Today we’d like to introduce you to Ella Rose McFadin.
Hi Ella Rose, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I remember when Instagram first came out on the App Store. I was in the 8th grade (crazy, I know) and was sitting on the floor at my best friend’s beach house on the Newport Peninsula. I downloaded the app and made my username @ellaarose because @ellarose was already taken. Throughout high school, I began posting photos on the app, whether it was me going to prom, getting pressed juicery on my school lunch break, or a fun outfit photo one of my parents took of me in the front yard or in front of a neighborhood garage. I really enjoyed taking photos and sharing them, and always naturally had a creative eye in fashion and music. My parents started a record label while I was growing up.
By the time I got to my freshman year at Boulder, Colorado I hit 10k. I remember sitting on my dorm bed being so excited about it. My content then changed to game day tailgate photos, Colorado hikes & sunsets, trips back to California and documenting just about every “chic” meal I ate. I actually had a food Instagram at one point called ‘The Camera Eats First’. I ended up getting into a summer program in Rome, Italy the summer before my junior year. I was there for a little over a month and probably posted two Instagrams everyday + lots go IG stories. I remember people loving the travel content and my account growing like crazy. I definitely annoyed my friends while I was begging for a quick photo on a field trip or outside the classroom while everyone was wildly hungover. Sometimes, I would go on a walk by myself and ask a random stranger to take a photo, haha. I think by the time I was back from my Europe trip, I was at 55k or something like that.
The next year and a half of school, I just continued sharing content about my life: family, friends, outfits, weekends, trips, food, restaurants, everything really. I think this is how I created such a loyal following. Many followers have been around for 7+ years now, know my family, have “met” a couple of different boyfriends, and seen me grow from high school in California, college in Colorado, and now NYC, where I have been since March of 2019.
When I moved to NYC, I got a corporate job in fashion at Gucci. I didn’t quite realize influencing had the potential to be a full-time job/ make enough money to live on. In my head, it was still just a side thing I did for fun and a creative outlet and was now getting awesome gifting for clothes. Gucci was an incredible experience, well brutal and lots of tears, but incredible. I learned a lot that I can even apply to what I do today. I tried to do some Instagram deals on the side but didn’t have much time for it. I would still post pictures and share my life, but mostly on the weekends or a sneaky outfit photo in the office here and there.
During covid, I was laid off and decided to give Instagram all of my efforts. I worked super hard on creating strong relationships with brands, sharing unique content that wasn’t just fashion but lifestyle and really giving an insider’s peek to my life (which hey, isn’t that interesting but people seemed to think so). To be honest, I think I am just really good at snapping pictures and taking a viewer’s eye through my days.
Three apartments in NYC and a public break up later… I have grown to 169,000 faces following my life journey and looking for inspiration to make outfits more exciting. I am now signed with DBA, a management company, have my own make-up line, Skin by Ella Rose, and a food blog called Art of Foods.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t always been smooth but I have always been really grateful for my platform and all the opportunities that have come from it.
There has been a lot of second-guessing myself, comparing myself to others in the industry, insecurities (both physical and mental), and reading comments from people who don’t have something nice to say but still want to write it to me.
The comments have never really gotten to me too much, but there are definitely ones that sting. I read them all but try to never reply and let them roll off my back because usually for every negative comment there are 100 positive ones.
A challenging part for me is having to explain what I do to people in a social setting. Influencers get such a bad rep and people really don’t get that it IS a full-time job. I used to always just say I work in social media and would hope nobody would ask a follow-up question, but now I have gotten pretty confident with saying I am a content creator and giving details about my job when people are curious. I like to think that maybe people just need to understand it more to accept it.
I also struggle with wearing all the hats. I never turn off, I really am always working or in my head thinking of what more I can do. There is so much behind the scenes that people don’t see. I truly work 70+ hours every week. However, since I have been doing this for a while now, I definitely have gotten good at taking my photos, posting, and then being present with those around me. This is super important for me. I never ever want to be the girl who is always staring at her screen when with others. It can all wait and although it seems like I post a lot of my life on the gram, I keep a lot of it off as well. It is curated the way I want it to be.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a 24-year-old New York City-based fashion and lifestyle influencer and the founder of Skin by Ella Rose, a beauty brand. Inspired by my Southern California roots, I am known for my relaxed, colorful and effortless vibe, as well as dancing in the street videos around NYC. I truly love sharing my daily life and creativity with my loyal audience.
Here are all my channels:
https://www.instagram.com/
https://www.tiktok.com/@
https://www.youtube.com/
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Living in San Francisco. I remember being pushed around in a stroller bundled up with the cold air hitting my face. My mom used to tie a string around a bagel to the stroller cause I would take a bite then try to chuck it. I also remember my dad taking me to this one pub and sitting me up on the counter. He would have a beer, and the bartender would give me unlimited quarters for the gumball machine.
Contact Info:
- Email:ellamcfadin@gmail.com
- Website:skinbyella.com
- Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/ellaarose/
- Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/ellamcfadin
- Other:https://www.tiktok.com/@ellamcfadin
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