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00:18] (Q: As far your [Instagram] posts, what gets the biggest response?) Definitely selfies, selfies that look like … like body selfies that look like I took them myself, like mirror selfies.
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00:34] Unfortunately, things that look professional get the least amount of love, which is so sad because I spend like months preparing for a photoshoot, collaborative, elaborate, intense photoshoot. And it just won't connect.
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00:58] I put so much work and effort into my actual photoshoots.
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01:29] I do almost all of my promotional stuff by myself now. I find that it's the best way to connect with people, they like the "real" look.
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01:41] It's just hard when I spend a lot of time on photoshoots and people don't connect with it.
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01:50] (Q: Do you have an Instagram strategy?) I do, very much so, it's breaking down to all hours, days, posts, how it's going to look on the post, what I'm posting, how it's going to play out.
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02:10] I was trying to look at it from the outside perspective, like if someone was looking at my Instagram, because you never know who's watching, y'know what I mean? I just recently found out that a brand that I idolise had been watching me for a month, and now we rocking together, but it's like dang, you never know who's watching, you never know who's looking, so I definitely have an Instagram strategy.
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02:32] I hate that it's like that, because I feel like it's meant to be "social media", like my friends are checking up on me … it's all work, unfortunately.
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02:47] (Q: Speaking of Instagram, how crazy are your DMs?) (EB laughs) What context? (EB laughs) … A couple of females do shoutout-for-a-shoutout … (Q: No, I'm talking about hollering at you through the DMs) (EB laughs) A lot of males hollering at me through the DMs … no females holler at me in the DMs. Females try to talk to me about business stuff, like OK can you promote my brand? Some guys are just trying to be nice, hey you're beautiful, then other guys really just trying to shoot their shoot, and I respect that though.
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03:52] (Q: What about as far as celebrities?) (EB laughs) Athletes. Athletes 98%, rappers 2%.
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04:19] (Q: Of the 98% of athletes, what would you say is football, or basketball…) Predominantly basketball. You know what's crazy? I sat down one night and I figured out exactly how many people play professional football in the United States, and how many people play professional basketball in the United States. And if you add in overseas, it's really … (Q: It's way more football than basketball) Yeah (Q: And you get way more basketball than football players?) Yeah. (EB laughs)
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05:00] (Q: Has there been anybody that has hollered at you that surprised or shocked you?) Yeah. I have met a lot of people that I have been a fan of their work, but as far as in the DMs? Nah. Yeah I respect them as athletes and as professionals, but as far as artists, no, unfortunately, they don't hit me in the DMs.
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05:24] What I have found is that I do inevitably meet all the people I look up to as artists, 'cause like I said I'm very conceptual, I'm very much a visionary, so it's challenging for me because they see me more as a sexual being, or as a woman, and less as a visionary and a creative, so it's challenging.
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05:52] So it's almost like a DM slide because they see me, but they don't "see me", so it's very challenging.
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06:01] (Q: Now what about disrespect? In DMs or in comments?) Every day. But when you put up things that provoke a feeling, an emotion, you have to expect that some people will interpret them differently than others. That's how art is.
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06:54] I'm a woman that's Chicago-based, that's speaking from the streets and my essence, and that's my poetry, and that's my vibe.
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07:06] It's my duty as artist to give my vision, and expose my vision to people, and let them interpret it how they want to.
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07:58] (Q: Do you block anybody?) If it's negative, vulgar, of course, why wouldn't I? That doesn't belong on my page, my page is about positivity, vibes are good. I always try to play the movie forward and try to anticipate that children could potentially be looking at my page, so I try to keep it PG enough that if I felt like a child was looking at my page, they… it would be right on the edge.
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08:37] When people look at my Instagram they get the model me, the like super posed, composed, they don't know what my voice sounds like, who I am, they get no vibe off me, I think. I just find on Snapchat … it took me forever to get what Snapchat was about … what's the point? Because I'm an Instagrammer, for real, if you had to classify me I'm an Instagrammer, so it's like when I look at Snapchat, what's the point? The point is there's no point, you've got to be yourself, be real, be authentic. That was so hard for me, I didn't want people to see who I really was because I'm kind of like a geek, like a nerd, I watch documentary a lot.
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09:57] I feel like it's challenging for me to let people into my real, real, real life. I feel like they don't deserve to know my real life. I feel like they don't deserve to know the real me.
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10:17] (Q: How are your DMs on Snapchat?) (EB laughs) I don't answer anyone that I don't know personally.
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10:33] I have a service that I work through called ChatStar, so anybody that wants to contact me personally, like a fan, or… I hate the word fan, so ugly. Anybody that feels a need to contact me personally can text message me through a service called ChatStar, and I do get paid through that, and they pay to text me.
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11:30] I don't know a lot of skin (on Snapchat), that's not what I'm about.
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11:53] I find that people send me inappropriate things more on Instagram, but that's what I see, because I don't open the Snaps. I have no place for that, I have no time for that, that's not what I'm about. I'm really about positive vibes and just good vibes.
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12:03] As a woman I have a lot going on, I'm very … God made me very very curvy, so for men it's enticing to want to send things, but that's not what time it is. For me, when a guy wants to get hold of me, I encourage them to look at where I'm going to be, because I host night events, like nightlife events, look where I'm going to be and come find me and say "What's up?" I'm very vibey, even though I'm single … I don't meet guys online like that. I don't meet guys online like that. A little bit through Instagram. If your vibe is good then I'll rock with you, but I feel like I gotta meet you in real life, maybe that's old school in a way, maybe that shows my age, but this is me.
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14:04] Every social and artistic trend runs in cyclical action, so my next vision for the future is that we diminish all social media, and become lame as hell. And we get back to real life, because at the end of the day, nothing that's going on on social media is really real life. I truly feel that when the youth are watching us, because I look at myself as like as one of the pioneers, when the youth is watching us they're going to see that as lame.
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14:56] Social media is a ruse, it's like reality TV, it's not real. So anything that lacks integrity and honesty is going to fall through the floor. I'm probably going to leave the party before it's over.
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17:28] (Q: When it comes to social media, in general, what you're biggest pet peeve with it?) I have none. To me social media like the wild west … it's wild, it's like punk rock, you can't even rein it in even if you wanted to.
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18:06] OK, my biggest pet peeve is that I don't like to see nudity. Because I know children are on there, that's why. Just nudity, vulgarity, racism, intolerance. Ignorance towards other people.
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18:55] People started saying things about me on the Internet in about 2005 … nobody's every come and said nothing to my face.
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19:21] (Q: When it comes to booking requests, what's been your strangest booking request so far?) (EB laughs) Oh my God… $150,000 to have sex. It's a nice offer but it's not me. (Turned it down?) I did. (Was it hard for you to turn it down?) No, it wasn't even a question, no. It's just not my thing, I mean, no shade, it's just not my thing. $150,000 though, that's a lot of money! It wasn't hard, it's the thought of the money, but it's just not me, y'know.
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20:20] (Q: Have you ever had issues with using your pictures? Like maybe fake profiles, a Backpage profile?) I'll be honest, I did have… my only negative experience in that regard was, I had an assistant, who had all of my information, like all of my passwords. I'd hired somebody for the summer, just 'cause I hate to answer. It sounds so bougie, but I hate answering comments, so I had somebody help me navigate everything. I just don't like to be on my phone that much. She and I had got into a tiff, and she had turned it on me, and then tried to play out something that was a little bit… very fabricated. That's my only negative experience in that way. Y'know, it taught me, I need to have people sign things, legal things. But you learn the hard way. Actually it got me like 500 new followers, so I'm cool off it. It sounds so petty, but, she just used my… it's just bad, it was bad.