By Richardeen Williams. Updated 6:27 p.m., Sunday, October 16, 2022, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
She has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok.
From billboards to social media and television ads for several companies, her face is almost everywhere. Vincentian – Kevisha Greaves is one of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ most successful social media influencers.
But Kevisha’s success did not come overnight. Years of involvement in performing arts, a strong support system, determination and good luck were all at play in shaping her career as a content creator.
The 24 year-old has expressed herself through different channels including dancing, drawing, fashion hauls, and vlogging.
One News SVG’s Richardeen Williams conducted an exclusive interview with Kevisha on Monday, October 10, 2022, to get an insight into Kevisha’s journey.
Kevisha before the spotlight
It all started when she was about 7-years-old.
She stated that she remembered her mom putting her to sleep a lot until the age of 7 when she told her mom that she wanted to dance and model. “I started dancing when I was 7 and modeling when I was 8.”
“I’ve been with Arabesque [Dancers] since the inception basically.” The influencer recalled her first major performance at the Victoria park for St.Vincent and the Grenadines soca monarch competition in which she performed as one of skinny fabulous dancers for the winning song – “charge up” in the year 2010.
It was from those exposures from dancing that led her closer to realizing her goal of being a model.
She said she recalls modeling for “Mije” doing commercials for Digicel, tea parties, participating in charity, etc, and even learning etiquette.
Kevisha said the modeling agency was not just about depicting faces and looks.
“It was basically like creating well-rounded girls more so that models,” she said.
Kevisha described her schedule as “busy” through out her childhood and teenage years, having attended dance practice twice a week along with performances while having to model on Saturdays. She stated that her scheduled “trippled” during high school and college days. Joining guides, rangers, performing arts society while still being enrolled as leaders in each activity. Despite her busy schedule throughout her school days it never affected her grades.
Kevisha said: “I would not procrastinate when my schedule is busy so it helped me to do better in school.”
The vast change to popularity
“Leaving college is when I started my social media journey.” (2017) Kevisha said it was a friend by the name of Andre that told her to document her university experience through YouTube while in England, so she did. Kevisha stated that she started Instagram in 2013. “I never took it serious until around form 5.” She said it was by “dumb luck” that she blew up on Instagram although still maintaining a private account.
The influencer said that she moved from 9k followers on Instagram to more that 10k when she posted a turquoise dress and a vehicle in 2019.
From that moment, the rest is history.
The influencer life
What is a day in the life of Kevisha like?
“I just need sleep. I am not a morning person I’m a night person so I work in the night. If I’m not filming I’ll be editing, if I’m not editing, I’m researching footage like TikTok videos I could do when I’m ready. When I’m going out, I make it my business to do a transition video. Even though I don’t get a picture the night at least I have a tik-tok. With YouTube, I plan because sometimes I don’t want to vlog everything I do,” she said.
How do you balance your time?
“It just keeps going; everything just keeps going, but I just at least need like 20 mins to half an hour rest in between everything and I’ll be fine,” she said.
“My schedule is unpredictable,” she added.
How did your parents foster your career?
“More so now throughout university my mommy realized that I wasn’t really a fan of what I was doing (accounting). She would keep me in check most times and be like “Kevisha you haven’t done a YouTube video in a while and she would ask me how other things are.”
“She gave me my own little space so that I can do these content creations.”
“She understands that I would like to reach to a point where it I could pay me well enough that I could travel and experience other things. Right now she’s just my support system and financial,” she joked, referring to her mother.
Why did you choose to do influencing in St.Vincent and the Grenadines?
“Because I’ve already experienced living abroad I know how it feels. When I’m at home I feel surrounded by the people that I know and love. After living such fast pace life you come home and it’s like you get to breathe.”
“I picked SVG cause it’s home. It’s one of the safest places I’ve ever been. In SVG, we are so free and traveling makes you realize that. I haven’t found somewhere else better. Like everywhere else you get to experience culture but that’s what it’s for, to experience culture rather than to readapt and change life and everything. Verses staying here and then experiencing else where and then coming back home and slowing down catching yourself again and then doing the same thing over again.”
How do you want people to feel about your content?
“I just want them to feel like they’re enjoying life with me.”
Who do you look up to as an influencer?
She looks up to Rihanna “she made it out and she made her own empire”
What is the biggest misconception people may have about you?
I just feel like people might think I’m stuck up rich girl, I don’t talk to people. It’s not even that; I just legit have social anxiety and I can’t exactly put myself out there to talk to a large group of people,” she said, as opposed to her dancing where she feels she “broke out”.
How did you handle the criticism of your merch and negative commentary in general?
The influencer said that she keeps herself “guarded up by “keeping positive people around.”
How do you maintain privacy while still being in the spotlight?
She said not everything is posted on Instagram or TikTok, and “I try to keep it away from my personal business as much as possible.”
Do you think the accounting that you did tied into influencing?
I did business in high school it wasn’t my passion,” she said, adding that she had fashion lines one in grade 6 and form 5.
“I mean I can run my own business so I feel so yeah,” she added.
Kevisha shared a desire of hers.
She said she would like to link up and work with other content creators in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“St. Vincent needs creativity; the more we work towards influencing the country or promoting the country basically, is the better it could be for our generation because believe it or not we are the next leaders for our country and we need to actually step up and change our culture, tourism and how everything is run.
She was proud of ‘Nine Nights’ during the Christmas season, and she stressed the need to celebrate independence and other local festivals.
“If we don’t encourage these younger persons who are tech savvy or are creative or have these drives, then we won’t get anywhere near. At the end of the day these are our upcoming personnel. I feel like if I don’t look at it as myself, I look at it as a community. “
Words of advice for future influencers
“Make sure you’re passionate about it. I feel like you should have a passion to create content and you shouldn’t just do it because it’s the in thing or it’s because persons want you to do it or you trying to blow up big. Make sure you’re passionate about it and make sure you have a sense of self before you go into it”
What is a quote that keeps you going?
My dad used to always say, “What a life to live to die”. I take that as maybe I should just be living life especially after the pandemic that opened my eyes. That was like an awakening that you need to experience life.
She said this was her inspiration to travel 4 times this year.
My mom always say: “If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail, so that is something that also keeps me going in preparation for things that I do and how I go about handling me life.
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