Today we’d like to introduce you to Susana Brijandez
Hi Susana, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I would like to share with you a little bit about who I am. As a writer, I could say I started to write in college, I studied Sociology, I read a lot and write so many essays, did some research and I discovered I was good at it. I feel free while writing. At the same time, I started a personal blog, it was kind of secret cause I never told anyone about my writings, at the time I didn’t knew it was poetic prose, and I used to write about love. Then, I started a project about love stories from other people, did an exhibit in a gallery in Tijuana, and kept writing about love, love stories, my own experiences, etcetera. Until 2018, I thought I started to read poetry but I discovered it was poetic prose & prose and I loved it! Also find it very similar to what I wrote on my blog. Then, the dream about writing a book came to my mind. I kept writing and when I decided to prepare everything to publish something, I tried at first with a mexican book publisher, I sent my manuscript after curating the texts and also drew some illustrations for each one, and sent it. They never answered, so I thought I wasn’t ready for it. I made a pause. A year later, in 2022 I decided to do it by myself, drew the cover of my book, did some printing tests but honestly it wasn’t the kind and quality of book I wanted to offer, but I knew I could perfect it along the way. And I had my first independent presentation in February 2023. Then, casually a few months after that, I went to a social media ads conference and I listened about self publishing through Kindle Direct Publishing by Amazon, I reasearched more about the requirements and process and I decided to try one more time. And I did it. It had the quality I was looking for and now, I am not worried anymore about the payment or shipping logistics or anything. I am working in my second book cause I found I really like to express myself through words, I find writing as a healing tool and people told me more than once they feel the same thing I wrote about love and life. I think I am doing something good.
As a entrepreneur, I have another interesting story to share with you. Long story short, in 2014 I lost my job as director assistant in a call center, and I started to look for another job. A marketing agency gave me the opportunity as a project manager in a company (very interesting and random category: transportation industry, specifically, the railway from Tijuana to Tecate for commodities transportation service) and I started to learn about marketing, event planning, public relations, social media, photography, and sales, and I loved it. After that I worked in 3 more companies doing marketing, but learning so much (remember I studied Sociology in college). People told me I was good at it, recognize my skills and potential and I started to study some courses, workshops and other programs to keep learning. People trusted in my work and proposals and honestly I discovered I really love doing marketing, cause I am a creative person but also strategic and realistic, I know how to land plans and execute them. Also work very hard to make it happen. So, in 2020, because of the pandemic, I worked in a fitness studio then, so the studio closed indefinitely and some friends who knew I was doing social media management and content asked me if I was interested in working for their brands or entrepreneurship as an extra or freelancer, and I accepted the challenge. When I had 4 or 5 clients I decided to started my own marketing agency. It was Âme Marketing Studio, but some time later I changed it to Âme Creative Studio, cause I feel like I offer creative solutions and I do more than marketing. Âme means “soul” in french, my goal is always to connect with my clients and their brands to achieve their brands connect with their clients or final consumers. I always look how to create warm projects, to connect with people and not see their products only as something to sell. I started almost 5 years ago and I remember I was scared cause I didn’t knew how difficult or easy could be to be in charge of a company or had staff in my charge, I never been scared of lead a work team but this time I was going to be responsible for any mistake or bad decision. I have learned A LOT in the journey. I have learned so much about clients, about leading someone else, about marketing and brands, about social media, and specially to value my work, time, creativity, ideas and services. At the beginning I had 2 project managers a 1 designer, then a designer, then no one and I did everything (it was so hard and heavy, but I tried) and now I work with partners who are experts in certain activities as SEO, website builders, and video production. I prefer to share the projects and distribute the work, I don’t have staff at my agency but when I need help with something I am not an expert I hire someone, usually friends or people I know, to do the job. The last 2 years that’s my work model and I’m happy. It works for me, it’s always a win-win.
I really love my job. I love my projects. I love my lifestyle. I have time to read a lot, to write, to take care of my dog Bruno, it’s a lovely husky alaskan malamute, and I am owner of my life and my time. I choose my clients, I decide which projects I want to develop, I value my work, I define the price of my services, I can take a vacation if I want to, my income is usually higher than when I worked for someone else and even I don’t work as much as I worked when I was an employee I have a very comfortable life. I have time to keep creating personal projects, for example I have 2 podcasts (one is about personal growth, a very personal podcast; and the other is about ART). Also love to create content about different things, for example, I love to make makeup and skincare reviews, I recently (this year) make a kind of formal description on my YouTube channel cause I want to share book reviews, so I will create content for this social media platform, I create content for my dog on his Instagram account (dog-fluencer), I truly love to record and take pictures of almost everything and love to edit videos, add filters, music, transitions, using some apps on my smartphone. I spend so much time in social media because of my work but also for pleasure.
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?
I think my experience as a entrepreneur have been very interesting, as a roller coaster. I had incredible opportunities and clients, have met very interesting and unique people, have learned, keep learning about social media and projects, I have receveid the trust of people when they give me the chance to be in charge of their brands in a digital way, they trust in my ideas and proposals, also some of them asked me for help but didn’t allowed me to implement the strategy or creative plans. I think I have learned a lot of people and life through my clients. At the beginning I said yes to every project or client, also adjusted my proposals to their budget and I worked too much for people who didn’t value my creativity or ideas. Some client didn’t pay my service cause I was very flexible with that, and some brands only offer me product as exchange for my services and I accepted. I also have been learning to manage my finance cause I don’t have the same number of projects each month. For example, last year I had 2 very slow and low months in terms of income and projects, but then the next months I had a lot of work. So, it have been a roller coaster but when I started I was scared about stability, and after almost 5 years, I have survived and I learned, as I said, to manage my finance because of this changing rhythm, and now I understand that’s the business nature, sometimes I have a lot of projects, sometimes is very calm, but after 5 years I can say I am happy, and my incomes are stable and it is comfortable for me to live. I want to keep growing and increase my income, of course, but I feel the growth has been at certain pace, not drastic, but it is advancing, and it works for me.
As a writer, I can say it will work according to how much you promote yourself. How much do you share your project, talk about it, organize presentations, books clubs, ask for the chance to sell your book in local books shops, etcetera. The journey or road have been slow but I am ok with that, I mean, I wish I could live dedicating myself writing books, but I know I need more experience and books. Last year I met one of the writers who inspired me to believe in my words and publish my book, Rupi Kaur (if you don’t know her, you have to) and told her how much I admire her and she told me “keep writing”, I know it sounds as a very simple and not a big reveal, but it’s true. I have to keep writing and keep sharing my words, my work, my book with the world. But answering the question, yes, the road have been very enjoyable cause also, people connect with me, with my feelings and that’s a very special gift. A human talking and connecting with another human. It’s true you have to be a very organized person with your events, goals or anything you want to achieve, but I think I have mixed my book promotion with my main or day-to-day job and it works for me. Without hurry but without pause it’s my kind of mantra with my personal projects. Also, I am writing my second book… Stay tuned!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am Susana Brijandez and I am a versatile and creative woman. I do a lot of things, but want to talk about 3: First, I am a writer (published my first book in 2023 called Eres mi 11:11 (in English You are my 11:11), available on Amazon; second, I founded a marketing agency Âme Creative Studio since 2020 (yes, it was a pandemic baby) and offer different services but mainly social media management and content creation; and in third place, I am a podcaster, I have 2 projects: A Deshoras (in English, Untimely) is about personal growth, and I share book reviews, personal experiences, etcetera, it’s a very personal podcast, and the other show is about art, El audioblog del arte (in English The audioblog of art), which is also a space for me to share my opinion about art and artists, exhibit reviews, and other topics related to art. You can find them on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Spreaker.
As you can see I am a creative person, that’s why I am always creating something, for me or for my clients (for example, graphic design, photography, marketing strategies, influencer marketing campaigns, ads, etcetera). In the end, it doesn’t matter if the project is personal or for someone else, I am always the creative mind behind an idea and once it materializes, I find the way to communicate or share it with the world through social media, events, networking, etcetera.
What are your plans for the future?
Keep writing, and keep growing my marketing & creative agency. Honestly, I don´t want to sound like a pessimistic person, but each day I feel like we should live in the present. We don’t have tomorrow guaranteed. And that’s life. Today we are very happy and excited because of our projects and tomorrow we don’t know if we are going to wake up or be in good health or whatever. Life is mysterious and surprising. But, obviously I like to make plans and organize my year, I have an agenda for my daily activities.
So, I don’t have any big change on my mind, but I have planned a 2O25 workshops calendar with my agency, I want to help entrepreneurs to use social media tools and really learn how to plan and design their marketing strategy, so I chose a different topic each month, starting with how to use Meta Business platform on January, and we´ll finish the year creating the annual marketing plan for their businesses. Also found a not very explored field last year, and its related to influencer marketing strategies and training for them, because I think it’s time to take to the next level their work as a advertising tool. I would like to formalize their collaborations, starting with paying them with money, creating campaings with local brands for them and defining work agreements where both parties (influencers or content creators and brands) are committed.
As a writer, of course, to finish my second book. By the way, in addition to that book, I’m working in a children’s book with a cute story and beautiful illustrations to apply for a call. Hope to win and publish the book! As a podcaster, remain consistent with recording new episodes each week and define a strategy or promote even more my podcast, how I do it for my clients. But honestly, I really enjoy to create content for my book, to write, to publish quotes, to record my podcast episodes, so I don’t want to feel any pressure while doing any of it. I can pause whenever I want and keep doing it whenever I want.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanabrijandez/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sbrijandez
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susana-brijandez-265b5388/
- Twitter: https://x.com/SBrijandez
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SusanaBrijandez
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sbrijandez
Image Credits
Juan Carlos Aguilar
Juan Carlos Aguilar
Ojitos Lindos
Âme Creative Studio
Âme Creative Studio
Âme Creative Studio
Âme Creative Studio
Juan Carlos Aguilar
