Guarding Your Influence: Why the Good American Debacle Highlights the Need for Intentional Branding

The social media feeds of New York City creators have been absolutely flooded with drama from the Good American NYC pop-up. Hundreds of invited nano-influencers and everyday creators arrived at the Soho venue, only to find themselves turned away, stuck in block-long lines, or stranded outside.

It is a messy look for the brand, but more importantly, it is a massive wake-up call for individual creators.

Seeing this chaos play out solidified exactly why I have recently made the deliberate decision to scale my personal brand and carefully curate the companies I represent. It all comes down to a simple truth: if you don't fiercely protect your platform, your time, and your energy, the industry will burn you out.

Since becoming more involved in the social media space, I have quickly noticed a recurring theme among creators: if you try to do everything, say yes to every campaign, and show up at every single function, you will absolutely burn yourself out.

Social media can feel like a relentless hamster wheel. The pressure to always be "on" and always be seen can easily cloud your judgment. But chasing visibility for the sake of visibility is a losing game. The chaos at the Good American event perfectly illustrates this. It is a prime example of why you cannot always show up for every event—because if you do, you will often find yourself standing in the rain, wasting your precious time and money on an experience that doesn’t value you.

Let’s be honest about the culture right now. If someone is only doing social media to secure an invite to an exclusive event, rub shoulders with "macro-influencers," or stack up free PR products, they are doing it for the wrong reasons.

Free clothes and networking parties are temporary perks, not a career or a legacy. For me, this journey is deeply personal. I have a definitive reason for being here: I want to help people, and I genuinely feel called to do what I am doing.

Because this is a calling rather than a hobby, my strategy has to reflect that. I have to be incredibly intentional about choosing partnerships and pushing products that will genuinely help me reach the specific audience that needs the message I am called to deliver. If a brand activation or product line doesn't align with that core mission, it simply doesn't deserve a place on my feed.

Right now, there are a handful of major industry events happening across New York City that I would absolutely love to attend. The temptation to book a ticket and just "figure it out" is always there.

But I believe in being transparent: Do I have the budget to mindlessly fly out right now? No. Are these brands paying for my travel and accommodation to be there? No.