Daria Rakitskaya: A Self-Built Social Media Success Story

Sometimes, we don’t know that the best option for success is right under our noses. When we take a step back, find our true passions, and start following newly activated dreams, we can make a big shift in a new direction. For Daria Rakitskaya, CEO of her own social media marketing agency and instapreneur, she realized that she didn’t want to be a professional tennis player anymore and promptly followed her new passion for content marketing and social media management. 

She found herself growing her own social media and trying to crack the algorithm. From there, she continued to work on her own content and make her instagram more noticed. At the time, she was a professional tennis player at Baylor University, but she found herself wanting more for her career. “When the pandemic hit, it was a great time to research other options and figure out what I wanted and a hobby that had taken me in a different direction. I had a friend that asked if I wanted to help found a club for entrepreneurs at Baylor, and I was really excited about it and agreed. Together we created the Baylor Entrepreneurship Club and I worked with a lot of students and new businesses to grow their online presence and improve their content. This turned into a fulfilling passion and I decided that this was what I wanted to do.”

She gained the necessary start growing her travel tips blog on instagram from all of the travels she had experienced playing tennis tournaments. “I got myself a lot of engagement and planned to just keep going in this field. This was something I enjoyed doing, but it didn’t quite dawn on me to do it as a career until the Baylor Entrepreneur Club.”

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 love 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 knows that her passions are what make her life interesting and vibrant and she is just getting started. Her work and accomplishments are what really show what she is capable of and it’s impressive.