Global Brand Strategist | Women’s Leadership Expert | Female Founder
Global Brand Strategist | Women’s Leadership Expert | Female Founder
You are your brand and if anyone knows the power of this truth, it’s Elle Ferguson, a woman of influence, entrepreneur, and the owner and Creative Director of Elle Effect.
Her CV includes high-profile collaborations including DIOR, REVOLVE, Bumble and Ouai, cover features in Cosmopolitan and beauty bible Gritty Pretty, and the Cosmopolitan Social Media Star of the Year (Fashion) award in 2017.
In this episode, we take a deep dive into the power of Elle’s journey, leaving her corporate role as Global Visual Merchandiser for Seafolly to launch her own international beauty brand, Elle Effect, which quickly achieved cult status amongst beauty aficionados.
Elle has worked tirelessly to build her brand. As an early adopter of social media, Elle started blogging out of pure love for fashion and quickly took to Instagram to showcase her incredible outfits each day.
Now known for her golden glow and forward fashion, Elle Ferguson takes being an influencer very seriously. To build a brand that people truly resonate with, it’s so important to learn from your audience. What are they interested in? What do they want? This is how Elle Effect grew so organically.
Elle shares her insights on social media engagement, and the valuable advice she was given by Eva Chen from Instagram HQ on how to effectively use the platform to present her brand and connect with her audience. We also talk about the importance of backing yourself, setting boundaries and anchoring your decisions to your values.
Elle also shares how her more recent journey with fitness has been a huge inspiration for building her business with strength, determination and clarity.
Topics Discussed
[1:15]: A slashy is somebody who does many things and can’t be defined by a title. Elle shares how her title was so important when she first started in corporate but now she’s her own boss and can call herself whatever she wants.
[2:45]: You aren’t stuck in the same thing for the rest of your life. You can change your narrative and path at any point.
[3:40]: Elle shares how she started out with a blog while in the role of Global Visual Merchandiser for an amazing brand. Within 2 years she left her job to pursue her own thing full time.
[5:50]: Elle shares the values she was brought up with that set her up for success: You always treat others the way you want to be treated, you can be whoever you want to be
[7:00]: Influencers are leaders in the field. The last 2 years have created a divide amongst influencers and many people have now created their own brands off the back of Instagram.
[8:25]: Elle’s sister encouraged her to share her outfits on Instagram. She is a really hard worker and sets very high standards for herself.
[9:10]: The Instagram grid is about showcasing your brand portfolio whereas the stories are the behind the scenes, uncut version. The most important thing is to be active on everything. Use what you see people liking to build your brand.
[10:30]: Elle shares how she has gathered huge inspiration and motivation for her business through her sport and fitness journey over the last couple of years.
[12:00]: Phil Staub from General Pants told Elle, “you are your brand” and it’s something she thinks about every single day.
[12:45]: A non negotiable for Elle is that she has to run for 1 hour, 6 days a week. It’s about setting boundaries to make that time for herself because pushing herself too hard doesn’t actually make things better.
[13:30]: Having a tan was always about self confidence for Elle. Sun safety was really important so she never naturally tanned as a child. When she discovered fake tan, she mixed her own to get the right colour.
[15:20]: Elle’s brand showcases 3 products; The wash/cleanser and tanner remover including oils, The Tan which includes rose essential oil, the Tint which is an instant glow.
[17:10]: A moisturiser is about to launch called The Glow, which has been the hardest product she’s made so far. It has now launched and is available in Mecca. They currently ship to the USA and are working on getting stocked in retailers now.
[19:00]: Elle’s next powerful step is to hit 10km in an hour while running on her treadmill.
She lost 10kg during the first lockdown and talks about how powerful mindset is.
[20:00]: Elle has just signed a lease on her first office space, which is an exciting move. It’s important to recognise the achievements you’ve made as you go on.
Links
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