Wise Words: Bethan McCoy
It’s fair to say the world of a content creator or influencer is an intriguing mystery to many people my age.
However, I had the pleasure of seeing at first-hand how one of the most successful women in this industry, Bethan McCoy, grew her brand, when we worked together at the North East Chamber of Commerce.
Since Christmas she has travelled all over Europe to make stunning fashion content which has been seen by her 188k followers and rising, on Instagram.
Bethan grew up in Easington Village, County Durham and one of her favourite childhood books was ‘A Dark, Dark Tale’ by Ruth Brown. She also remembers enjoying ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck which was a text for an English exam.
Her love of English resulted in her studying media and journalism at Northumbria University. She said: “My Dad always drilled into me the need to be practical. I had thought about doing fashion but he thought journalism would lead to more job opportunities.
“I do have a certain regret that I didn’t explore working in fashion or for a magazine. When I was younger I loved designing things and even produced my own magazine which I was very proud of.
“The freedom to create what I want, and express myself, is one of the things that makes me happiest about my career now.
“Everyone thought I was a bit weird in school but for some reason I was always confident that I was going to do well. I started with social media as a teenager and got around 20k followers which was a good number at that time. But when I was 18 I was embarrassed by the content so I deleted it.
“My next move was to start an Instagram account where I posted photos of myself in clothes I’d styled. Brands I wore then began to send me free clothes and, if it was my type of look, I’d do posts wearing them.”
As Bethan’s followers rose up she began to develop her distinctive brand which she describes as a ‘city girl, street style’.
Big brands began contacting her and as well as gifting clothes to wear, they began to pay her for posting content. She also got a management company to help develop more connections with fashion businesses.
In the early days Bethan was really excited when she was invited to be part of a Pretty Little Thing campaign and given £500 to spend on their collection.
When lockdown hit and no-one could go out socialising she had more time to create content. She began to wear brands she wanted to be an ambassador for and tag them in her posts. This usually resulted in them giving her paid work.
She said: ““It was around this point in my career fast-fashion company Missguided used photos I had created with their clothes on billboards, buses and bus stops all over the country.
“This success was quickly followed by being asked to design my first collection for a new brand, Kasela Studio. This business is run by two exciting, young female designers and everything is hand-made, which was right up my street.
“The shoot for that collection was amazing. They had hired a fantastic architecturally-designed house, which is now owned by the lifestyle guru Lorna Luxe.”
Since becoming full-time self-employed a few months ago Bethan’s feet haven’t touched the ground. When we speak she has just returned from a shoot in the Italian resort of Positano for Pretty Little Thing. The images of Bethan were for their Euro summer campaign called La Dolce Vita.
She said: “People often think doing a fashion shoot in a beautiful place must be easy money but, while it is great experience, you really work hard from early morning until late at night. They are great opportunities for my brand, so I’m definitely not complaining!
“The list of activities you do, with changes of clothes each time, can be pretty long including yoga, a beach club, a pizza and poker-themed evening, yacht day, sunset dinner, to name a few. But I absolutely loved it.
To generate the best possible images for the brands she works with Bethan has also recently done fashion shoots in Ibiza, Mexico, Marbella, Portugal, Palma, Malta and then back to Ibiza. And that’s just up to July.
She said: “I’m still finding my feet as its early days to be doing this without a permanent job. But I know how to build up my brand. For me, engagement with my followers is more important than getting thousands more followers. The challenge, and pleasure, for me is to find new ideas for content and see what new trends are developing.
“Video and TikTok have really changed the whole landscape. When I initially got bookings for video I found it a bit daunting but I dipped my toe in the water with reels. They are now getting good engagement with a few seconds worth of material.”
The time is takes to create a strong fashion clip for Instagram is quite eye-opening. Bethan explains she takes plenty of time to pick the right outfits with accessories, then around two hours to film the behind the scenes set up when she is picking them. This is followed by tight edits with the finished clip lasting about 12-15 seconds.
Her advice for people who want to follow in her entrepreneurial footsteps with platforms like Instagram, is to do it for the right reasons. “You need to offer people something, whether it aspirational, wellness, or whatever your style is. Don’t do it just to be famous as that’s the road to no-where.
“I would recommend people do try and take the plunge, yet be sensible. When I worked full time I realised I couldn’t do both things well, so I decided the time was right to focus on my fashion work. Decide what is right for you.
“To succeed you have to be tough, cope with rejection if a brand doesn’t think you’re a good fit, and at the same time be true to yourself. Sometimes I’ve done unpaid work which has had a great reaction from my followers. Then through organic engagement, it has worked out really well for me.
With her often 24/7 workload Bethan doesn’t have much time to read which she misses. But, she has enjoyed two autobiographies lately, the first was by Jennette McCurdy, about her life as a child TV star, called I’m Glad My Mom Died and the second is My Body by Emily Ratajkowski. The theme is women who have been through challenges and survived. In fiction Bethan enjoyed A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas.
The Stand-Up Mam has funny family stories in it. Do you have one to share?
When I was younger I thought I had the real Miley Cyrus on MSN and even though my parents repeatedly told me it wasn’t the pop star I persisted in talking to ‘her’ all the time. I was probably lucky it was all very innocent chat!
My other story is about the tooth fairy. My brother Michael came into my bedroom and ate all the chocolate in my advent calendar. He denied it but his mouth was covered in it. So, when he lost his first tooth and put it under his pillow to get money from the tooth fairy I put all my baby teeth under my own pillow. My logic was that there would be no money left for his tooth…
Bethan’s Instagram is @bethanmccoy