Not many people had the privilege of having their dreams come true during the pandemic, but it was a great place to start when it came to re-evaluating, readjusting, and laying low for a while. This was just what Daria Rakitskaya needed to change direction in her career and focus. Daria is a social media manager and CEO of her own social media marketing agency and is an outgoing instapreneur and influencer.

Her pandemic lockdown activities have included a lot of brand management and expanding her services. She started out growing her instagram and it worked. From there, she worked with friends to found the Baylor Entrepreneurship Club at Baylor University where she was attending. “I was helping a lot of students with their entrepreneurship and social media presence. Their businesses needed a push to grow and this was a great way to expand that,” she explains.

Her original plan was to play tennis professionally for the Baylor University Women’s Tennis  Team, but she had some other hobbies that she did in her free time that opened the door for her to change career direction. “I used to keep a travel blog on instagram that I would share tips about traveling from whenever I would do tournament travels. When one of my friends approached me about an entrepreneurship club, I was totally on board,” Daria says. “It was the catalyst that shifted my career dreams in a totally different direction.”

A dream come true

Daria explains, “When the pandemic hit, I took hundreds of courses on content creation, social media marketing and everything that has to do with Instagram. It became my new passion and during lockdown, I started to help other influencers build their social media presence and create content. After the pandemic I decided to retire from professional sport and pursue my dreams of entrepreneurship.” 

Daria continues, “I completely changed my circle of friends and met the amazing people with whom I founded Baylor Entrepreneurship Club. I was a social media and brand manager for the club and helped student entrepreneurs launch their businesses on social media to gain new clients. Having this experience made me realize how much I loved managing social media platforms and doing social media marketing.”

She explains, “As more and more people started to reach out for my help with their Instagram pages, I decided to open my own social media marketing agency where I can help influencers and businesses all around the world.”

Social Media Expert

Daria expresses her vision, “My goal is to help influencers and businesses manage their social media, create growth strategies and social media marketing campaigns, as well as help them create outstanding content that will attract an audience and customers to their pages. 

During the quarantine she grew her instagram account from 1.9K followers, 3000 average impressions and less than 7,000 impressions to 5.5K followers with 9812 impressions and 54,000 average impressions in less than 4 months. In addition, she grew her account from 0-3 profile visits, 0-2 saves and 100 hashtag reaches per post to up to 4957 hashtag reaches, up to 45 saves and 247 profile visits that lead to sales increase.

Advice for other entrepreneurs 

Daria claims, “Money should not be a reason to start. Passion is a true reason that will help you grow and achieve your desired life goals. And while sometimes your goals are so big that it can be overwhelming, remember that it only takes one step at a time to get where you want. Always remember why you started and where you are going.”

Inspiration and creativity

Daria’s passion is apparent, her motivation is leading her into a great new direction. “There is a lot more purpose and excitement in my job now, I loved tennis, but this is something that I get much more out of. I feel so inspired and right where I want to be,” she says smiling. Her big plans for her instapreneur launch are going to be promising. “This is something that has filled the emptiness within me with purpose and excitement,” she expresses. “I want to do more than just social media management; I really hope that one day I will be able to help people all around the world outside of social media. I want to help build communities that thrive and help each other grow.” 

Daria’s work is something that speaks for itself. When you see what she accomplished, it’s incredibly motivating, and inspiring others to want to find their purpose as well. She believes in supporting and lifting each other up and this is what she wants to continue to foster as she grows her business and career.