“I would love to see more platforms reaching out and uplifting creators who are marginalised.” – In Conversation with Content Creator, Karly Polkosnik

Karly Polkosnik is an ex-law school student turned micro-creator who turned to social media content creation after being laid off from her 9-5 job. Now, Karly is monetising a full-time career as an LGBTQ+, body-positive creator sharing her lived experiences and advice, encompassed by her witty sense of humour.  

Where the journey began

Who would have thought that you could go from working for a parkour company, with a passion for cheerleading on the side, to becoming a social media influencer?

After completing her studies, during which Karly was writing a blog about her day-to-day life and her passion for cheerleading, Karly landed herself a job with a parkour company – Karly and I both raised our eyebrows as she explained this – but the rest of the story makes complete sense.

She explained that her boss at the time was the number one parkour athlete in the world, a somewhat influencer, but the influencer landscape back then was a lot different than it is now. This was Karly’s first introduction into the influencer space, as she got to travel to different sporting events, and was exposed to the IT crowd of fitness influencers.

Sport, however, was not something that Karly saw in her future, at least professionally. So with her university degree in the works, Karly spent her time working on her own social media channels and in corporate social media. She was inspired by the creativity and opportunity to be open online that becoming an influencer had to offer, but thanks to her business studies, she applied her professional skills to her own Instagram account and following that, YouTube.

The stepping stones to virality

Confident in her workflow producing content for her Instagram and YouTube channels, it was time for Karly to embark on the next stage of her journey. Karly was enjoying how open and experimental she could be in her YouTube videos, which at the time ranged from story times to skincare tutorials, but it was time for a new venture.