In Conversation With Nastya Swan

Nastya Swan is taking over the world. The 18-year-old Latvian-born social media influencer shot to fame in less than five years with her inspiring posts for young people especially women, who increasingly lack self-confidence and seek motivation. Naturally entrepreneurial, Nastya has almost 900k Instagram followers and 600k subscribers on YouTube, with more than 35 million views for her video blogs and her rise has continued to be meteoric. We caught up with Nastya for an exclusive interview.

How would you best describe your job to someone else?
I'm a social influencer and a model. I work really hard but I never work if you know what I mean. I'm blessed to have a job that gives me every and satisfies my passion. My main point of existence and work is to inspire people and motivate them to become a better version of them self. I make cinematic videos and pictures as well, through my pictures I inspire people to do what they want and use their precious freedom because Insta is not about appearance its art. I also shoot for many brands like D&G, Maybelline, Under Armour etc who hire me because of my personality on social media, which makes me feel very grateful.

Your toughest moments starting out?
The toughest part of the social media world is vulnerability. Everyone will try to change you, to tell you how to do something in the right way, how to behave but it's only your decision. Because you do you on social media and people around the world can not affect who you truly are.

What have been your keys to success?
Personality. Let's admit that it's hard to avoid people's opinion and not be affected by social media but when you start to focus on discovering your own strengths instead of copying a legend, you become successful. Creative and flexible mindset is also a key to success but the great idea is just an idea until you involve the action. Just try it, learn how it works and decide if that's what you want to do. That's how I built my social media's in a really organic way.

Is fame something you strive for?
I never had a dream to be extremely famous because it feeds your ego or brings a lot of money but I always wanted to have a huge audience to be heard and to feel valuable in the world I'm in. I want to speak about the topics that people are scared to bring up. I want to show people that they can achieve anything they want with my own example. Don't be scared of the people be scared of your own thoughts because they become the reality. I would never imagine that I'll have an audience of over 1 million people at 18 years old.

You have an exceptionally unique look, Nastya. Where does your style savvy come from, how would you describe your own style?
Thank you. My look can change every day and it depends on the mood, the way I feel today. Sometimes I can be girly but sometimes I wear baggy boyish clothes and I believe it's beautiful when you can be different all the time. My style is my self-expression. My closet includes a lot of bodysuits as they always show your gorgeous upper body, a few pairs of slim black high waisted jeans and jean/leather jacket. I would call my style basic but graceful.

What is your main source of inspiration when it comes to staying up to date on the fashion industry?
I'm absolutely obsessed with 80 and 90s aesthetics. The way women presented themselves is extremely powerful. Every time I look at the pictures of supermodels of that time I get inspired. There is nothing more precious than a woman's body when she realizes her worth and value. You can be the skinniest one, the prettiest one, the tallest one but if you don't have confidence inside then the whole point is missed.

Tell us about a time when you really impacted someone's life with your social media content. What was the result?
One time I received an email from a girl that I saved her from committing to suicide because my content inspired her and her thoughts were 'if Nastya Swan could do it, I can do that too.' I started to cry when I read that email because that's why I live - to bring love, hope and inspiration. From her words, this girl started a healthy lifestyle and workouts. She shared with me that my positivity and right words in my posts/videos helped her better than anyone else. Self-love and self-care are the topics I always discuss on my platform as it's the basis of a successful life.

Thank you, Nastya for this amazing interview!

Image via: @nastyaswan

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