Influencer marketing thrived in 2020. Lockdowns led to increased social media usage and drastic changes in consumer behavior, and brands needed to pivot quickly to adapt. With an ever-increasing number of brands choosing independent content creators over traditional advertising, influencers need to know more than ever how to navigate this space and make money doing it. Today’s guest is Tanisha Cherry, a Black fashion, lifestyle, and travel influencer from Canada with over 16,000 supporters on Instagram. She loves to share helpful information with others and has worked with brands such as Captain Morgan, Strongbow, La Vie en Rose, Farmacy, and more that you will hear about during the course of today’s episode. The content of this interview is pretty specific to influencer marketing, but you will find it relevant whether you are a solopreneur, freelancer, or anything in between. Tanisha is an outspoken advocate for influencers actually getting paid for the work that they do and she has an intimate understanding of why influencer marketing is important for brands, how brands are capitalizing on these partnerships, and, most importantly, how influencers can negotiate and leverage these relationships to their benefit. Tanisha shares a lot of practical insight into determining your rates, coordinating gifting campaigns, and getting gigs, as well as tracking the brands you want to work with and creating strategic content, so make sure to tune in today to learn more! Key Points From This Episode:Tanisha’s journey to becoming a content creator, starting with her love for social media.How 2020 changed her relationship with social media and the content she was producing.Find out how the pandemic inspired fewer filters and more vulnerability on social media.Hear Tanisha’s opinion of Clubhouse and how she has used it to educate other influencers.Learn about some of her first brand partnerships and hear her advice for ensuring that you are fairly compensated.Why she believes that unpaid brand partnerships are not fair exchanges or opportunities.How she deals with gifted campaigns by sending back her rates.Let’s talk about rates; Tanisha explains how influencers can charge what they are worth.Brands will take advantage of the fact that influencers don’t have insight into the marketing business, so educate yourself!Other factors to consider when deciding to engage in a brand partnership, such as their expectations and target audience.The value of communicating to a brand whether their product is a good fit with your audience.Why it is important for brands to curate their visual aesthetic before approaching an influencer.Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Tanisha Cherry on LinkedInTanisha Cherry on InstagramBuzzcastKeep up to date on the latest podcasting tech & news with the folks at Buzzsprout!Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Waves with Mike (@mmmiiike) and Mitzi (@mmmitzi). For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/S6 - present Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Harrison Neef.