Having an Influential Career

Being 22 years old puts me right in the middle of Gen Z, or as I like to say it, elder Gen Z. I have grown up with the rise of Influencer Culture. Which has been both empowering and insane to witness. I have seen the influence and power that social media can have over people, consumers, the economy and the culture overall. Now, whether I see this as a positive or a negative depends on the day, lol, but it really depends on the context for me. I think that it has been empowering to see the influence people can have for good, but with that good comes the flip side as well and it would be naive to ignore that. 

Over the last year, I have gotten to know SO many incredible people including influencers, content creators, and also people like today’s guest, Shannon Boffa, founder of Influential Org which is an organization that is working to impact toxic influencer culture in a positive way while inspiring women and girls to pursue influential careers. 

Shannon’s background is in strategic communication, nonprofit work in Los Angeles and she was also an intern on Capitol Hill in DC. Being able to have a company with a mission that aligns so closely with how she has led her own life in having an influential career herself is what I think makes her brand so strong. When I talked to Shannon about Influential’s mission, one thing that really stood out to me was when she described that “there’s nothing wrong with influencer culture, the issue is the things put on women by society and the patriarchy to have it only look one specific way.”

When it comes to what she’s adding to the space, is the idea that a lot of the content that young women see online becomes a vacuum. While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be an influencer or content creator, showing girls how many career paths are really out there is only going to widen what they believe can be possible. Another lens to look at this from is from a representation standpoint, it’s becoming something we see more of, but as young women seeing people who look like you doing big things, it’s only going to propel you further forwards. I remember when I first started using my Peloton bike and I didn’t know much about fitness or the platform in general, I stumbled upon Robin Arzón and took a class of hers. I talk about her a lot, but seeing a latina woman owning her space and creating a path for herself that hadn’t been done before was empowering in more ways than I think people realize. 

The theme of our custom notepad for this feature was inspired by the infamous Day in My Life content that we see influencers post on the daily, but let’s be real… how many of those are actually relatable?! Not a lot. But! Good news is, if you follow @influentialorg on Instagram and TikTok, Shannon works with influencers in different careers to show a realistic day in their lives, and let me tell you, it is definitely refreshing to see. As someone who just moved to a new city and is hustling to make it happen, I love seeing a new lens put onto this trend. From that idea, we created a notepad with a daily schedule, space for a to-do list and space for gratitude because while our careers are important, they don’t have to be your entire identity, nor should they consistently take up 100% of your time. 

From this content, Shannon told me she gets a lot of comments and dms of people saying “I didn’t even know I was interested in this” or “I didn’t even know this was an option” - so she is firsthand seeing her mission come to life while being able to open up young women to careers they may not have even known existed. If there’s one thing I have learned this past year is that there truly are more jobs than I could ever have imagined and the power of social media in that space was untapped potential. I was introduced to Shannon through the same networking group where I met Kate, my last guest on here and I wouldn’t have found them without social media and the influence of Serena Kerrigan (a big nyc based influencer who posted about Good Ole Girls Club back in the beginning of 2024). 

I love Shannon’s perspective on influencer culture and I definitely think we can all take a page out of her book to embrace what influence can look like without tearing down the ‘typical’ influencer. 

As I shared above, our notepad for this collection was designed to showcase that your life can have a lot of moving pieces and it might not always be balanced, but the best piece of advice Shannon has for anyone feeling pulled in many different directions is:

It starts with getting clear on what you want - pick three things that are non negotiable for you and stick to them. 

Whether that’s sleep, running, yoga, meditation, reading before bed, journaling, knitting, or any hobby / wellness practice that brings you joy - pick 3 things in your life that you need to prioritize and make them non negotiable. Don’t negotiate with yourself!! Oh, and our notepad can help you with allllll of that! 

Check out our notepad collab HERE!!