KRISTINA KAYLA | SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR | ORLANDO, FL

by - 7:00 AM



Meet Kristina Kayla who currently resides in Orlando, FL


Kristina has been a follower of the Girl Social Gang since it's inception and has always been one of our biggest supporters and has been so motivating to us and other women. 

YouTube: www.youtube.com/jefeandkristina
Instagram: @kristinakayla  makeup and beauty IG: @kristinakaylabeauty
Website: coming soon. It’ll be a cocktail recipe and lifestyle blog


HI KRISTINA! WHAT RAD THING DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?

I am a blogger for my new cocktail blog, a video creator for my personal YouTube channel, a makeup artist specializing in bridal makeup, a micro influencer advertising small and global brands and a part time bartender. (I love bartending because this is where I get real human connection! Read below why this is important to me)

Basically, I’m a self proclaimed serial entrepreneur. (Lol, does this sound insane or what?!)

Actively, I still do all of these things to earn an income and I love my spontaneous schedule and having the skill set to do whatever I want, when I want!



TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW/WHERE YOU GREW UP

I grew up in Holland, Michigan with my huge Laotian family and community. Every weekend, there was always a gathering. A birthday, an uncles birthday, someone’s cousins baby shower, didn’t matter, we were always at a party.

I became a cheerleader and also joined an extensive theater program. My love for being on stage goes back to those family party, my father was a musician and performing with him always made me feel special. Like I was the star of the room even though I only got one song for the whole party.

I also became a nightclub bartender, where I made a lot of friends, connections and became a part of new communities in the cities that I’ve lived in, Atlanta and Orlando.

I think my love for celebrations, community and stage is why I love my small online platform. Even though I do so many things, I know I’m doing what I love which brings a smile to my face everyday. Plus the best part about blogging and Instagram is that I can help or inspire others!


TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY

I’m passionate about community and serving others, and of course parties. So I decided to become a makeup artist, especially in weddings. Weddings are a grand party and I get to be apart of my clients. When weddings were slow I decided to take my shot at makeup blogging. Which was fun the first 6 months but I realized that there was more important things to talk about than makeup and beauty.

After telling my best friends my frustrations, we booked a spontaneous trip to LA and went to all the best restaurants, bars and scenic tours. So I developed my love for travel and hospitality, which is how another blog came about. After doing that for months, I realize that the investment was too high and made things very frustrating to continue.

I even moved to a new state to pursue my travel blog dreams lol!

I gave that a go for about 2 1/2 years and then decided it just made financial sense to venture off into something else. Although, I still love travel blogging, with the current pandemic, the industry isn’t doing so hot at the moment. So until it picks back up, that’s on pause for me.

To make money in between travels, I was a bartender and it was really lucrative for me. And when the pandemic and quarantine happened, I lost my bartending job. So I made some silly short form cocktail recipe videos with my boyfriend, which received really great feedback.

So I continued to push those out and developed my love for creating cocktails and bartending.

My recent venture is working on an actual cocktail blog website. Cooking is a huge niche and while cooking blog is highly competitive, I think bartending blogs would be a great niche to get into for myself. And I even have hopes that cocktail blogs will eventually come behind cooking blogs, cause who doesn’t love a damn good drink? It’s just a skill set that takes practice.

Therefore, my blog is to help others create recipes at home as well as some fundamentals of bartending for another that’s chooses to make it a career, which I have for over 6 years. Of course, with the pandemic, bars and nightclubs are seen in a bad light in media but I believe it’s an industry that won’t ever die. However, in the case it does, I’ll teach people a cool party trick for their next zoom calls with my recipe videos!



TELLS US ABOUT OBSTACLES AND CHALLENGES YOU MAY HAVE FACED IN YOUR JOURNEY AND HOW YOU OVERCAME THEM

The biggest challenge is getting your voice heard. Actually scratch that, the bigger challenge is having a voice!! Some get into the social media world, thing is people don’t care cause their numbers don’t match when truly someone does and there’s stranger rooting for you. It’s all about consistency and resilience when you think no one cares. In the long run, the community will come.

Which goes with my next biggest challenge is consistency. And honestly, work performance gets low every once in a while In any business but as long as I continue to show up, I know it’ll pay off in the end!


WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED TO DO YOUR BEST? 

Honestly, my amazing family and support team. Without them, I would be lost. Whenever I fall off, I talk to some of them and I’m about to bounce back and keep working because of their encouragement. This goes for all my side hustles.

What else keeps me motivated is my never ending tenacity. I’ve been wanting to become a blogger since I was 15 and I’m almost near 30 so i know that I won’t stop until I get there. I may taken a few breaks here and there’s but it’s my passion to work online or from anywhere in the world, build a community and be my own boss.

It’s the ultimate dream for myself.



HOW WOULD YOU LEVEL UP OTHER WOMEN?

I believe that everyone needs to be encourage or to be heard. Whether it’s checking in or boosting them up when they need it. I’m heavily inspired by women that are on the path to creating something for themselves. So when I see a female entrepreneur putting herself out there and doing her thing online, the biggest compliment is to dm them to cheer them on or share their work. Usually they appreciate the cross promotion and makes them feel good about following their dreams (of course, always need to ask if they’re okay with it!)


RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SOMEONE WHO WOULD WANT TO BE IN YOUR CAREER/FIELD? 

To be in my career space, would be insane for someone normal unless being a serial entrepreneur is ideal. Even though, I prefer it, it could cause a lot of headache and frustrating! Trust me. so I’ll just break it down.

Makeup Artist: the best way to is build a portfolio. Continue to work on different models. Be able to work with the various style tones, skin types and style preferences. Some women love a full beat, others prefer a natural glow. I’ve also done makeup for male men for on camera and for major reality tv shows. Learn your setting. Some may need engagements photos that are indoors or in the blazing sun. Continue learning and expanding. Save to build your kit. I use all Nars and brands from Sephora. Getting started is expensive, so work with a team or work at a company like MAC. Personally, I relied on word of mouth and a credit card so anything is possible!

Blogger: find your niche and never stop writing or creating. You’ll learn along the way so build your collection of content and start putting it out there. Have a content calendar and build continue and slowly put it out or create and publish and repeat. Just do whatever works until you find your flow. At the end of the day, being a blogger is lucrative and will be worth it in the long run if you find your community, your drive and continue to show up.


Also, find your main platform to focus on.

Personally, I would say work on your personal blog and market it on Pinterest to grow your page views then you can monetize with ads and sponsorships.

If you prefer, Instagram, which is overly saturate, it’ll be a bit more tough. Although, I’ve been able to make money with under 5k followed so it’s possible if you continue to be active. Even if it’s just Instagram stories. Also, have a consistent feed and a personality. You can be the best version or show your true face. As long as your audience can relate and response, you’ll grow from there!

Youtuber: If you prefer YouTube, go for viral content. YouTube will push videos that they think people want to see. You can choose “viral” topics in your niche but YouTube loves related content so if someone has a huge video on a makeup look and you recreate it, YouTube may push your video to be seen next. (This is a basics of YouTube btw, there way more into it) At the end of the day, your videos will always earn you money so it’s great for earning passive income. I have videos I’ve posted in 2015 that still learn me money monthly. The learn curve is well worth it) This is the same for a traditional blog website (Remember, YouTube is a video blog). Blogging in generally be a lot of work in the beginning but while you continue to push content out, you could keep earn money for forever. (If you have a self hosted site, pleaseeeeeeee only go with a self hosted site!) once you learn SEO, you’ll rock either or, or both! But unlike an untraditional blog, you’ll need to learn video editing and engagement. It’s definitely not easy if you don’t have the proper equipment or confidence for being in front of a camera. So that’s something that’ll take practice. But practice that’ll be well worth it!

Bartender: Apply at your preferred work place could be a nightclub or a restaurant. You could start off as a server and learn the space until becoming promote to bartender but it’s as long as you get your foot in the door. When you become a bartender, craft your skill set. Learn more drinks, learn how to multitask and learn how to engage customers to keep the tips flowing! This can be a outrageous fun career path and you can work whenever you want. You could bar in Austin, Texas one year and on a beach in Puerto Rico in the next. (I’ll teach you everything on my new blog 😉)


WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF/BUSINESS IN THE FUTURE (3-5 YRS)

In 5 year, I hope to be an expert in all of my crafts and actually become the serial entrepreneur I dreamed of. I hope to make money solely online so I can work when i want, Where I want and to truly be my own boss. Lastly, I would love to build a community with others that share the same passions in each niche!

CAN YOU RECOMMEND A LOCAL SPOT YOU LOVE THAT OTHERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT? 


Currently, I live in Orlando and I love McQueens Social Lounge here in downtown Orlando. It’s a lounge that mixes art and craft cocktails. It’s a sophisticated lounge without being pretentious and stuffy. It’s an awesome spot and a must when visiting Orlando. (Outside of the theme parks lol)










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