Her Excellence — Nia Lee
Photo by Chelly
When it comes to content creation and all things social media, NIA LEE is your girl! Since launching Socialee Media, she has made her mark by consistently providing tips and tricks on how to to be your best social self! In our candid interview we discuss brands she has collaborated with, how she deals with perfectionism, and the plans for her platform.
CHELLY IN THE CITY: For those who don’t know you, who is Nia Lee?
NIA LEE: Nia Lee is a very creative, funny, and all-around real person; I don’t really know how else to be. I am a content creator and social media manager, that's my passion. It’s also what I do on a day-to-day basis. I’m a marketing coordinator at Eye Love Beauty as well, but at the same time my real passion is helping people out with social media.
CITC: You were mainly doing makeup but segued into social media management. What was that process like and how did you make that change?
NL: I was always into beauty going into university and doing the whole makeup tutorials thing; trying to be a makeup artist and all that jazz. But I made the transition because I was always interested in social media. I’ve always kind of wanted to be in whatever was new, hot, and poppin’, but I realized I had a real passion for creating content.
CITC: With the recent launch of Socialee Media, you have collabed with notable brands like Shea Moisture Canada and We Rise Experience. Tell me about this experience and how did the opportunity come about?
NL: With Shea Moisture Canada, I was interning at the Langton PR Agency in Toronto and my boss at the time gave me a few social media accounts to manage. So, one of those brands was Shea Moisture Canada which was totally dope, totally sick. That’s how I kind of got into it. I was just really enamoured with all the black excellence and the whole thing with hair and just embracing it. For me, I was really excited to do that and I really made sure that the vibe I was seeing on the American Shea Moisture social media translated throughout the Canadian Shea Moisture as well. Their Canadian Instagram needed that same energy.
We Rise Experience! Crazy thing, four or five months ago, I decided to just really go ham with Socialee Media and then the founder and director, Treasa Leigh Brown, reached out to me, and was like: “Hey! I see that this is what you do and you appear to be pretty good at it, and you don’t have to sit here and have 10 years in this (with social media management), I just want to hire people who are good.” At the time, I really didn’t have the biggest following, I might’ve had like maybe 60-something at the time. To give context, I am 684 (followers) right now and that’s been over the course of four, five months of me just posting consistently. Prior to all of this happening, we (Treasa and Nia) did an interview and that’s how I got the opportunity to do it. I was in charge of doing social media on the day of the event; making sure that the Instagram stories were poppin’; creating on-brand and interactive content to showcase the event. It was an incredible experience and opportunity!
Photo by: Chelly
CITC: You are extremely consistent with your brand and you also curate quality content for your clients. Was there ever a time you felt like you weren’t going to deliver? If so, how did you overcome this?
NL: I would definitely say when it comes to that with the space that I am in, there’s a lot of content creation, designing, making sure things look a certain way. So, me not being afraid of delivering, I think that might have come from me feeling like I wasn’t going to be able to reach a deadline right away or I gave myself a deadline that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to reach and then having to double back on that and be like: “Hey, I actually can’t get this out when you want it to.” But I think all you can really do in a situation like that is to be as honest with yourself as possible. If you know you can’t deliver on time, just be honest as soon as you realize that.
CITC: In one of your Instagram posts, you touched upon perfectionism and not always having everything planned out from beginning to end. Do you still struggle with this? If so, how do you push through knowing that not everything you post will be perfect.
NL: I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve struggled with perfectionism my whole life; I’m still struggling with it right now. I always want to put my best foot forward and sometimes that means I have to do things over and over again before I put it out because giving my best is very important to me. If I gave my 110% and it goes out and I realize a day or two later when so many people have liked it, commented, and viewed that there’s a mistake, I have to just say to myself at that moment when I made the decision, it was perfect to me and that’s that. I have to just learn to accept the imperfections and get more comfortable saying: “at the time, you gave your best, you thought you were putting out your best”. There might be an error, a big mistake or even something went wrong and people are pointing it out to you. At the same time, you just have to say to yourself: “look, not everything is going to be exactly the way you want it to.” If you are in control of your brand, obviously you can make sure things look a certain way, but at the end of the day you are not 100% in control of anything. Especially when it comes to social media.
Photo by: Chelly
❝ You just have to say to yourself: “look, not everything is going to be exactly the way you want it to.” If you are in control of your brand, obviously you can make sure things look a certain way, but at the end of the day you are not 100% in control of anything. ❞
CITC: You currently work within the beauty industry running Eye Love Beauty Bar’s social media page. Are you open to pursuing anything outside of the beauty industry?
NL: Honestly, I love beauty. I’ve always said my goal is to work for Fenty Beauty; I claim it and I’m putting it out there into the universe. Even when I went for my interview for Eye Love Beauty Bar, I told them I want to work for Fenty cause I just love the brand, I love what they’re about, their social media is fire, the products are fire, so I was just like: “why not?” They care, they’re really in it, it’s a culture thing. I love all things beauty and makeup; it’s what I’m most passionate about. But outside of that, it would have to be something social media or tech-related; that is another world that I am heavily interested in. I’m also interested in learning what’s new in the world of social media, how we can communicate better with people, the newest apps, websites, phones, equipment; really anything that is going to take us on a whole new level of communication and content creation.
Photo by: Chelly
CITC: Can you share what’s next for Nia and Socialee Media?
NL: Right now I really feel like the social media management aspect of it is great. I know that I’ve targeted a niche where businesses are always going to be in need of social media management. There are a lot of people that have social media, however, they either don’t know what to do, don’t know what to post, they’re not consistent, or they don’t know how to create engaging content. I feel like I’m always going to have an opportunity to do that. My main thing is, I want to keep creating informative videos and continue to inform people on how to be their most authentic, engaging selves on social media. How to be yourself and let your audience connect with the real you. I want to be able to hold space as an expert in this industry where I can consistently do just that on a daily basis; whether it be through my own seminar, masterclass or alongside another women-owned business. So what’s next for me is making sure I’m in those spaces or creating them so I can assist as many women with social media as I can.
Photo by: Chelly
Photo by: Chelly
❝ I know that I’ve targeted a niche where businesses are always going to be in need of social media management. There are a lot of people that have social media, however, they either don’t know what to do, don’t know what to post, they’re not consistent, or they don’t know how to create engaging content. I feel like I’m always going to have an opportunity to do that. ❞
CITC: Finally, what makes you excellent?
NL: What makes me excellent is I am unapologetic. I try to be as genuine and supportive as possible. At the end of the day, I always try to put my best foot forward and strive for excellence in everything I do. I’m always out here trying to do something and I’m never stopping. I’m always evolving and changing; I don’t feel like I have to stay in the same place with anything in my life. The reason I got into PR was that I realized it was an industry that I could experience multiple different career paths, which has now lead me to my current love of social media and content creation. So, what makes me excellent is that I’m able to pivot, make different moves and make connections with people everywhere I go. Obviously, not every connection is going to be the best connection, but I’m able to be myself and that’s what allowed me to be where I am today. I’m excited to keep growing and learning while being my most excellent self. And, I’m funny as ever! (laughs).
Photo by: Chelly
❝ I always try to put my best foot forward and strive for excellence in everything I do. I’m always out here trying to do something and I’m never stopping. I’m always evolving and changing; I don’t feel like I have to stay in the same place with anything in my life.❞
For more Nia Lee and Socialee Media tips, head over to her Instagram!