Today we’d like to introduce you to Maeva Salomon.
Hi Maeva, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
It started when I was 7 years old. I told my mom I wanted to be “the people in the TV.” She took me to an acting and modeling agency and I got in, but the classes and portfolio costs were out of reach for us financially. A year or two later, she brought home one of the new iMac boxes with the built-in webcam, and somehow I found iMovie. I would spend hours recording myself, my siblings, anyone I could get in front of the camera, creating made-up scenarios and little films.
By the time I was 10, I discovered YouTube and fell deep into the world of content creators. I knew immediately that was what I wanted to do. At 11, my mom gifted me an iPod 5 for my birthday and I started posting every day, choreography I made up, random ideas, anything. At the same time, my entrepreneurial instincts kicked in early. We weren’t financially privileged growing up, and I remember thinking hard about how to change that. My cousin lived right behind a golf course, literally just a small bush separating her backyard from the green with no fence, so we could walk straight onto the course. Balls would land back there regularly. I looked up the resale value on my iPod, and we spent afternoons collecting balls off the course and out of a drained pond, filling huge baskets. I made a sign and sold them at the roadside, 4 for $1 or 25 cents each. My cousin helped me flag people down. I think my first $5 went straight to buying candy for all my little cousins. I’m the eldest in my generation on both sides of my family, so that provider instinct was always there.
I kept posting until sixth grade, when a so-called friend found my videos and played them in front of the class. That was the first time I felt embarrassed about something I genuinely loved. I eventually moved cities and started posting again, but when seventh grade came around, being the new kid scared me into stopping. I didn’t want a repeat.
Then the summer I moved from Aylmer to Ottawa, when I was 12, I spent weeks with my entrepreneurial aunt who was building websites and running digital marketing for clients. Something clicked. That was it.
I pivoted to Instagram in 8th grade, though it was slow going because, honestly, I looked about 10 years old. I kept at it anyway. I was torn between film school and marketing, but when I launched my jewelry business, I realized marketing contained everything I loved already: videography, photography, design, modeling, storytelling. I generated over $20K in sales in my first year, fulfilled more than 100 orders, and built my own ambassador program, all at 17.
When I started university at 18, I stepped back from everything for a few months to reset. Then I rebuilt gradually. Since 2022 I’ve been posting consistently, and 2023 was a turning point: my sock curl tutorial hit 4 million views and my Starbucks order hit 10 million. I gained 15K followers in a matter of days.
All of that was happening while I was working multiple jobs, launching my agency, and completing my B.Com in Marketing full time. I finished my last exam in April 30tg 2026. Today I have the marketing agency I dreamed about at 12, Cre8tïve One, and I’m building my creator career as a micro-influencer on the path to something much bigger. That’s how I got here.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all, and I think that’s what makes the story worth telling.
One of the earliest and most personal struggles was confidence. Growing up as a Black girl in online spaces, I spent a lot of time comparing myself to peers who seemed to gain likes and followers effortlessly. Girls with looser hair textures, fairer skin, flatter stomachs. I internalized a lot of that. Even as a child I was aware that my body didn’t look like the bodies that were being celebrated online, and that stayed with me longer than I’d like to admit. Learning to show up as myself, fully and unapologetically, has honestly been one of the longest journeys of my life.
Financially, there were real tough moments too. At one point I had no job and had to get creative fast. When the first wave of digital products went viral, I jumped on it, created content around it, and made $1,000 in a week at 19. It wasn’t glamorous but it taught me how to read a moment and move quickly.
The biggest structural challenge has been capacity. I grew up with a single mom who worked incredibly hard to give us a beautiful life, and as the eldest, I naturally took on a lot at home, being a big sister, helping raise my siblings, keeping things together. Add university full time and multiple jobs on top of that, and there simply wasn’t enough hours in the day to give my content and my agency the attention they deserved.
I’m stepping into a new chapter now. My siblings are more independent, school is behind me, and for the first time I can actually focus. I genuinely believe the best is still ahead.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a content creator, I focus on making beauty, fashion, and lifestyle feel accessible. Budget-friendly skincare and product recommendations, affordable fashion, and lifestyle content ranging from new cafes to events and activities happening in the cities I live in and travel to. I want people to watch my content and feel like they can actually do or afford what I’m showing them. That’s always been the throughline.
On the agency side, through Cre8tïve One, I specialize in content marketing, experiential marketing, and influencer and brand ambassador program development. I help brands show up in culture in ways that feel organic and intentional, not just transactional.
What I’m most proud of is that I never truly gave up, and I still haven’t. My platforms aren’t at hundreds of thousands of followers yet, but that has never stopped me from accessing the rooms that matter. I’ve received opportunities that creators with much larger audiences typically get first, and I’ve sat in rooms with people who have 100K+ followings, at 20K. That tells me the numbers aren’t the whole story. The right energy, the right positioning, and the right work ethic open doors that follower counts alone can’t.
As for what sets me apart, honestly? Me. My passion, my personality, my ideas, my story, the way I move through the world. But above all, my resilience. I think that comes from being Haitian. Resilience is genuinely in our blood at this point, it’s part of who we are culturally and historically. I don’t say that lightly, but I also won’t downplay it. That combination of deep passion, distinct personality, and an unshakeable will to keep going is what makes me stand out in my field and just in everyday life. You’d have to meet me to fully understand it, but once you do, you get it.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I am genuinely blessed in this department and I don’t take it lightly, because I know how much a toxic environment can alter the course of someone’s life. Everyone around me has been a source of support, and that is something I am deeply grateful for.
My mom has believed in me from the very beginning, and it wasn’t until I got older that I truly understood how rare and powerful it is to have a parent who genuinely wants to see you win. That kind of support quietly shapes everything.
My cousin has been by my side through so much of the behind-the-scenes work, showing up to help me get the shot, coming with me to events, being present in all the unglamorous moments that don’t make the final post.
My boyfriend has been one of my biggest pushes to keep going, especially during the periods where I wasn’t seeing growth and wanted to step back. He kept me moving forward when I was ready to slow down.
My friends have never once made me feel judged for my passion. They’ve been in my corner since I was a kid posting videos on an iPod, and that kind of loyalty means everything.
And God, who has answered prayers even in the seasons when I wasn’t being consistent. I can look back at specific moments in my life and see clearly that something greater was at work.
I am well surrounded, and I never take that for granted.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cre8tiveoneagency.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maevaxslm?igsh=Znp5NzkxM3oyM3B5&utm_source=qr
- Twitter: Https://twitter.com/maevasalomonn
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqYnOFU-gRbF_-3vR2lE5SQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@maeva.salomon?_t=8gofMQAVQc2&_r=1
