Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristie Anne.
Hi Cristie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am a Miami-based content creator, blogger and influencer. I go by the name The Traveling Red on all of my social media accounts. The back story is that in 2015 a friend encouraged me to start a blog and Instagram account to share all of my adventures. I was constantly traveling with my husband to the world’s most beautiful places and taking tons of photos and videos. By the age of 30, I had been to 43 countries, but I was only sharing our adventures on my private social media accounts. The Traveling Red started as a place for sharing travel photos and travel tips, but it has become so much more over the years. The name remains the same, but the content certainly hasn’t.
In 2017 I gave birth to a baby girl and thought we would slow down the traveling, but that was so far from the reality. Since she was born, I have not been on a trip without her. Our family travels include everything from remote destinations to road trips. By the time she was one, she had visited four continents. She has been to places like Italy, the Middle East and even Egypt. Then in 2019, my husband converted a yellow school bus into a vacation home on wheels. Our three-month road trip in our yellow school bus conversion, 2 Cool 4 Skool Bus, is probably my favorite trip to date. We are super excited to be doing another 3-month road trip in our skoolie again later this year.
Since the pandemic, I had to shift my focus quite a bit to include more than just travel because we couldn’t travel as much as we used to. Today my accounts focus on just about everything in my life, such as motherhood, home decor, events and of course, some travel. Since the end of 2020, I started sharing a ton of content from Disney World because my family purchased a vacation home in Golden Oak and we spend a lot of time there.
Becoming a content creator and blogger has given her the opportunity to combine all of my passions into a successful business today. My love of traveling and photography were the perfect basis for starting social media accounts and a blog. As they have grown, I have been able to incorporate brand partnerships to make it a profitable business. I have always loved marketing and studied it before having any social media accounts. I received my MBA in marketing from the University of Miami back in 2010, which has carried over immensely into my business today. I have partnered with all types of brands, including fashion lines, hotels, tourism boards, furniture brands, and kids’ products. I’ve worked with Amazon, Disney and Lilly Pulitzer just to name a few.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have definitely been some bumps in the road, but the pandemic has been the biggest one. It’s so hard to run a successful business focused on travel when you can’t travel. I had to find a way to pivot and continue to provide value to my followers while shifting my focus from travel to other things in my life. However, it has been a blessing in disguise. I have really focused on my business and finding new ways to provide value, which have ultimately made me the most successful I’ve ever been in this business. I’ve worked with more brands I love in the past year than ever before. Diversifying my content to include more than just travel has allowed me to work with products and fashion brands I love that would not have fit into my content before.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Being a content creator and blogger involves so much more than meets the eye. I am a business owner, photographer, model, editor, writer, creative director, etc. When a company hires an influencer to promote their product, there is tons of work involved. People just think I snap a quick photo and share it, but it’s not that simple. Most of my campaigns go something like this…
I am constantly looking through influencer platforms for new job listings (it’s very similar to any job listing site, but this is only for influencers and bloggers) and selecting the listings that are products I love and would be willing to share with my followers. I am super picky and only agree to work with companies I truly believe in. Then I have to apply for the jobs. Usually, I have to answer various questions and then pitch my idea to them. My pitch is usually details about the setting for my photo, who will be in it, what the caption will be about, etc. This process is time-consuming and I really have to think it through.
Then I have to wait to hear back. It can get discouraging because you’re denied much more often than you’re selected. Once I’ve been selected, then I receive a brief (usually 5-10 pages long) with guidelines to follow during my creative process. I then have to prepare the setting, outfits, etc and shoot the product.
Next up is editing. I manually edit every single photo and video to make sure the colors match on my page. I also have to prepare my caption and make sure I follow the guidelines provided and include what the company is focusing on in the specific campaign. After that, I can submit my drafts for approval and wait again. Sometimes they request changes or even a reshoot. Once finally approved, I am given a posting date so I can finally share the content.
That’s just the process for each campaign, however there’s so much more to this business than campaigns. In order to get those jobs, you have to have a successful account or blog. So I am constantly maintaining all of my social accounts and my blog without getting paid for those posts. Most of what I share is not for a job, rather just value I’m providing to my followers.
I am very proud of the business I have created and love that I am able to work from home so I can spend time raising my daughter and traveling with my family. It’s a lot of work but it’s the best of both worlds. If you have kids and have tried to get great pictures of them, you know it’s not that easy. My campaigns definitely take a lot longer to complete when my daughter has to be a part of them, and as a motherhood focused page, she usually is requested to be a part of the shoots. It’s a lot of work, but I love what I do!
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Keep trying and don’t give up! Being a business owner, it’s easy to get discouraged at the beginning. It’s a ton of work with no reward. In this industry, you don’t really start to make money until you have a significant following. That means you have to work really hard to grow that following and then you can start getting paid for what you do. It’s so easy to get discouraged and want to give up when you’re working hard for free.
Contact Info:
- Email: thetravelingred@gmail.com
- Website: www.thetravelingred.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetravelingred/
- Other: pinterest.com/thetravelingred
