Hikari Fleurr is a New York-based beauty and lifestyle content creator, an advocate for women empowerment, and an author. She is original, creative, artistic, and passionate among other things. Her creative digital content went viral which gave her a platform and opened several doors for her. She speaks on issues she is passionate about and has recently published an e- book titled “How to Become a Social Media Influencer”. She has been involved in many beauty festivals as well as collaborated with several top brands.
As a social media influencer of today among a sea of social media influencers, how do you engage in the same trends as everyone else while keeping your content different from everyone else’s as well as authentic?
It’s important to join the trends because joining trends are going to keep your content relevant. However, I always try to add my own twist on it so that it seems very authentic. I’m always thinking outside the box.
You recently published your e-book, How to Become a Social Media Influencer, in which you gave an insight into the world of influencing, what would you say is the main and most important secret to success in the social media influencing world out of the few that you mentioned?
I would say knowing your niche is the most important part of trying to become a successful influencer. Once you know exactly what your audience loves to see from you, can keep giving them more of it. Which will then make it easier for your engagement to get higher. Also, once you know exactly what you want to share with your followers, take advantage of every new feature on the app. Take advantage of the Instagram Reels. Take advantage of the Instagram stories. Just take advantage of everything because these apps love when you use their new features, and they’ll push out your content even more for using them.
For how long was your e-book project in the works?
It wasn’t very long. It took me about a month to finish typing it. I worked on it every single day. There were some days I’d even bring my laptop with me everywhere I went. I would edit it on my downtime.
Did you face any difficulties in the writing or publishing of your e-book?
To be honest I didn’t face many difficulties when writing my e-book. Writing about it came very natural to me because I basically just wrote about everything that I’ve learned during my Influencer Journey. These were questions that I’ve been asked daily from my followers, and I just basically answered them in a book.
Do you ever feel pressured to constantly post content on your social media pages?
Yes, I do absolutely. Especially when I’m not feeling well, I feel really guilty when I don’t post because I feel as if my followers are looking forward to it. I also feel very pressured when I’m not feeling well while still having a brand campaign to deliver. A lot of people think that being an Influencer/Content Creator is super easy, but it is not. You still have to create content even when you’re not feeling your best.
You have worked with several notable beauty brands, how exciting was it to work with them and could you describe the experience?
Yes, I have worked with many beauty brands such as Cover Girl, Smashbox Cosmetics, and Tula. Cover girl was a brand that I’ve always seen on commercials while growing up, so I was very excited to work with them when I finally became an Influencer. I love working with Cover Girl, they are always so supportive and great to work with. I’ve been on their Instagram handle and their YouTube channel.
In one of your interviews, you expressed the need for further diversity of color shades regarding beauty products, how hard is it to find your exact shade when buying beauty products?
Well of course there are some brands that are very diverse, however there are still a lot of brands that aren’t. I do still sometimes struggle to find my shade. I find myself sometimes mixing two different products just to come up with my complexion. I feel like the beauty industry needs to work harder to make their brand more inclusive.
Have you ever considered starting your own line of beauty products?
When I first became influencer, I did think about making my own beauty line. Now that I’m a couple years in this industry I like the fact that I came out with an informative e-book instead. I feel like that’s more of my lane and I definitely want to make more e-books as opposed to a beauty line. Or maybe even perfume; I could see myself doing that because I really love fragrances.
As a women’s empowerment advocate, how do you use your platform to spread awareness for your cause?
I’m always posting peptalk’s for women on my Instagram stories. I post a lot of motivating memes. Sometimes my captions on my feed posts are very uplifting. I encourage women to go after their dream, to be more independent, and to love themselves more.
What was it like participating in a beauty festival and how would you rate the experience?
I was a part of Beauty Con’s talent, so it was very fun and exciting for me! I received so much makeup and beauty products that day. I would rate the experience as a 9.5 only because it’s gotten so big that I feel like you don’t get to see or do everything. I miss when Beauty Con was smaller and felt more intimate.
If you were given a choice of choosing between wearing full glam makeup or a no-makeup makeup look every day for the rest of your life, which would you go for?
I would go for the full glam look everyday. How fun would it be to wake up & be picture ready everyday? I feel like my best self when I’m all glammed up.