I can’t believe the incredible adventures across the world that I’ve been lucky enough to document and pursue as a career. Some of my career highlights would be working for big brands such Land Rover, BMW & CNN on an Incredible India campaign.
1. Tell us more about your background and journey.
I’m born and bred in Cape Town, South Africa & was lucky enough to always have had a family that loved little getaways and local travel enabling my brother & me to visit some really beautiful places around South Africa.
My hunger for wanting to explore more grew as I got older (maybe it was me trying to escape studying, haha) and I found myself adventuring and road-tripping at any opportunity with any of my friends who were up for it.
I was studying a Bachelor of Social Sciences at the University of Cape Town and for one of my film & media projects was tasked with having to create a blog. I remember the feeling of writing and story-telling feeling so natural and satisfying that I continued my blog long after the project was due, and would write about all of my local adventures.
This was the beginning of my online adventures, and little did I know that it would grow into something full-time, branching across several different social media channels including Instagram & YouTube, which are now my two main platforms.
2. What does your typical day look like?
Working for yourself, and in this social media world, allows for every day to look different than the last. With the onset of COVID, my travels have obviously come to a grinding halt and so my day-to-day routine is a lot more predictable and established.
Usually, I wake up at 5:45 with coffee in bed (mandatory), and then tackle some emails & admin before delving into whatever edit that I have due. I am a terrible procrastinator so things take me a lot longer than they should, but I do try and find time every day for some form of movement whether its a run, a surf, climbing, or just a home work-out which usually takes place in the afternoon, before cooking some dinner and chilling out with my fiance, Blair.
Our weekends are usually a lot more exciting and are typically filled with some camping or outdoor adventure. This is when I film my vlogs and other content which turns into the next week’s editing task.
3. What are your strengths?
I would say that I have a very cool head and exude a lot of calmness in my day-to-day life (some might say too much, haha), but this often allows me to gain some perspective of what is important and not stress the small stuff.
4. What is Your biggest professional achievement?
Looking back at it now, I can’t believe the incredible adventures across the world that I’ve been lucky enough to document and pursue as a career. Some of my career highlights would be working for big brands such Land Rover, BMW & CNN on an Incredible India campaign.
This was not a career that I ever could have imagined possible and up until 2015, I was heading into the corporate world before deciding that I would try this online world for a year and if it failed, I would jump into a traditional job. To have a full 180-degree change to doing something that allows me these opportunities is something that I never want to take for granted.
5. Who is your favorite creator and why?
I absolutely Sailing La Vagabonde. If you haven’t checked out their YouTube channel, I would highly suggest doing so. Their videos are such a great balance between informal ‘vlog-style conversations and high-quality story-telling through narration, animation, and visuals.
6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring content creators?
Don’t compare yourself to others, and try to be as authentic as possible. There is so much incredible content out there and I have fallen into the trap many times of comparing my content to others which only leaves me feeling like my videos aren’t worthy enough of being watched when everyone else around me just seems to keep leveling up.
But at the end of the day, I’m not going to create content that seems inauthentic to myself in order to try and keep up with the trends of social media. I do however try and seek inspiration from other creators and watch how they tell their own stories with the hope of taking away some tips in order to create better quality content that still remains true to my own style and voice.
7. Who is your favourite writer and why?
I love Wilbur Smith. He’s a fiction writer from South Africa and writes about safaris and the bush (such as Kruger National Park etc.). From the very first sentence, you have whisked away to another world.
8. Which is your favourite book and why?
Ooo, I don’t think that I have a favorite book. I love Cry of the Kalahari by Mark & Delia Owens and I love most of Wilbur Smith’s & Tony Park’s books.
Nicole Eddy - Youtuber and Social Media Influencer
Interviewed By: Navya Garg
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