Influencer Spotlight: Audrie Storme and Quan Mai
Q&A with @Audriestorme and @Geneticboi
Collaborating with talented, creative social media users is one of the most important things we do here at OS. We will be shining the spotlight on our OS collaborators every so often on our blog so you can get to know them and learn about how they approach social media, visual content creation and their online personas. First up, we have Audrie Storme (@audriestorme) and Quan Mai (@geneticboi). Audrie is an avid Instagrammer and YouTuber who has 37.7K followers on Insta. On her feed you’ll find most things involving chic comfort, coffee and the occasional splash of pink.
Quan is a daring, self-proclaimed photographer, graphic designer, art director, videographer and traveler who has almost 8,000 Instagram followers. If you are looking for colorful, dynamic and artistic posts, then you should definitely click the follow button on his page.
We first reached out to Audrie and Quan about collaborating on #whereUniqlo Instagram campaigns and since then they have been participating in multiple different projects with us. We caught up with the two bloggers to see what they have noticed since they’ve started working with brands on Instagram, how they go about curating their feed and more.
Since you’ve started collaborating with brands on Instagram, have you noticed any changes to your feeds -- did you get more followers, shares and likes?
Quan: Yes, I got a few more followers but my favorite part of the change is that I get to expand my self expression through different outfits that are available through my collaborative effort with Uniqlo.
Audrie: My follower count has grown from 10,000 to 30,000 since that first collaboration, so I would definitely say that it helped.
OS : What do you enjoy most about your life on social media?
Audrie: This is a hard one! There's a lot of things that I love about it, but I think what I love the most is finding and making new online friends - I've even met up with a few other influencers and done collaborations with them. For the most part, everyone is really sweet and supportive. It's empowering.
Quan: The fact that I can connect with anyone, anywhere in the world. The best part comes when we meet in person to solidify the friendships.
OS: What is your favorite part of creating a post? Is it editing the photo, brainstorming your outfit/content or full blown spontaneity?
Quan: I don't post everyday like other bloggers, because I like to curate my posts. Sometimes I take my own photos with self-timer or get my baby sister to take them, then I edit my photos, then I write a story relating to the outfit, and I usually use some extra images to remix into a graphic design image that goes with every outfit, and lastly, when I draft the post, I never use the toolbar, I write it all with memory of HTML codes. I say my favorite part is putting the color story together.
Audrie: My favorite part is definitely coming up with a concept for a photo and looking for inspiration. I'm a little quirky when it comes to content, but I like that and it's fun to see how people react to my weird ideas.
OS: Which feeds are your favorite? What’s the coolest interaction you’ve had on social media with other users?
Audrie: Favorite feeds hands down are @marycake, @cctylr, and @okayowen. All really different feeds, but I think each of their aesthetics are really clear and consistent. You always know what to expect (in a good way) and sometimes I wish my feed was more like that. I'm a little impulsive with my aesthetic. As far as the coolest interaction, Instagram was following me at one point and a few of my followers pointed it out. That was pretty rad.
Quan: I'm a fan of graphic design and travels feeds. I once took a trip through West Texas with friends I've met on Instagram. It was (finally) our first time meeting outside and we just took a 5-day road trip together. It was so much fun!
OS: And since you both did such a great job with us, have any other brands asked for you to market their products too? We hope that your accounts are growing!
Quan: Thank you! There are still outfits queuing for future updates so check my blog www.geneticboi.com :) I would love to work more with you guys on other brands. I hope to grow my account too because I have a lot of creativity and inspirations to share!
Audrie: Yes, absolutely! The number of brands that have contacted me since then has grown tremendously, and I'm grateful for everyone that worked with me in the beginning when I had a tiny following of one thousand. It's been an amazing experience.