Imagine being an Instagram Influencer. Maybe even the ~first~ instagram influencer. Imagine the fun, the glamour…
Imagine the pressure. The stress.
Imagine being honest—brave enough to share every heartache, every anxiety, and every thought.
And then imagine that the media twist your anxieties, your honesty and your endeavors into a headline.
“This Instagram Influencer’s Failed Tour Will Satisfy Your Fyre Fest Nostalgia”
Welcome to the life of Caroline Calloway.
I followed Caroline back in 2014, before the age of the Instagram influencer, before Instagram had a stories feature, and before the New York Magazine compared her cancelled creativity tour to the disaster of the Fyre Festival. Back in 2014, Caroline was still a student at Cambridge University; dating the charming, polo-playing Oscar; attending Oxbridge balls; and writing the most beautiful Instagram captions in the world. That’s how I fell in love with her—she was telling stories through Instagram. Not to mention the photos she shared looked like a hybrid of Harry Potter and Gossip Girl. I mean, just look.
*swoon* The way Caroline writes is always clever. Take this instagram caption, for instance, that opens like this: “I love magic. First kisses, Patronus charms, the way Google finishes your sentences.”
Caroline’s wit, adventures (long live @adventuregrams), and resiliency has attracted a following of more than 800,000. And lets not forget that little blue Instagram-verified badge!!
With the invention of the Instagram story, Caroline’s account transitioned from love story narrative to honest and inspiring platform for a girl dealing with heartache, addiction, getting out of a book deal that didn’t feel right, and mental health. Caroline primarily uses Instagram stories to communicate with her fans, share her creativity, and continue to tell her story–her own way.
In January, Caroline cancelled her creativity workshop tour due to criticism that her workshop was a “scam.” She did the human thing–she panicked a little. She drew back. But she loved her creativity tour, and with a little more organization, got it up and running again. And, in the madness, added another lesson to her workshop–resiliency.
Despite the viral ~scamming sensation~ Caroline was made out to be recently, I still look at her as one of the most honest, inspirational storytellers of our age. And she does it all on Instagram.
That, to me, is the kind of social media positivity we need more of.
Check out Caroline’s updates, jokes, and confessions here on her Instagram!