Extra, Extra! In this week’s The Creative Closeup, we got to speak with THE Francis Kenneth, aka @franciskenneth, aka one of our favorite people ever. He’s one of the real ones and we dare you to try to not like him…seriously it’s impossible. He’s too awesome.

Francis talked with us about the real struggles of the influencer industry, how he got started, and how he likes to get all in his feelings (watch out Drake, Francis already has you beat in style). Francis is 100% authentically and unapologetically himself, which is perhaps what he can contribute his success online and in life to. Read on to learn more about Francis and make sure to have that Drake playlist cued!

Francis / @franciskenneth / Aug 10 2018

About Francis

1. Age: 30
2. Occupation: I am in marketing.
3. Ethnic background: Filipino-American

Creative Work

1. How would you describe as your scope of influence?
   • I would say it’s primarily fashion and lifestyle with some hints of food and travel…and music.
2. How did you start?
   • I started with a blog back in 2013. And I was just writing about my day-to-day kind of life, things that were interesting to me, whatever I wanted really. I would supplement that with outfit photos, so it didn’t necessarily relate to each other, per say. But my blog, and even now with Instagram, it’s just a creative outlet for me to get my feelings out or get my thoughts out…in my feels. Yeah, that started in 2013 and here I am.
3. How would you describe your aesthetic?
   • Uhh…I’m described as alternative Asian in the industry and most of the modeling gigs I get are because I’m an alternative Asian. If you go to Cengage’s LinkedIn, I am their poster child. Cengage is an E-learning company.

Social Media Presence

1. How long did it take you to reach 10K? How long ago was this? How many followers do you have now?
   • Uhh, a couple years. I think my growth then and even now have been slow because for the first couple years I was trying to figure out what direction I wanted to take my own personal branding. I started, like, with a lot of menswear and suiting. But then like I had a falling out with some people and I just got tired of that particular space so then I went more to streetwear which is kind of more true to me and my lifestyle growing up in the South Bay. And now I’m somewhere more inbetween and I’m really happy with where my branding is.
2. What do you think your followers like most about you?
   • Um…I think what they like about me the most is I have a very DGAF attitude. So like i’m not afraid to like call people out, i’m not afraid to challenge the norms or break the rules when it comes to like not only fashion, but how people are supposed to be on social media. But that isn’t to say that I lack professionalism. Yeah, so it’s obviously a balance that you need to find in between the two, but something I think is true to me is doing what I want to do by my own terms…unless you pay me. Then I’ll do whatever you want…anything….*whispers* anything.

Creative Process

1. Describe your workflow process.
   • So a lot of my, I guess, workflow comes from brands that come in. So, I’ve been very lucky, or blessed or whatever you want to call it, to be reached out to by brands very frequently. And it has gotten to a point where I have to be selective because I can’t just take on everyone just for the sake of creating content for them. So, it usually starts with a brand emailing me that I like, and if I like them obviously i’ll work with them on a campaign. And from there I’ll kind of visualize a concept that I had in mind that kind of suits either the brand’s needs or what the product is. Obviously, incorporating my personal style and taste to it and then scheduling a photographer, meeting with said photographer, shooting, getting those edits back, and coming up with very simple, straight-forward, but clever captions. Unless I’m in my feels then I’ll write very emotional things… which happens a lot.
2. What tools do you use to make your life easier?
   • I would say primarily UNUM Is something that I use religiously to kind of schedule my feed and sort of visualize how it’s going to look and curate in a way that is very on brand, for lack of a better word. Other than UNUM, I use VSCO if I need to but I usually work with professional photographers who know what they’re doing, you might have heard of some.
3. How has the plug helped you in your daily process?
   • The message board is pretty cool and being able to chat with influencer strangers.

Mission

1. What is your mission statement?
   • FK it ’til you make it.
2. What drives you?
   • Um, I think what drives me most is my feelings. And I say that because a lot of my creativity that is internalized or what I’m inspired by even is sourced from that. I think the moment that I stop having these general sense of strong feelings is the day I’ll stop being creative. I’ll like hit that “writer’s block” and whether its a feeling of happiness or sadness or anger…all these things are fuel to creating art or I guess in this case, content. Yeah, that’s for sure what drives me. The money is nice too sometimes…all the time…most of the time…all the time….*whispers* all the time.
3. What has been your biggest challenge?
   • I wouldn’t necessarily call it as a challenge per say….but followers. And not because I care about how many followers I have, but in the industry like that correlates to what kind of jobs you can get. So i’ve seen people that, no offence to them, I’m definitely better at creating content but because they have the numbers, whether they are bought or not, they get the jobs over me. And at the end of the day I respect their hustle, but it just sucks because I know that better content could have been made. And it doesn’t even necessarily need to be by me. It could be someone else who has even less followers than me, but at the end of the day it’s all about the ROI and you know if that’s what it takes for the brands to get that then…whatever floats their boat. But I can guarantee that content is not going to influence anyone.

Closing

1. Do you have a random talent? If so, what is it?
   • I can chug very, very well. So, I used to be the anchor on drinking teams when I was in the Navy or even when I was with the Marines. And I’m not a particularly big guy and I don’t look particularly imposing in the alcohol department, but I think my record for shotgunning a beer was like 2 seconds. And I don’t really do that anymore, but I do chug my water bottles and people always feel very uncomfortable.
2. Tell us an interesting fact about you that most people don’t know.
   • I am 10% disabled….because I have PTSD.