Nobody wakes up one morning and decides "I'm going to be a content creator." That's a lie people tell in interviews. The reality is messier, weirder, and way more accidental than anyone wants to admit.
For me, it started with boredom and a front-facing camera. I was posting selfies like everyone else — mirror shots, outfit checks, the usual. Nothing groundbreaking. But people started paying attention. Not a million people. Not even a thousand at first. Just enough to make me think: wait, people actually want to see this?
The first DM that changed everything wasn't from some brand or agency. It was from a girl in Ohio who said my posts made her feel better about her own body. That hit different. I wasn't trying to be inspirational — I was literally just vibing by the pool. But something about being unapologetically yourself resonates with people who are tired of the filtered, curated, sanitized version of everything.
So I leaned into it. More photos. More real talk. Less worrying about what my old high school classmates would think. And here's what nobody tells you about that decision: it's terrifying and liberating in equal measure.
The first time someone screenshot my stuff and posted it somewhere else, I panicked. The first time someone left a nasty comment, I cried. The first time someone offered to pay for exclusive content, I laughed because I thought they were joking. They weren't.
Building InkedMayhem wasn't some big business plan with spreadsheets and market research. It was me sitting on my bed at 2 AM thinking "I want to do this on my own terms, on my own platform, without some app taking 30% and deciding what I'm allowed to post."
That's the real origin story. Not glamorous. Not strategic. Just a girl with a phone, a dog who photobombs everything, and a stubborn refusal to be anyone other than herself.
If you're reading this and thinking about starting your own thing — whatever that thing is — here's my only advice: stop waiting for permission. Nobody's going to tap you on the shoulder and say "you're ready now." You just start. You figure it out as you go. You make it up. And eventually, the thing you made up becomes the thing people can't look away from.
Welcome to the mayhem. It's just getting started.