Meet Olga Tsoi | Influencer, Social Media agency owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Olga Tsoi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Olga, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have always been fond of writing and content creation since I was a teenager, but back then there wasn’t really one platform that would feature creatives, so I would write on forums and blogs. Then, when I moved to United States I started doing photography for bloggers as while writing for a Ukrainian magazine in Chicago. Naturally with Instagram I migrated to the platform and released that instead of being a ghost writer for other bloggers, I can start my own. As my Instagram and blog viewership started growing I got approached by a friend of mine who had a business asking for help with social media. To me social media was just hobby at the time and I didn’t really think about offering my services to others. But after a while through word of mouth I acquired a few of my other clients. So in a way I can say that the business chose me. Now, I am doing both – I am an influencer and I run a social media agency.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Everyone has a social media page. I have always wanted to have a presence online, because it is a great way to share your values, opinions and experiences. So I choose to use my social media platforms to do exactly that. I try to ask myself what value do I bring to the viewer? If the answer is information, a smile or a dose of inspiration, then it’s worth posting. You never know how or when you can affect other people in a positive way. And if my post can make someone’s day even a little more bright, then I will be happy. As for how I got here I think I’ve never really had a roadmap or an actual plan. I just shared things that made me happy or inspired me and slowly my audience grew.
The lesson that I did learn is that when you share things online it might seem that nobody is watching or listening, but in fact you can and are touching many people. I was in Ukraine a year ago when the invasion happened and I just started posting on Instagram about my experience and reporting about the situation. That brought a lot of people to my page who wanted to see what was happen ing in real life and not through the lens of a news camera. When I was able to safely get to Poland, I immediately started helping other refugees, and one of my followers offered to pay for a hotel room for a family of refugees. I posted about that and that started a wave of other people offering help through me to Ukrainians who were arriving daily. That was the moment when I realized that being an influencer isn’t really just about sharing links to items you can buy online (which I still enjoy and I m always happy to share my fashion finds), but also that as an influencer you can do so much more because you have this amazing audience who are willing to help other through you.
As for personal brand, I’ve always tried to make my pages a place where people can come to get a positive experience. That’s who I am as a person and that’s what I translate into the world through the media channels. Now social media has shifted to “realness” and I am still navigating through that new side of it. For example I am learning to post stories where I am not wearing makeup and let’s say my hair isn’t perfect. But the most important thing is just being real and true to your audience.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Haha, this is actually a great question because I was just talking to my best friend about it. We said that we should spend one day doing things she loves (eating pizza and watching Housewives) and then one day doing things I love. And when I asked her what my day would look like she said – a nice restaurant that just opened and the night at the opera. But to be honest I just love experiences in general. Anything from a long walk, to a day in the museum or happy hour at a dive bar. It all really depends on my mood.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This shoutout is dedicated to every single person who follows me on social media channels. I am very grateful for my audience!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/echo_mass/