10 Questions x 10 Creators: Tesa Pesic

Meet Tesa, known as @thenamestesa, a content creator from New York, who shares the love for both travel and coffee. We approached her to discuss her perspectives on the industry and what are her passions and challenges.

1. What do you love most about being an influencer/creator?

It brings me so much joy to create images and videos of my experiences and inspire people, whether it be to visit a new restaurant, plan a trip to a different country, or even just try a product that I’m loving. I’ve also been lucky to meet a number of amazing people and friends through this line of work.

2. What's your biggest challenge as an influencer at the moment?

It’s surviving the Instagram algorithm. You can get amazing feedback on the content you post but for whatever reason the app sometimes decides not to show it to a wider group of people and that can be disappointing.

3. Are you full-time or juggle with another job?

Up until last month I was working a full-time job as a Social Media and Influencer Marketing Manager alongside my influencer work. I had been thinking about being a full-time content creator for years to be honest, but fear always held me back. After a lot of introspection and figuring out what I wanted my life to look like, I decided to take the leap and prove to myself that I can do it.

4. Do you have an agent?

I currently do not, but I am actually searching for one. With the right agent/agency you can not only get connected with great brands and partners, but also delegate the admin aspect of the job and focus more on the creative side.

5. What's your ideal brief and brand to work with?

That would be a brand that aligns with my own values, shares a similar aesthetic, and trusts my judgment. Brands hire you for your style and so they should allow you creative control (or at least not ask for imagery that is vastly different than your own).

6. What makes a successful collaboration or brand partnership?

When both parties are happy with the process, final product, and there is visible interest in the brand from the audience.

7. What are your pet hates when it comes to working with brands?

I don’t really have those to be honest. I would say I am one of the lucky ones who has had only good experiences working with brands and agencies.

8. How do you stay on top of trends?

I believe trends are heavily pushed on social media so it’s hard to miss them. I first notice a trend though through the explore page and then notice the people that I follow creating the same.

9. What are your predictions for the future on influencer marketing?

I could be wrong, but I haven’t seen much change these past few years so I am unsure what changes can come. I can only hope that more brands start putting budgets behind certain partnerships as a lot of work goes into creating the content they use.

10. Which influencers do you admire and why?

I admire any influencer who has created a strong relationship with their audience. This also results in mutual trust and I think that’s the only way you really survive as a content creator.