Meet Brooke Tang | Microinfluencer & Full-time college student

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brooke Tang and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brooke, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I have always been interested in fashion and would outfit/modeling pictures for fun throughout high school. Before that, I started to make fun little YouTube videos like every other little girl in middle/high school. I started taking content creating seriously in 2021 by being consistent and wanting to pursue the opportunities that comes with it! Not much of a process but just doing what I loved and created a community out of it.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a fashion/lifestyle micro-influencer so I post fashion inspo and lifestyle content through the way I live! Content creation would be more about curating content like UGC, but I identify more with influencer as I post content about my life and work with brands I actually use that align with my lifestyle and fashion style! The industry has gotten a lot more saturated since I started so I would say starting early and having my own style sets me apart as the industry grew. My style would be street and girly styles.

I am proud of how I try to be consistent with my other responsibilities. I have stayed consistent, engage with my followers, and made time to create content while having 2 other jobs and being a full-time student + relationships, and a social life. Sometimes I’ll have to sacrifice phone time or content-creating time for my other responsibilities because content-creating consumes a lot of time but I enjoy it and want to keep up with it.

Over time, I have definitely lost my vision of what content I want to create as the algorithm changes and it becomes more saturated. I find myself consuming a lot of basic fashion content that performs well, and that’s what I assume I need to do to grow and get better engagement but I have learned my followers followed me for my specific style and content editing style so I need to be consistent with that. It’s been challenging losing myself in a sense, having mixed content and trying to recreate viral posts I’ve seen my other creator friends do and performing well but mine failing. I am learning to explore my style and be consistent no matter what content other people make, as long as I love what I’m creating and my followers are too because that’s what they follow me for. Also trying to not let numbers define my content quality.

I would let the world know to not let other people’s opinions persuade you to do or not do something you want to do! I know a lot of people want to get into influencing but are scared of what their close friends and mutuals might say but just go for it! Act like you’ve already made it and you will. Chances are, that they admire you and you inspire them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For food, this might be a little biased because my parents own these restaurants but I would take them to SushiO and Midtown Pho, the best sushi and Vietnamese food in Raleigh! Fresh ingredients only and my other friends love both so much. Other food places would be coco bongo, a Mexican classic right on NC State’s campus and if they wanted something fancy, Flemings is the best steakhouse!! Of course have to take them to boba, my favorite spot being Moge Tee, they have premium matcha and its the best. Boba Baba is also a good one and they can grab a mochi donut, my favorite! I would take them to Fenton, a new shopping center that opened up in Cary to grab a bite and shop. Or take them to Dorthea Dix Park and have a picnic! At night we’d go out downtown Glenwood ave. and hit the bars and clubs!

In general, if you’re visiting raleigh you have to soak in the nature and explore our parks, and also hit up our local breweries. We are growing with lots more activities to do but if you can, go to a concert at the coastal credit union music park and visit our weekend farmers market in raleigh and cary! Our city is wholesome and there’s many things to do if you love to eat and take in scenery with your family.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wouldn’t have gotten started in content creation without the help of the 28 ROW community on Instagram. I found them through my friend from Cary, Madysen Clarke who also did content creation. They are a community of creators used for engaging, connecting, and accepting opportunities. They were a small community and I first joined. I joined in 2021 and connected with a bunch of content creators in similar niches like me all over the US! We would engage and ask each other for advice about this industry. Over the years we have helped each other grow and accept amazing opportunities from 28 ROW. We even get to meet each other in person through a 28 ROW event they host every year. The community has grown bigger now and I couldn’t have gotten started in content creation without their community and opportunities.

Instagram: instagram.com/brooketang

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooketang/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brooke_tang?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc