Influencer Talk: a q&a chat with Naomi George
Naomi George, @naomigeorgeo
I’m so excited to continue this series Influencer Talk, where I sit down (digitally, bc quarantine) with a couple of women who inspire me. In these in-depths, I talk to tastemakers in the fashion industry to ask them about their style, how they grew on instagram, and what they’re into lately (of course, we talk skincare and all that good stuff too).
If you missed my first piece with Stephanie Arant aka @shhtephs, you can check it out here.
This segment is very near and dear to my heart, mostly because I am able to spotlight some fellow female and POC creatives, as well as help give some tips to any young creators out there. I hope you find this one particularly inspiring, I know I enjoyed chatting with her!
So, without much further ado, an closer look at the stylish Naomi George, aka @naomigeorgeo. She is a content creator with just over 50k followers on Instagram and is of Indian descent. She is a scorpio sun, leo moon and rising sagittarius (yay rising sags!). And we are both monica-rachel hybrids—which basically means we stan Rachel Green but both have a little type-A personality in us lol. She is so sweet and the queen of sultry neutrals, keep reading to find out where she gets all her outfit inspo:
Q&A W/ NAOMI GEORGE
Q: Firstly, I love your neutral style. Where/who do you draw your style inspiration from?
Thank you!! My inspiration comes from all over- mostly Pinterest, Instagram and the movies/shows I watch. Some of my style icons are Jane Birkin, Hailey Bieber, Jen Ceballos (@endlesslyloveclub) and Monica Geller from Friends.
Q: Tell me a little history about your relationship with fashion. Were you always into fashion or did it grow over time?
I started to get interested in fashion when I was in high school. I think my main influence was Friends, I was obsessed with the characters’ earlier styles. Whenever my mom and I went thrifting I would look for pieces that I thought Monica or Rachel would wear. From there on started my obsession with thrifting which in turn grew my fascination with fashion. I would find all these weird and unique pieces that were sometimes ugly but styled just right could be pure gold!
Q: What is your go-to everyday outfit?
My go-to everyday outfit is a graphic tee, loose fitting blue jeans and sneakers. If I’m not shooting outfits, I like to dress super comfy and oversized everything is always a favourite.
Q: What are you currently obsessed with?
I’m obsessed with my Alias Mae slides. I’ve been wearing them non-stop since I received them last month, they look good with every outfit AND they’re comfy!
A podcast I always enjoy listening to is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He does such a great job at talking about current events while mixing in some comedy as well.
Q: Was there a particular moment when you started to take things a little more seriously on IG?
I’ve been creating for a few years now, but initially I always used to be behind the camera, it’s where I felt the most comfortable and I liked the styling and editing process a lot. I slowly started to gain more confidence and do outfit posts and actually started to take IG more seriously last summer.
Q: You've grown so much on this platform. What would you attribute your success to?
I started to see the most growth when I began to post consistently (1-2 posts a day) and when I began planning out a feed- showcasing an aesthetic and style that was unique to myself. It took me sometime to figure out my style; I went through a few different phases and tried out different looks but eventually found something that I truly felt was me.
Everyone has some type of content/style that they’re good at, once you figure out what that it is and you work on that skill I think the content looks more organic and real and people respond to that J
Q: What are some of the biggest tips you would give to anyone who's a growing content creator?
Some of my biggest tips:
- use hashtags strategically, they help you reach accounts that aren’t following you
- through your IG insights/ trial and error try to figure out when the best times to post are (i.e. when you see the most engagement on your posts)
- tag inspo accounts, a repost + tag from them can help you gain more exposure
- interact with your audience and those you follow; one of the best things I got out of Instagram are the friendships I’ve formed with fellow creators!!
Q: Did you have any previous marketing or social media experience, or did you learn everything on your own?
I had no marketing or social media experience whatsoever. I’m still learning and figuring things out as I go. Other creator friends have been my biggest resource and help in all this and I’m incredibly grateful to be a part of that community.
Q: Now that you're at 50k (congrats honey!), what are some of your goals as an influencer? What's next for you?
Thank you love!! That’s crazy to me, I honestly did not expect to grow as much as I did this year.
At this time, I still want to keep this as my little hobby/side hustle and focus on school and work. Someday in the future, I hope to start a small business, not sure what it will be, but I just know that I’d like to be able to do something more with my creative side.
Q: With everything going on in the world right now, how can influencers use their platform to support causes they care about? (feel free to plug any causes that are important to you as well if you'd like)
There are so many ways to show support! Here a few that came to mind:
- share resources that have helped you learn more about the cause
- link petition and donation sites
- share email/text information for those that can create change at a political level
Like everyone, we (as influencers) also need to take time offline to learn, listen and discuss these topics with friends and family. Sometimes these discussions might not go well, but you planted a seed of thought and that’s a start.
Some causes that are important to me are racial justice, normalizing mental illness, ending human trafficking and domestic abuse aid.
Q: We love a good self-care routine. What is your routine, or something you do to take care of yourself mentally?
My self-care routine is sort of mundane but it’s really just about getting off of my phone and spending some time alone or with friends and family. Sometimes self-care includes a good book and some tea, or an old movie and pasta (preferably with lots of cheese). Other times, it’s centered around going on long drives with my family and exploring places around our city.
Q: What are your must-haves for beauty and skincare?
My skincare must-haves are Drunk Elephant’s Lala Retro Whipped Cream, their Jelly Cleanser and Biossance’s Squalane + Marine Algae Eye Cream.
Shop Naomi’s picks
You can follow her journey along here @naomigeorgeo.
Hope you guys enjoyed our chat and comment below who’d you’d like to see interviewed next.
xx,
s.