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Micro fashion influencer Kristian Padilla is based out of Austin, Texas. She grew up in Los Angeles, California and while growing up, people had a hard time pronouncing her name. Fortunately, in college, her friends came up with the nickname KP to keep it simple, which evolved into her blog name @heyitsmeekp.
After attending Texas State University, Padilla began working in IT. She currently works full-time for a large fortune 500 IT company, working in the federal government side of the business. She loves her day job and also loves fashion blogging, which she simultaneously juggles while working her day job.
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Getting Started in the Industry
Falling in love with fashion was easy with a fashionista mom. Her mom worked in a department store exposing Padilla to new fashion every season. Living in Los Angeles also sparked her love for fashion. She fondly recalls going outside and seeing individuals dressed uniquely, in every fashion style you can think of. The glamour captivated her.
Entering fashion influencer marketing taught Padilla she can do anything she sets her mind to. After graduation, she hoped to pursue a career in fashion. Unfortunately, there were no fashion jobs available so she entered the IT space. She knew in her heart she wanted to do something in fashion, so she began creating content on the side.
Padilla dove deep into research and taught everything to herself from learning how to edit, create graphics, and more. YouTube and “How To” tutorials were her best friend during the process. During her research, she found that for fashion, people do not read blogs that often anymore. Instead, being a fashion blogger is geared heavily towards social media platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram because a majority of audiences lie on those platforms.
Fashion influencers must also be aware of when and where they post to their social media platforms. Padilla explained how SEO optimization for hashtags and caption generation as well as posting at the right time of day is crucial to making sure your content is placed in front of the right Folks. Padilla also noted how her content on Pinterest gets double the amount of views as Instagram! Padilla links her Pinterest account and Instagram account, using Instagram posts as Pinterest Pins. That way, when people come across her content on Pinterest, they get redirected to her Instagram. To make product finding easier, Padilla links all her items on her like to know it page as well.
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Life as @heyitsmeekp
Juggling a full-time job and full-time influencer marketing calls for busy days. A typical day starts at six am, working out before work begins at seven. During her lunch breaks, Kristian Padilla works on graphic creations and engages with followers. After work, she and her fiancé will shoot new content and work on editing. Padilla’s days are jam-packed, which is why she tries to have a hard stop around 7-8 pm so she can be present in the evenings with her fiancé.
One of Padilla’s pillars for her blog is sharing affordable, stylish, quality clothes. Her innate ability to find these clothes to share with her followers stems from her mom. With two other siblings to care for, her mom taught her from an early age it is all about bargain hunting. Her love for stores like Marshalls, Target, Nordstroms Rack, and local thrift shops has only grown since her childhood. Everything Padilla posts is within the $50 price range, keeping true to her pillar of sharing affordable, stylish, quality clothing.
Like Padilla, we know social media is a staple of the fashion industry. Read more about how they utilize influencer marketing here.
Brands will DM or email Padilla directly for partnerships. She also researches and reaches out to brands that she really loves. Brands she has partnered with thus far include Amazon Prime, Liquid IV, and the Fairmont Hotel Chain locally in Austin. Some of her favorite partnerships have been with local boutiques in Texas. Touring the stores, shooting content, and meeting the owners of the boutiques make for such a personal experience for both Padilla and the owners.
Padilla recently had a sponsored stay for her bachelorette party and fell in love with video content. She would love to develop her video skills and begin doing more beauty and travel content.
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Reflection and the Future
The number game is one of the biggest challenges Kristian Padilla has faced while building her brand. She recalls reaching out to brands and receiving no response because she did not have a large enough following. However, with the rise of micro-influencers she has been able to break down barriers. In the past year, more brands have begun reaching out to her and responding to her inquiries.
Padilla attributes her success to her parents. Hard-workers themselves, they instilled those values in Padilla too. She recalls that on her 16th birthday, she and her mom went out looking for her first job before her birthday party that night. They went to a strip mall and went into every store asking for an application. Padilla’s first job was working at Justice for Girls, starting in the retail side of the fashion industry. Working part-time while juggling AP classes and dance laid the foundation for the busy body she is today.
This year Padilla has set a goal to hit 10,000 followers on Instagram and has some big brands in mind to work with once she hits 10K. For the future, Padilla has always had a pretty clear idea of what she’d like to do in 10 years. Ideally, she would love to take her own brand and turn it into her own boutique, taking her style and making it shoppable. Keeping the store affordable is a huge goal of hers as well.
As Kristian Padilla progresses and continues to grow her brand, she will remain diligent in ensuring her space is inclusive of everyone. Her blog works to challenge the notion that women must have a big bank account to look good and feel good or that they must have a certain hair color or body type to wear an outfit. @heyitsmeekp helps women gain confidence every day and challenge the status quo.
Follow Kristian Padilla
Padilla loves engaging with her followers, making connections, and having meaningful conversations. Be sure to follow her socials!
| Platform | Handle |
|---|---|
| @HeyitsMeeKP | |
| @heyitsmeekp | |
| TikTok | @heyitsmeekp |
