertisement no matter what size your business is. Advertisement is definitely cheaper than before and easier to do it online. The person running your Ads knows should know your brand to proper deliver your message to the right consumer, be honest about what you can achieve in ROI for your business.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
My newest venture and the one I have been developing more these days it is “ The Digital Diva”, that it is related to the work I do with brands promoting them with Facebook Ads and marketing. Everything started when I was doing ads for myself and I had some success, so one day I received an email from Facebook inviting me to its office in NY to test my techniques in Ads, that’s when I knew I was getting in somewhere, after that, I started to do for other brands. I intend to specialize in Wellness, Liquor brands including bars and restaurants using my prior expertise in liquor sales. But at the moment, with everything that is happening around the World, I am willing to help brands in need of these services and cannot afford the high fees of the other Digital Marketing agencies. The hospitality market and other ones are in need of help and I am willing to use my skills for the ones in need. I believe that when you give you receive.
Everybody is at home right now checking their medias. The ads prices decreased a lot, and the competition is smaller. You have to able to capture what the consumers need at this moment and what you can do to help them using your skills. If you have a business promoting services that will favor people staying at home, don’t miss the opportunity, I can definitely help you with your FB ads needs!
Miss Caipi, The Fashion Mixologist, came first as a Mobile cocktail bar idea for private Events, mixology classes and help liquor brands, bar and restaurants to promote their products and venues online taking the advantage of my expertise in sell liquor. I started to work with liquor companies, while doing an advertisement campaign for a liquor company as a Model, then from there I started to work on a side in the field, promoting liquor for the major brands in the market. With years of experience and a good idea of the consumer’s needs and tastes for their cocktails, I created Miss Caipi. She is a persona dressed all in yellow ready to make refreshing cocktails with a touch of Brazil especially for you, the cocktails are fun and the names can be very creative too. Would prefer a Mr. Nono or a Cool girl? The whole idea is to entertain and create balanced cocktails using simple ingredients based on the consumer’s tastes to get the party started.
For the last few years I have been developing a project to create a seasonal pop up experience “ The Brazilian Beach Club” with the idea of taking the tropical vibe to the main urban places around the World with Miss Caipi and her tropical cocktails.
Besides that, I am an Influencer with my Blog “ The Fashion Mixologist,” where I share my Lifestyle, Fashion, cocktail recipes created by Miss Caipi partnering with brands that resonate with my concept. Instagram is my main media today.
I am most proud to be able to create brands that will deliver an honest message to clients or consumers working with me. Creating a business around honest and lots of creativity that is going to serve the consumer’s needs at the moment is one of the most rewarded things to me. I am an innovator focused on build long term concepts with solid foundations analyzing that market and consumer needs of the time. I believe strong brands are built around core values and I am committed to keep mine along with me.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Digital Marketing is the trend of the moment and it will be for a long time. If you are a brand and are not using Digital Marketing to grow these days, you are losing a big chunk of the market.
The liquor industry will always be profitable, as I always say, people drink at any moment of their lives, even when they don’t have money. I see most of the liquor brands still doing advertisement in the traditional way, using the word to mouth promotions, witch it is not very effective nowadays. The Liquor companies will have to start to advertise more online to sell their product and create brand awareness to explore new markets. The millenniums, their biggest target consumers are all hanging out online.
I think the influencer market is definitely shrinking and oversaturated, it is difficult to monetize your influence with brand collaborations today, since the market is inflated the brands think the influencer should advertise their products in return for gifts, the offer of service is bigger than the demand. Remember, advertisement was never free and it not right now, but a lot of brands don’t see things in this direction.
I use my influence to build a long term brand to help people in need of services or product I create.If the influencers don’t start to use their influence in this direction, they won’t be able to monetize their blogs only based in collaborations with brands.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.carlaanapurus.com; www.misscaipi.com
- Email: contact@carlaanapurus.com; contact@misscaipi.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carlaanapurus/ ; https://www.instagram.com/misscaipi/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/thefashionmixologist ; www.facebook.com/misscaipi
Image Credit:
Pictures in pink dress, yellow jumpsuit, glittery jumpsuit, floral dress smily- Corey Meade @corey_meade
Picture swimsuit at Miami Beach- Katrina Reed @followthatkat
Picture leopard jacket- Daniela Saraiva @lemondedani
Picture of the cocktail “Blue Rockerita”- Carla Anapurus @carlaanapurus
Picture of Miss Caipi Mixology Class at the Wework Soho- Carla Anapurus @carlaanapurus
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