Annabelle Schmitt /@a_nnabae

Beginnings and Basics 

 

Annabelle Schmitt doesn’t stop at anything. As a senior in college with a side hustle in as a micro-influencer, she’s already in the process of expanding into a business where she can coach creatives on how to get paid with their platforms. She also speaks about her passion for womxn studies and advocacy, saying she wants her business to expand to “coaching womxn to achieve their highest potential by working on shedding the negative beliefs that are holding them back.” When asked about her franchise, Mixed Hues, and how she engages with her role as a businesswoman and entrepreneur, she replied, “I’ve started expanding my offerings beyond brand partnerships and am focused on serving my audience and clientele by helping them monetize as micro-influencers. Currently, I offer The Embody Your WorthShop and some one-on-one services such as consulting calls, pitch audits, and Instagram audits. I plan to go beyond this soon, but that’s the current situation. This was a huge step for me this past summer that came about as a result of taking a group coaching course all about influencer work and working with brands. I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of questions about working with brands before and after this course, I felt confident in my ability to teach others about what I knew. I already had experience both as a brand working with influencers and as a micro-influencer myself. Now, I have even more knowledge about negotiating with brands and getting paid. I decided to package all of that into an hour and a half long webinar to serve a community that I could see really needed help. The first session went super well and now I’m excited to go above and beyond that and start offering even more to micro-influencers! Brands tend to take advantage of us and I want to give those like me the confidence and ‘know-how’ to prevent that from happening.”

 

Inspiration

 

As someone with such a strong ideological and moral background, her inspiration comes from many places. “I don’t like to credit just one person with inspiring what I do, as it’s extremely niche. What I do has been influenced in a lot of different ways, but some of my biggest inspirations are fellow women CEO/Entrepreneurs with their own social media empires and businesses. My big three would have to be Cassey Ho of @blogilates, Jeanne of @thegreylayers, and Kahlea of @kahleanicolee whose course I took.” After taking Kahlea’s course on tips and tricks to monetize your digital platform, she was inspired to start her own. “I’m working on a course that will focus on helping women deal with negative self esteem and cope with a world that often feels out to get us. I’m stoked to put it all together and release it! Think of it as my Instagram posts about power and self love on steroids.”

 

Accomplishments

 

Some of her most exciting accomplishments in her career have been via her company. She says, “Meeting my goal of 10 sign ups for my first ever launch of The Embody Your WorthShop [was what I was most proud of]! I had 11 girls sign up and had even thought 10 was too high, so I was stoked about that. Launching my WorthShop [was also a big accomplishment]! I’m definitely proud of some of the brands I’ve partnered with as well as some of the partnerships I’ve made money from, but the feeling of successfully creating and launching something all on your own is incredible.”

In this vein, she dedicates a large portion of her platform to discussing topics important to womxn — topics she feels aren’t talked about as much as they should be. “Growing up, I struggled with a lot of the same self esteem and body image issues most womxn do. As I experienced more issues in college surrounding my specific racial experience as a mixed race (white and Taiwanese) woman, I struggled to feel comfortable in a new environment. I took a women’s studies class and started going to counselling and eventually decided that I wanted to have a space to discuss these issues. I had started a small blog my sophomore year of college and it was natural to use that space alongside my Instagram to start exploring these issues. The response I got was overwhelmingly positive and I’ve received messages and even gotten on phone calls with womxn who reached out to me to tell me how helpful my writing was. Knowing the kind of impact myself and my content has had on these women in helping them feel empowered is huge in helping me stay motivated.”

 

Favorites

 

 

Today, as a fashion and lifestyle influencer interested in opening dialogue about these topics, she calls back to her initial interest in fashion in high school. “I got into fashion when I was in high school and that interest grew in college. I was struggling to find my place at a state school that seemed to lack individuality and style and felt the need to fit in, but eventually, I realized that trying to fit in by dressing the same as everyone else wasn’t working for me. I decided to go the other way and embrace my love for style and putting together outfits and felt so much happier!” When asked what her favorite places to shop are, she replied, “I’ve always loved Urban Outfitters. Otherwise, I try to thrift when I can, especially if I’m in New York City, since it’s better for the environment and (usually) my budget. For makeup and skincare, though, I looove The Body Shop and PYT Beauty.” Along similar lines, when asked what she loved most about The Plug, she replied, “I love Brand Leads! It was what initially drew me to The Plug and it’s remained my favorite feature. I use it to get contact information for brands that I’m interested in pitching to.”

Some of the aspects of Annabelle’s life we don’t see online surround her upbringing — one of the largest aspects of her mindset and ambition now. “I’m currently working on my honors undergraduate thesis! It’s not exactly “exciting” but it’s been cool to explore issues I’m interested in that I don’t always get to. I’m taking a look at advertisements for fashion featuring Chinese women in both China and the US over time and analyzing the impact they have on how we view Asian women, especially Chinese American and Chinese women.” In 10 years, she says, “I aim to own a thriving business and to have aided at least 20 women in taking charge of their lives. I want to be working for myself and to have scaled such that I have at least one employee.” 

 

Advice

Lastly, her words of advice for anyone entering the industry is to “Focus on figuring out your brand first! What makes you tick? What do people come to you for? Whether it’s advice on makeup, style on a budget, working with brands, social issues, or something else, take that and use it to create your brand! It will inevitably evolve with time, but if you can solidify that, you’ll be able to feel passionate about what you do while building a community. When things get tough and you feel discouraged, being passionate about what you do will really come in handy.” 

Keep an eye out for Annabelle’s upcoming course, and stay up to date with all her new and existing endeavors by following her Instagram!