Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Schaaf.
Hi Amber, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always been a storyteller. My story begins when I was seven years old on a camping trip. Most kids my age would have been roasting marshmallows or playing in the lake, but I was sitting by the fire writing poems. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of storytelling, and my English courses were always my favorite. In 8th grade, I was selected to participate in a national writing competition.
In April 2015, I took my first photography course at Wayzata High School. I loved pictures as a form of storytelling because “a picture says 1000 words”. I attended the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota where I double majored in Marketing and Information systems with a minor in leadership. In college, I loved my journalism liberal arts credits because they were different than my typical business courses. In 2020, I decided to study abroad in Sydney, Australia. During my short time there, I took my first digital marketing course where I fell in love with the art of storytelling within the social media space.
I started researching everything I could about social media marketing and knew deep down it was my dream career. At the time, I was majoring in Management Information Systems. I was also pursuing a triple minor in marketing, leadership, and business analytics. One day, I broke down during my analytics course because I was so unfulfilled and unhappy. I knew I had to make a decision about what I wanted to focus my energy on for the remainder of my college career. After speaking with some amazing mentors at Carlson and in the leadership minor, I knew I had to change my major to marketing. However, this would require a whole additional semester of college courses and I wasn’t sure if we would still be in the pandemic later on.
I was terrified, but I took a risk and decided to pursue a marketing major. It was the best decision I ever made. I slowly became more and more comfortable with the idea of becoming a full-time content creator. I started off by making fun TikToks for my friends, and I am lucky enough to have the most supportive friends I could ask for. My best friend Marcus even gave me the nickname “shooter” because I was always shooting content for him for our parties or get-togethers. After college, I received an offer to join a leadership development program in the marketing department at a FORTUNE 500® company. I worked very hard to meet as many people and learn as much as I could while still pursuing my interests.
In October of 2022, I decided to become a boys’ volleyball coach for the clubs that I played for growing up. I quickly fell in love with the art of coaching because it combined my passions for volleyball and leadership. On February 13 of 2023, I decided to create a Tiktok account for one of the clubs I coach for. I started off by just making fun Tiktok for my team and then more and more players reached out to me and asked to make a video of themselves.
Before I knew it, the TikTok page I created reached 1M views and 2k followers in just the one month since started posting content on the page. As of the end of April, the account hit 200k likes total and is close to 2M views. Most importantly, the Tiktok account has really helped develop a strong sense of community within the club and respect in the men’s volleyball space. Best of all, I am doing what I love to do!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Becoming a content creator has been the most difficult yet rewarding journey I’ve ever undertaken. Since I love writing, I have always been inspired by quotes. My leadership professor in our capstone course, who I deeply admire, always reminded us to “follow the joy”. There have been many instances where I have received hate or people who doubted me. Even those who are really close to me have specifically told me that they don’t think I would be successful as a marketing major or a content creator.
However, my positive attitude and desire to learn have pushed me to work hard and push through all of the uncertainty. At the end of the day, my dream is to simply make people smile. If I can just help one person or change one person’s perspective on life, I will feel successful. I’ve learned to never measure your success or tie your self-worth to the number of likes you receive on a post. At the end of the day, we are all human and there is nothing more meaningful than connecting with each other in a positive way.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work? What are you known for? What are you most proud of?
Pursuing a leadership minor in college and my extensive leadership experience has made me realize that my positivity is a defining characteristic of my leadership style. I have a natural ability to get others excited about the future or dreams that I have for them. Communication is also one of my strengths, so I love making meaningful connections with people.
Lastly, I have a strong desire to learn new things. Specifically, I love learning new things about new people. When someone comes up to me and tells me that I inspired them to go after a goal they wanted, that is what I am most proud of. My desire to make the world a more positive place, especially in the sometimes cruel world of social media, inspires me to keep creating and to keep dreaming.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Leadership and content creation is a journey, not a destination. Embrace the failures and lean into the discomfort.
There will not be a “right time” for you to call yourself a leader or a content creator. No one is born a leader, just the same as no one is born successful. What truly matters in life is your will to succeed and at the end of the day, you feel proud of yourself. Do not live for other people’s approval.
If you want something, go after it! Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from trying something you love because there is no worse feeling than regret. One of my biggest inspirations is Brené Brown because she embraces vulnerability and explains the importance of being human.
One of my favorite quotes from Brené is that “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.” Always embrace who you are and never be afraid to pursue your passions, because you never know who you may inspire to do the same.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amber.lens_/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-schaaf
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@amber.lens
