Here's How I 10x-ed My Instagram Following In 1 Year

An earnest look at my year of taking social media seriously

It started with a press trip to Sundance.

Photo by my beloved Julia Kokernak

Or more realistically, the offer of an invite on a press trip to Sundance. I was at coffee with one of my best friends who works in PR. “I can invite one editor, the rest have to be influencers,” she told me. I nodded, and she clarified. “An editor with a following.”

At the time, I had around 3,000 followers on Instagram. I posted twice a week-ish, stories most days, and mostly used it as a way to share stories I wrote as they were published. I’d been on the app for ten years at that point, so I felt pretty comfortable with my role as an observer. That was, until an invite to a film festival was on the line.

Dec 2023

So I started posted—sincerely, often, without shame. I posted Reels, which felt embarrassing until it didn’t. I posted AMAs and answered questions from high school friends about where to find secondhand loafers online. I shared every single Long Live I wrote. And a year later, a lot has changed.

Nov 2024

I’m not an influencer. And, for what it’s worth, the Sundance trip never happened. But content creation accounts for almost 40% of my annual income. And I’m represented by the brilliant team at Communité. Safe to say, the choice I made a year ago has changed my life.

So it’s not about followers, which I have grown across platforms, but about the way creating content has fundamentally shifted my work. Now, I consult founders and creatives on how they can best show up online to build a narrative and create a public persona.

Let’s get into my key takeaways for your own growth + what worked for me.