Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney Brown
Hi Sydney, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story as an entrepreneur started in West Michigan. While I was actually born in Santa Monica, my family moved to Holland when I was in 3rd grade. I was an avid ballerina growing up. I was obsessed with it and was dancing constantly. When I was 12, my parents challenged me to pay for half of my ballet intensive camps as they were getting pretty pricey. As a 12 year old, I thought to myself, “How can I possibly make the amount of money required for this when all I can do is babysit?” That’s when I got the idea to babysit on a larger scale–aka start a summer camp. I ran Kiddo Camp for 6 years and was actually featured in our local newspaper The Holland Sentinel 2 times for it. I hired my friends to be counselors and grew the camp to a 210% growth rate over the 6 years. I especially loved the marketing aspect to it and that’s what initially grew my love for social media and content creation.
Later in life I went on to go to Butler University for Dance Performance and Strategic Communication. I quickly realized that a professional dance career wasn’t for me and that is also when I started to pursue modeling more. So, I transferred to a college in New York City, as I’ve always loved the city life and there were more opportunities for me there.
I had an amazing 3 years at The King’s College, had some amazing internships for social media at a creative agency and Herve Leger, an iconic luxury fashion company where I proposed the new TikTok strategy to SVP & grew account to a 23,000% growth rate in first week of internship.
I also nannied all through college. During this time, I started posting about my college experience in NYC, nanny life, and interning for these cool companies and got some traction on my TikTok. While it initially just started as a creative outlet and a way to document my college memories, I had some videos blow up and got a decent following. I was fortunate enough to get some cool brand partnerships through social media as well. Some of my favorite companies I’ve worked with are Coach, Uber Eats, Walmart, Oral-B, American Eagle, J.Crew, Revolve, Fossil, Carnegie Hall & more. Social media was truly the biggest way I supported myself through college.
I graduated May 2023 with honors and a degree in Media, Culture and the Arts and a Business minor. I worked freelance from there on with a number of really cool clients, including the new restaurant Kernel by Chipotle founder Steve Ells where I increased Instagram follower base by 190% within three months.
I’m still figuring out what’s next for me, whether I want to stay freelance and continue to grow my client base, or pursue a full-time corporate job for a season to live out my NYC boss girl season. But social media has been a huge part of my story over the past 10 years, and continues to be a fun creative outlet for me and way I stay connected to people all around the world.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s definitely not always been a smooth road. Freelance life has a whole slew of things that are difficult. I’ve had clients that have failed to pay me, jobs that fell through, months where I had no idea how I’m going to pay rent. But that’s definitely as aspect to freelance life and working as a creative. There are other months that I’m making triple as much as I anticipated, so the highs are high and the lows are low.
I think too on the modeling front, it’s always hard with the pressures of the industry, body image issues, finding an agency you align with, and making ends meet with a very inconsistent schedule.
But every industry has its pros and cons. I am truly grateful for the flexibility I have had during this season working freelance postgrad. I’ve had a number of different experiences and opportunities I’ve gotten to say yes to simply because 9-5 of my day I wasn’t booked. I’ve developed incredible relationships and been able to devote time to certain things that wouldn’t have been possible if I had a corporate job.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At the moment I am a freelance social media manager, content creator and marketing consultant. I love helping brands grow their business through the channel of socials and really diving into the opportunities that are prevalent from a digital marketing perspective. I love the intersection of creativity and strategy and I think this the perfect middle point. There is so much opportunity in this industry as it’s only growing. I think its super exciting to think how fast paced and quickly its growing. I mean think about the platforms that are so prevalent today that we didn’t even know about 2, 3, 5 years ago. Who knows what the future looks like, and that inspires and exhilarates me to work harder and anticipate that growth.
I’m really proud of my entrepreneur spirit and my problem solving nature. I think what sets me apart from others. When there’s an issue or I fail at something, I don’t just give up, I press on. I’m relentless to find a solution. Like the summer camp example. I could have easily given up on my dream of going to the intensive that I was accepted into because I didn’t’ have money. But instead I persevered and found a way to make that money. I’ve always done that. Kiddo Camp wasn’t the only business I founded, I had a number of different endeavors as a kid: Syd’s Sweet Shop, where I made themed decorated cupcakes and cookies for birthday parties and events, Firefly Fineries where I made greeting cards, coasters and other fun crafts. A few boutiques in Holland actually took in my product and carried it in-store.
Even postgrad, I got a few different full-time job offers, but ultimately I didn’t feel they were right for me, so I decided to take the freelance endeavor instead.
I also started a podcast with my best friend since 4th grade, Ally (@allyfelise) called This Just In this year that we’re really excited about!
I also walked in New York Fashion Week in 2022 and was featured in ELLE and Harper’s Bizarre which was a really amazing accomplishment for my modeling career as well!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was very similar to now. Curious, engaged, determined and hard-working. Like I said, I’ve always been entrepreneurial in spirit and incredibly hard working. I danced almost 30 hours a week in middle school and high school and that afforded me to get into Butler’s dance program which is one of the top in the country. But I always made time for my family and friends. I’ve always been incredibly social and outgoing, always throwing parties and hosting things—much like my mom in that regard. I’m a family girl at heart. I have two younger brothers and an amazing mom and dad, so I’ve been super blessed to always have an amazing support system who has always inspired and encouraged me. Both my parents worked at Disney and my dad has started multiple businesses. They actually also have their own business now called Storyastic, which is a toy and game company. So entrepreneurship runs in the family and they’ve always encouraged and helped me pave that way for myself. I couldn’t have done it without them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tiktok.com/@sydneygbrown?_t=8pm8IoFbCax&_r=1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sydneygbrown/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/6YxwiJBQZS7NRaiYVNnKnx?si=a4f8e2c21b154439
