Influencers are often defined by their number of followers, the controversial products they promote and many, many selfies. But we like to remember where it all began: their first ever post on Instagram.
And when talking about Holly Leelu, it doesn’t get more on the nose than this.
An infinity pool. A neon bikini. A Bali backdrop.
Holly began her journey with Instagram yonks ago, where she fell in love with the platform and its ability to marry her passion for photography and modelling.
“I would get a tripod, set it all up and do my thing,” she explains of her early-day solo shoots.
But things dramatically changed when the likes started rolling in.
“I started getting more likes, and obviously I love likes. So I kind of became obsessed with engagement, and likes, and growing my brand.”
For Holly, there wasn’t a penny-drop moment where she realised she could make a full-time wage off Instagram. Instead, she was made redundant from her job and had to act fast.
While she was quickly trying to figure out what she could do, her dad weighed in with advice we’re pretty sure no other father has given before.
“My dad said, ‘if you go back and work for someone else I’m going to kill you’. So it was more like, do I want to die? Or should I give this a go full-time?”
This rather uncouth push from her father was the vote of confidence Holly needed to dive into the big, bad (and rather unknown) world of influencing.
Listen to Mia Freedman interview three magazine queens who influenced a generation, on No Filter. Post continues after podcast.
