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*Kia Motors teamed with audio company Harman Kardon to launch the new web series “Beautifully Driven” — a four-part road trip hosted by two micro-influencers — Africa Miranda and Kimberly Lachelle — that promotes empowerment and self-determination.
EUR/Electronic Urban Report caught up with Africa and Kimberly to dish about how they leveraged their social media following to secure this branded content opportunity with two companies that have rarely, if ever, targeted black women.
As micro-influencers, Africa and Kimberly are examples of recent reports (Adweek) that micro-influencers have higher engagement rates than those with bigger accounts. Their followers are loyal and responsive.
The duo has developed trusted relationships with various brands over the last 10 years, including Dove, Ford, AT&T, Honda, Lexus, Revlon, ORS, Creme of Nature and more.
In our conversation below with Africa and Kimberly, they open up about their new web series and explain why you don’t have to have 80M followers to be “influential.”
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How did your social media influence lead to “Beautifully Driven”?
Kimberly: Our original thought was we wanted to kinda look at black history and do something different for black history so we decided to team together and think through some topics that we’d like to discuss that would help to empower, enlighten and encourage black women and brown women alike. We kinda put together a high-level spec of what we wanted to do and who we wanted to approach. So we put together the concept and content that we wanted to create and we decided that we would do all of the heavy lifting, which means that it would be our vision and then we would go and talk to different brands to see if they wanted to support us in telling our story and really telling other women’s stories to bring those women to light. So the brands didn’t come to us, we went to them with our concept and our vision.
What makes Kia Motors and Harman Kardon the perfect brands to collaborate with?
Africa: One of the reasons I personally feel it was meant to be was that Kimberly and I actually met on a press trip that Kia Motors had put together for the launch of one of their cars last year. Kia Motors and Harman Kardon also have a great relationship because Harman Kardon are the speakers and the car audio system that are in the Kia vehicles. So we actually met on a trip that involved those brands, which is where this original idea was conceived. So to ultimately have this be the place, or the brands, that are helping us roll out this series definitely was a divine situation. They both are brands that have supported us individually and ones that, when it was time to launch a project, it honestly felt like a perfect fit and as it has progressed it definitely has been.
Talk about the creative process behind the series?
Africa: Each episode clocks in at 5-minutes and in the premiere episode we start with music. We saw it as an opportunity to highlight two really amazing female artists that have ties to Atlanta, India Shawn and Chantae Cann. Both of them have this underground support and have had some success in their career but we just felt that if we had this opportunity to highlight women and to give a platform that’s what it should be about. To be able to give these two amazing artists this platform to highlight their music, as well as their story and what it takes as an artist — one of our big hashtags is #GoFindYourLane, and as an artist, a lot of your journey is about finding your voice. We talk a lot about navigating those bumps in the road and how do you keep going in a business not only as a woman but as a black woman. I think that it’s a really inspiring story to hear from both of them and the fact that Kimberly and I can be the people guiding you on this story is also very special, and also with the women that we will introduce you to in the future.
Talk about the resonating themes that you explore?
Kimberly: Our overarching theme is S.T.E.A.M – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. We’re not going to steer too far from those basic building blocks of excellence.
Africa: I think even in looking at the title of the series, I know anytime there’s a new show, the title is what draws you in. I think what’s great about this title “Beautifully Driven” is that it speaks to what drives you, what pushes you. As we’re focusing on these women you’re also learning, in their respective fields, what has driven them, what has kept them going — even with Kimberly and myself, the story behind the series and getting this out there. It’s about highlighting your fields but also, with women, the story behind the story as well.
Did you learn anything surprising about yourself while going on this journey with these women?
Africa: One thing that really touched me, for people that have followed my career, my early start was music. I was a recording artist and I was trying to get signed. I was in a girl group that almost came out that didn’t, and a lot of my life and the career that I have now started because of music. It was inspiring to see two women (India and Chantae) that have had similar challenges still keep going. And while my path may have diverted in other ways, I still have a love of music and to be able to give them an opportunity that I maybe wasn’t given, it was very inspiring. The day that we shot, I left set feeling I could do anything. I felt a renewed passion for the arts, music and really just for life in general. On the set, the four of us had some special moments together and it really was transformative.
Kimberly: One of the things I learned about myself from other women’s examples, and interfacing with people from KIA, is just that there’s an inner tenacity that sometimes we don’t know exists right when we feel like we’ve had it or at our wits end or a problem can’t be solved or we’re not equipped to go to the next level in our career or equipped to take the next step in a project. There’s always provisions just pass the space that you walk out on. I’ve learned to not always trust in my own talent but to be faith-filled and to be transparent about where my talent and my capabilities end, and be as faithful and as confident that things will work out for my good and that the project is meant to be. So believing in the greater good of the project and not just in my own capabilities. I’ve learned to not trust myself so much and trust others more.
What makes this series unique and why is now the right time to take your target audience on this journey with you and the women highlighted in “Beautifully Driven”?
Africa: This is different because of the people who are creating it. I think Kimberly and myself have a unique voice and a lot of the content that is being consumed is not. As much as it may be cloaked in this black girl magicness or wonderfulness, it’s not necessarily content that we’re creating. It’s content that’s being created for us. What’s really special about this project is that it’s something that we have created that is in our voice that was created for our audience from us. There’s not a lot of content that is specifically doing that and I think that while it is black women-centric, every person — no matter your race, your color, even if you’re a man — can relate to what it’s like to have hardships, to feel like you’re not really sure of where you’re going on this journey of life. To be able to watch these women and hear their stories as they navigate it, and having us being their guides, I think this is the right time for it because our voice is very unique.
You’re known as micro-influencers, tell us why you don’t have to have millions of followers to be influential.
Africa: I am someone who lives my life online. I’m on platforms. I’m live streaming. I was on a reality show so I understand the importance of creating a digital presence. But the largest thing that I’ve learned about numbers and about influence — and I’m not going to lie and say numbers don’t matter because there’s a reason why they’re there and you do have to have a following of some sort — but there’s a difference in just having numbers versus having an engaged community. And I use that word “community” a lot. I don’t like the word “followers.” I don’t like the word “fans” because I look at my platform and the people that I connect with as my community. These are people that I’ve developed real relationships with. They’re the reason why I still have careers. I’ve been able to build businesses because of that and the fact that I’ve been able to do this with numbers that are not in the millions or the hundreds of thousands is because of my authenticity. It’s because of my transparency. It’s because of my desire to create real connections with actual people. I’m not just throwing anything out there. I’m not just creating content for the sake of getting paid for it. I work with brands that I’m passionate about.
So if you’re interested in this and you’re saying, “Okay, I want to do ‘x, y, and z’ but I don’t have these huge numbers,” if you’re only focused on the numbers then it’s never going to work. You have to be focused on building a community and building content that you are passionate about. When you do that the community grows, the numbers grow and people are engaged. I tell people all the time that I would rather have a thousand engaged people than 400,000 people that may like a photo but never come to an event that I have, never watch a video that I put out, never buy a product that I sell. That’s what real influence is. It’s not about numbers. It’s about the lives that you’re touching and what their response then is and their actual support back to you because if it’s not tangible support then the numbers don’t matter. I think that’s what so many people miss. Yeah, you may have 10 million followers but if you put out a video or content and nobody watches it, or you have an event and no one shows up… building influence is about building real connections. It’s not about numbers.
Kimberly: I’m all about cars. I’m in a completely different lane that typically blacks are in. I’m the first African-American automotive media company that I know of. I’ve looked everywhere. There is no other female that runs an automotive media group. I said that to say that I don’t have what it takes on the surface to be a power influencer or micro-influencer and the reason why I am considered in that genre of influencers, and the reason I have ten journalists that work for me, is because I don’t do what I don’t believe in and I don’t chase the numbers. I chase my passion and my purpose and I believe that if you do what you’re gifted in doing then your gift will make room for you. There are principals that exist in all religions and all walks of life that just resonate with any soul and I believe that your gifts will make room for you. We get so distracted with trying to do what sells and what’s sensational, and trying to please people and chasing after numbers when what comes first is making an authentic connection. If you focus on your craft and what you were put on this planet to do then everything else will be added. You just have to focus. You’re not supposed to be focused on numbers. You’re supposed to be doing what you’re put on here for and all of that stuff will come. You just have to be patient.
Produced and shot in Atlanta by Tomorrow Pictures, the series can be found on BeautifullyDriven.com .
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