Millennials of Melbourne: Steph Smith on Insta-fame and buying a house at 23.

By Jane Cowan.

With abs, an uncanny likeness to actress Alicia Silverstone and one million-plus followers on Instagram, Steph Smith has a life that glows on social media. And not just because of the backlit screen.

The model has a down-to-earth Australian charm — don’t say girl-next-door — and an effortless beauty that leaves no doubt as to why she’s currently contracted to both a skincare brand and a self-tanning product.

But Smith’s also carving out a broader niche, co-authoring an e-cookbook and becoming one of a new breed of internet “influencers” who make a living out of posting on social media about the cafes they eat at and the clothes they wear.

“My followers want to know everything about me,” she explains.

And it’s true. As many Snapchats and Instagram posts as she makes a day (there are many), they will seemingly devour. As she sits in a favourite cafe in Hawthorn (check her social feed to see which one), a fan from overseas approaches for a photo. “You have a huge following in South Africa,” she gushes.

This millennial’s lifestyle has become a commodity. A lucrative one. At 23, she’s just bought a house in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

Daily routine

“A typical day is hard to explain because sometimes I’m in another country, sometimes I’m here, sometimes I’m in Sydney. But generally I would wake up and the first thing I do is work out, whether I’m doing a pilates class or a group workout. I like to get it done in the morning so if I don’t have time later, I have no excuses. It gives me energy for the rest of the day. The rest of the day really consists of getting anything done that I need to for my social channels, whether that’s filming a new YouTube video or capturing some social content or just doing emails. Then I may have a shoot day so, you know, the usual stuff — hair and make-up, shooting. And then I usually have dinner with [my partner of five years] Josh, get to see him when he comes home from work.

We’re in bed by 10 most nights — some nights we’re even in bed by nine. So if it ever hits 12 o’clock I’m grumpy and I’m like, ‘Oh no! I haven’t gotten a good sleep for tomorrow, I’m going to be horrible.’

I feel like our generation, unfortunately we’ve been put under this label of wanting things easy, not working hard enough. But I think it’s just because we’re lucky in this time there’s so many different opportunities.”

What makes me happiest

“Summertime in Australia. I love going up the Murray River. It’s my favourite place in the whole, entire world. We grew up camping there and 10 years ago we bought property there. That’s where I met Josh. We both love it up there, my brother was born there, it’s just my happy place.”

Love

“I would love to be married. Josh and I always talk about the future together and everything. Now we’ve got a house together it’s so good, it’s like my dream’s coming true. I’ve been always one of those girls who’s loved kids, wanted to have kids early. Obviously with my career I can’t do that right now but kids are on my mind.”

Attitude

“My mum always used to say to me, ‘as long as you’re happy’. Basically with me and my brother she didn’t mind what career path we went down just as long as we were enjoying what we did.

Any time I started to not like something about modelling I kind of got rid of it — or any part of anything. I don’t like to do anything I don’t like doing.

I don’t treat anyone differently. Whether you’re a follower coming up and saying hi or you’re my best friend, you’re gonna get a smile and a hello. I don’t think I’m any bigger or better.”

This post originally appeared on ABC News.