Influencer Talk: Victoria Onken

Victoria has been creating content for sustainable fashion and lifestyle brands for two years now. She wants to give a voice to any brand or initiatives that “do good”. Victoria loves to show her sustainable finds with her readers she has gathered over the years. We asked her a few questions about her life as a content creator.

Hi Victoria! I’m curious: When did you start creating content and why?

About 3 years ago I started my blog, www.stylemegreen, and quickly saw that Instagram was a place where people go for entertainment and information so slowly my main content focus shifted there, although I still write in my blog, just not as often. I used to be an art director for the past 15 years, I suppose I still am. I didn’t want to be a part of the traditional advertising world where I would make people feel bad about themselves if they don’t buy the “next cool thing”. I wanted to use my knowledge for good and give exposure to brands that are sustainable in some way. I mean, we’ll still buy clothes, so they might be sustainable, right? Even though I don’t want to be a part of the advertising world as I knew it I still love to be creative and create images and texts that are fresh and beautiful.

What does it mean to you to be an “influencer”?

I hate this word, but I guess that means that people are influenced by the stuff you shoot, write or talk about. That for some reason they identify with you and trust you. I hope that if I do “influence” people is to think about their choices.

Victoria partnered with Marcel’s Green Soap through Join to launch their new plastic-free products. She told us why she partnered with them:

I like the brand’s values, their path to success, plus I already was using their cleaning products so it felt like a very natural collaboration for me.

She told us what she looks for before partnering with a company:

Sustainability is the most important aspect to me. Secondly, it’s important that a brand understands that what I do takes time, sometimes days and that they have an appropriate budget and appreciate the work that goes into (seemingly) simple things.

How did you experience the collaboration with Marcel’s Green Soap?

“I really loved working with Marcel’s Green Soap. The communication was effortless and quick and they gave me a lot of creative freedom. They were very happy with my content and featured one of my photos on their own insta feed.

I made a series of stories, posted one photo on my feed and wrote a blog post. The reactions to them were absolutely lovely, they said that they were thrilled to get such beautiful photos and they loved the blogpost as well. It really does something to you when you, as a content creator, feel appreciated like this.

What are the fun and less fun things about working as an influencer?

The fun part is the creative freedom. As an art director, you have a whole team of people to consider, but here you are free and can be more creative. I really love to get into the mind of the potential consumer and ask myself: who is this product for? how can I shoot it in a cool and different way while still staying authentic? My least favorite part is the statistics. Likes, views, comments. It feels like you are at a mercy of an algorithm and that can be frustrating at times.

What do you like about the platform Join? 

I love customer service and communications. Always so fast and lovely. The interface design is very clear and simple. I would love Join to promote eco bloggers more to raise awareness about sustainability.

Finally I’m curious: Will you continue to develop yourself as a content creator in the future?

This is something I’m passionate about, so yes, my answer is: YES!

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