I Can Influence You

DEAR COLLETT

I Wanted to Be an Influencer

On going viral, chasing impact, and finding the thing I couldn't walk away from.

I wanted to be an influencer. Yep, I went down that path too.

It started innocently enough. I was unboxing packages for my daughter's high school graduation party and started filming myself. Then I posted the grad party reveal on TikTok. Within hours I had hundreds of thousands of views. And then I got a message from Good Morning America asking if they could use my video for a segment on over the top grad parties.

I was officially going viral.

I set up accounts on LTK and Amazon storefront. People started buying the items I recommended and I was even making a little money from affiliate links. I became obsessed with understanding the algorithm and talking to anyone who had achieved viral success.

But going viral feels good for about five minutes, because visibility is definitely not the same as impact.

I kept going though because people were always asking me for corporate advice. How do you get into sales? How do you get a promotion? That is my specialty and I love talking about it. I would run into people who said "I love your TikToks" — oh really? Then why didn't you like, comment, or share it? That's a whole other topic!

✦   ✦   ✦

But it was more than the algorithm frustrating me. I had spent 25 years commanding rooms, leading teams, and watching people grow. I wanted to give that back in a real and meaningful way.

A hundred thousand views felt like nothing compared to one person looking me in the eye and telling me I changed how they thought about their career.

✦   ✦   ✦

And then something unexpected happened.

In the background I had picked up a new hobby. Not casually. Fully obsessed, can't stop thinking about it, dragging myself to practice at every opportunity kind of hobby. It was addicting in a way I hadn't felt in years. Focused on improving. Competing against myself every single time. Chasing something just out of reach.

It felt exactly like the early days of building a company. I missed that.

And the more I fell into this world built on precision, composure, and quiet authority, the more I realized I had always loved it. I just never thought of it as something I could build something around.

But it is a world with a history full of leaders who never got the recognition they deserved. Women who were extraordinary. Women who were quietly written out of the story.

And then I came across her. A pioneer. A champion. Someone who dominated when nobody thought she belonged there. I felt so connected to her story I could not stop thinking about it.

You know her name

✦   ✦   ✦