I was once shy. REALLY?

Hey Glow Up Girls!

My name is Simi and I am a part of the Glow Up Tech team! We just had our 6th day party and I am super excited to be sharing our glimmers of gold, or key takeaways, from our wonderful guest speaker, the inspirational, creative entrepreneur, Wave Wyld.

Wave was born in a pretty rural area, on a farm, in Ontario Canada. She was a very introverted, shy, kid who loved reading nat-geo magazines about fun travel adventures, or playing sports and being in nature with animals. Wave had a lot of freedom, which contributed to her creative mentality, as well as ability to take care of herself.  Wave talked about the fact that as a kid she didn’t really have a mentor, or a family member she could talk to. She stressed the fact that although it was a setback, you shouldn’t feel discouraged or unmotivated because of the lack of support you get.

Like me, and I'm sure others who are reading this too, Wave didn’t know much about her future career paths, or what specifically she wanted to do. She talked about how there was, and still is, this stigma around artistic, creative jobs and that they don’t make a lot of money. After college, Wave, driven by her curiosity, passion for learning  about different cultures, as well as love for nat geo and the book “Work Your Way Around the World” (highly recommended btw), she went traveling all over the world.

Wave went on a journey (quite literally) to self discovery. While being forced to adapt to tricky situations, such as being left alone in a train station in France, or not being able to communicate with people, she gained a lot of self confidence! Wave also discovered that she was very passionate about photography which led her to make the decision to go back home, where she learned all about graphic design, Adobe Photoshop, and more.

The next chapter of her life was all about experimenting and finding out what she really wanted to do. Wave worked alongside a commercial photographer and got her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology (the study of human movement/physical science). Having grown up around horses and other animals, she was always fascinated by movement.  She then acted on her entrepreneurial spirit and started a wedding photography business. In her free time, yoga and movement of the body was her passion.  After ten years in the wedding photography business, Wave realized that she was ready for a new challenge. Little did she know that the two sides of her professional life would merge into one.  Wave really wanted to focus on helping female entrepreneurs like herself and funny enough her first clients were female yoga teachers and yoga studio owners that needed photography work, but didn’t know how to market themselves. She revved up her skills in social media marketing. Oh she stressed that learning never stops! It only made sense to launched a business that educates people about personal branding and content marketing and is currently a TikTok expert and business educator - @tiktokbiztips

Here are a few of her super helpful tips that she has shared with us for creating your own brand on social media…

1. Research! It is super important to understand the platform that you are working on and what does well. For example, right now tik tok is an amazing platform for getting your brand out there.

2. Self Discovery. Dig deep within and figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as what goals you want to achieve. Although it may sound cheesy, during this process make sure to stay true to who you are and what you are passionate about. (Personality tests are a great way to do this. We recommend www.16personalities.com)

3. Content Creation. In your content, make sure your personality can be seen. Have a certain signature look, or filter, or song, that makes your videos recognizable and unique. Have a good hook, story, and punchline.

4. TikTok - Wave delved into a whole segment on how to find your niche on TikTok and ways to create hooks with Video. For this you’ll have to watch her presentation found through this zoom link, featuring the event. 

I personally loved hearing from Wave because her story about being a shy kid and her love for traveling and learning was relatable to me. After hearing from her, I am more confident that I will find my own way in the world (despite me right now literally not having a clue as to what I want to do in the future).

A huge thanks to Wave Wyld for speaking at our event! If you guys want to learn more about Wave or hear her story from her directly, here is the link again! Glow Up Tech has some amazing ladies coming down the pike from companies like Zoom, Spotify and more so hurry and sign up to be a member as well as follow us on our social media platforms which are linked to the icons on our homepage!