On the Grind with @TheEsperanzaMaria

 

Hey Beauties!

Erin here; better known as @theesperanzamaria on Instagram, I am the creator of The Sunflower Experience and co-founder of Curl Talk DC. I stepped into the blogging world a little over a year ago now and it has been such an amazing experience filled with an immense amount of opportunity, love and support. Taking on this role has commanded a great amount of responsibility and time management skills. I am constantly on the move, so much so, I literally have-to schedule everything sometimes even just hanging with my friends has-to be scheduled down to the minute.

 

Now that school is back into full spring, I have to factor in school, work, blogging and attending events or doing shoots. All of this sounds like a whole lot, I know, but when you are passionate about something you never allow anything to get in your way. Even if that is sleep sometimes, in the words of Tommy Pickles “a baby’s gotta do what a baby’s gotta do,” although, in this case a blogger’s gotta do… well you get it!

 

 

There are so many benefits to being an influencer and blogger from meeting and networking with interesting people to working with incredible brands and being able to hear stories from people of all walks of life! I am obsessed with the support from other influencers as well. I have made so many connections and genuine friends in this industry it’s almost unreal.  People sometimes have this misconception about influencers and think all we do is take pictures and get free stuff, but it’s so much more than that, it’s about creating a sense of mutual support and creativity that goes beyond material things and pretty pictures.

 

As rewarding as this job is (because it is a job), there are a good amount of challenges that I face as an influencer and business woman. Being taken advantage of is a big problem. What I do is valuable. I create content and spread positive words because I love it but it takes a good amount of time and energy to put into content creation and when people or brands don’t take notice or understand that, it can be frustrating. Finding time throughout the day to do everything is always a challenge because you want to be able to constantly create and talk to every person and brand but the reality is: priorities, priorities, priorities.

 

My day to day changes constantly, which is what I love about this industry! I have classes two days out of the week and work at my job 5 days a week which sometimes includes weekends. I have the daytime free because I normally work at night so on the days I don’t have classes I am responding to emails, writing a blog post or creating content for my Instagram page. Other than that, I regularly attend networking events, and I love to read; I am currently reading The Alchemist and I love to have wine nights with my girlfriends.

 

 

Being an influencer has been an amazing experience thus far and I’m excited to see where I go from here! I graduate in December so once I have my degree I hope that my opportunities will take me beyond the DMV area. I’d love to live in New York for a few years but hey, who knows!

 

Thank you so much for listening to my story! Feel free to follow me on Instagram and show some love. Also, check to check out my blog click the link below.