The Creative's Couch
Weekly podcast to inspire creative people to take action to achieve their dreams.
The Creative's Couch
Model Turned Content Creator: Danubia Sousa On Monetising Your Social Media.
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Imagine arriving in a foreign city without knowing the language and eventually becoming a prominent face in the modeling world. That's the remarkable journey of Danubia Souza, our guest in this episode of The Creative's Couch. We explore how an unexpected encounter on Oxford Street set her modeling career in motion, allowing her to travel to 46 countries. But Danubia's story doesn't end on the runway. Her natural creativity and passion for authentic sharing led her into content creation, where she shuns the traditional "influencer" label, instead choosing to let her interests guide her posts. As a mother of two, she seamlessly integrates family life into her online presence, offering her followers genuine insights and tips.
The allure of influencer life comes with its own set of challenges, especially for younger generations, and Danubia provides a candid glimpse into this world. We discuss the enticing nature of freebies and the crucial role of maintaining a firm value system. Motherhood has significantly shaped her professional path, highlighting the necessity of setting boundaries. Danubia bravely shares personal stories, including dealing with the darker side of public visibility like stalking, and the imperative of safeguarding privacy in the digital realm. This episode invites listeners to reflect on the balance between virtual presence and real-life priorities, urging awareness and caution as they navigate the ever-growing digital landscape.
Hello and welcome to the Creator's Couch with me, Gemma Naylor. Today's guest is a Brazilian-born model who has successfully pivoted her career to become a highly sought-after content creator. It is the incredible Danubia Souza. Danubia. Thank you for joining me on the Creators Couch. Oh, it's my pleasure. So tell me, how many years have you been in London now? Going to 22 years now, Wow. And what brought you to the city? The weather Joke.
Speaker 2No, I came here on a holiday with my twin sister and literally I fell in love with London straight away and I thought, like I want to be here, I want to save money, work and give my family a better life. So that was the changing life moment for me, goodness.
Speaker 1So how much English could you speak when you moved here?
Speaker 2zero, absolutely nothing at all, nothing not even hire by people used to like push me, for example, and then I'm like thank you, thank you, thank you, like it was that much goodness.
Speaker 1So what in your gut made you go?
Speaker 2you know what I am going to make this move and I'm going to stick it out, regardless of how tough it is okay, I came from a very poor family and that was the first time ever I flew, I went out of my hometown and first time I saw different things in life. I came here. I thought, like this is my chance. I have to give my mom a better life and and embrace it.
Speaker 1I was like I don't care, I'm gonna make this works amazing so how much modeling and things had you done back home before coming over to London?
Speaker 2that point. I was doing freelance job in my hometown all the time but everyone was saying to me is impossible. You make in in London especially. You don't have the language, you don't have agency. And I thought like, okay, it's fine, I can prove it wrong, but I have to learn the language first. So I did. I was a nanny for two and a half years of her living in and I learned the language with the kids, which I absolutely adore. Now they're like 20 years old, and then I literally the day I left the kids I was going to go to a modelling agency. Someone stopped me on Oxford Street. You got scouted.
Speaker 1The day I got scouted. Oh wow, university play.
Speaker 2And that changed my life. From there on, I travelled 46 countries. I'm modelling all around the globe sports events, name it all sorts so your dream came true. It came true. I embraced it like all sorts. So your dream came true, came true and embraced it. I always very disciplined about work and just enjoying life and embraced every single moment and changed my feminist life. Yeah, wow that's unbelievable.
Speaker 1So how did sort of the content creation start? Were you just sharing your journey organically? Was it a thought-out process or were you just sharing what you were doing and it built journey?
Speaker 2organically? Was it a thought-out process or were you just sharing what you were doing? And it built. So the creative side came like naturally, because I was sharing like 10, 11 years ago when Instagram came, I was sharing everything, sharing, yeah, yeah. So I was open about the modeling, the life and the background. I came from Brazil, so it naturally and I saw the shift and now I have to like think about, I have to do something and I've always been creative. I always like to do like videos editing and everything. So I was like I'm just gonna start doing some videos and see how it goes, but nothing too much, it's just about my life, about things I love, but nothing too much. It's just about my life, about things I love. And from there on, the brands just contact me. I got agency just for creations and now I have two daughters and I share my life and they are part of my life and we work together yeah, brilliant.
Speaker 1So what do you think, in your opinion, is the difference between a content creator and an influencer, because I know you're not too fond of that word.
Speaker 2Influencer, yes let's put that way. Um, the influencer thing for me. I think people say, oh, you're influencer. I don't like to see I'm influencing people to buy stuff. I'm sharing things I love. If they like it, there's the option. I don't like to force anyone to do anything and that's why I don't like the influencer word. Plus, everyone's an influencer these days. It's not about selling, it's about sharing ideas and things who make me happy, and if that makes you happy as well.
Speaker 1I'm here, so it's more kind of about the intention of why you're sharing something?
Speaker 2Yes, 100%, and the intentions are normally for me, fashion or my life or tips of mama, or oh, I found these incredible hacks for mama. I share all my stories or an incredible suit and was really cheap and nice quality. Yeah, I share like. I just like to, to share the goodies, if that makes sense yeah, that's just your personality, just very generous in spirit, always always remember.
Speaker 2I met Gemma a while ago and even when I didn't have kids, they always called me Auntie Danubio, because I always have food in my bag, I'm always sharing things. Just generous Danubio, that's me. So I just like to be myself, which is amazing.
Speaker 1Why do you think so many people are keen to become influencers? Why do you think it is so attractive, especially to the younger generation?
Speaker 2I think first of all is the freebies.
Speaker 1Let's be honest.
Speaker 2Let's be honest. Let's be honest which everybody loves, yeah, yeah and. But there's a line. I always say no to things as well. Okay, I always say no. And people passing the barrier like they just want more and more and more. And there's a limit. I don't want to do a beauty product. If they're not good, free. If they're testing animals, I say no. So I always have a line and I think that's important. People are forgetting.
Speaker 1Yeah, you have your value system and you don't cross it just for a brand. No, definitely not. That's really cool, hasn't having two young girls?
Speaker 2yeah, changed your opinion of the modeling industry or influence the kind of work that you do now. 100, yeah, absolutely. Before I used to fit on their content creation. Um, like ideas. Now I all my clients, I say that's gonna be under my ideas. If you like it, you say yes. If not, you can give opinion how to change it.
Speaker 1But first of all it's gonna be on my terms and what my life is now yep, yeah, how, if you're a little girl, so that, mommy, I want to be a model yeah, would that be something that? You're comfortable with oh, 100%, she's amazing, yeah 100% she loves it.
Speaker 2Um, she always like mom, I'm gonna do a fashion show and that go back to like Brazil, remember I used to do that. So she, she wants it, go for it. Yeah, I'm or be the mama manager, yeah you're going to be one of those.
Speaker 1What do you think? Are there any dark sides to having your life so sort of publicly exposed? 100%, okay, do you mind sharing like a couple of things?
Speaker 2no, especially now we have this show on Netflix about stalkers. Okay, I haven't seen that yet. No, watch it. I've been stalked before.
Speaker 1Okay, online or in real, real life from your online work, or was this from?
Speaker 2yeah, the person used to leave near me at the time. Um, they saw my social media and they, yeah, used to follow me everywhere. That, okay, yeah, that's the dark side. That's why I have loads of things I follow, like rules I follow. I never post on real time.
Speaker 1I never post anywhere I'm at and I'm really concerned what I post about my kids yeah, yeah, it's quite frightening to think that someone would actually well, I guess that's just where we're living in now, isn't it? Virtual blurs with our reality. So how did you resolve that situation, police?
Speaker 2really it got that intense, got that intense and it's because a lot to do with mental health as well. Okay, people sometimes they think they have rights of you just because you're on the social media. They think they know, they think they know you and that person it literally this was a while back, before I have kids that person thought they have a chance with me, right. So it was like obsessive, obsessive and got to a point I was just like my other half at the time got involved and took to the police. Yeah, oh, I'm so glad you're okay yeah, it's quite frightening.
Speaker 1Yeah, to be followed as a woman anywhere, 100%.