KAMO MODISAKENG: INFLUENCER CLASS OF 2020

Interview: Khensani Mohlatlole

Photography: RTC Studios | Austin Malema

Make-up: Dr Katlego Lekalakala

Hair: Xola Madube

Dress: Keys Fashion

“Oh, you can’t forget the pandemic,” Kamo Modisakeng says when asked about her 2020. “The year was slow. It started off on a high: the first two months I thought I was taking a break. I said, ‘I’m traveling this year’ and then Covid said, ‘yes, show me where you’re traveling to.’”

It’s been a long year of reflection and repositioning for Kamo, as it has been for most of us. She notes the beginning of lockdown as a “sad phase”. “Also I was just home alone all the time and I can’t get any escape - I can’t go breathe, meet some friends so I did go into a little bit of, like, a sad phase. You’re not working, you’re not creating content. So I did have a little slip up in the first two, three months and you could tell.”

Of course, we speak about how the best thing any of us could have hoped for in this time was just to survive and we were allowed to take a step back, pause or just be sad. “It is a normal response but in the creative space, as an influencer, you have to keep your game up consistently. You have to show that you can evolve, you can take a pandemic and switch it and still be who you are, still find a way to keep your audience entertained and hooked onto your page. There are so many of us coming up, let’s tell the truth, and there is space for everyone but what sets you apart? And it’s moments like this that could [make] what sets you apart. We’re in a pandemic but we [influencers] are also entertainment for other people, you know?”

 Which is true. As many influencer controversies that there were this year, influencers were also a source of joy and reprieve for all of us stuck at home. Even though the pandemic has been kindest to the digital natives, marketing budgets had been slashed and lockdown restrictions have made it difficult to create lifestyle content or promote alcohol, as it was for Kamo and her contract with Brutal Fruit.

Fortunately, things did turn around.  “Brutal Fruit has been fantastic to work with. I’ve been with them almost two years so I’ve seen the growth of the brand. I’ve seen how it's reached a bigger market. I’ve seen it go from strength to strength which is a plus for me because it’s not just a campaign, it’s a partnership. I’ve been there long enough that I can pitch an idea. It’s not just, ‘hey, here’s a PR drop’. We work together.” The target market? “...the glam girl: it’s pink, it’s fun, it’s flirty” and you might think she’s describing herself.

 The actress slash influencer is without a doubt beautiful and her polished Instagram feed screams glamour but, more than anything, she’s all about accessibility and authenticity. “I don’t want to be an unattainable dream. I want girls to look at me and say this is possible,” she says. “I have turned down work because I don’t feel like it matches [my] brand, that’s an authenticity thing. And I must know my audience. I’m not going to take a Cartier sponsorship knowing that my audience is young, middle-class people who aren’t going to spend a random Tuesday in a Cartier shop. I have spoken to brands and said, ‘yes, when you look at me I fit your brand’s perspective but I am going to get you your sales and everything? No, because I know my audience and I know what the people following me are into.’”

 As well as influencing has gone for her, acting will always be her first love. In fact, it’s what afforded her the visibility to now book sponsorships with brands like Brutal Fruit, Carolina Herrera and Truworths. “You do get boxed in now because it’s just like, ‘oh, she’s just a pretty face’ or ‘oh my god, it’s just because they have followers’. It’s happening to a lot of people, they’ll [cast] you on Instagram. But what differentiates everyone is the talent.”

There are a lot of parallels with acting and influencing; both jobs require resonating and connecting with audiences and they both depend on some degree of vulnerability.  Unlike other work, you don’t just complete your tasks and call it a day. Once you leave set, you’re in the public eye fulfilling another role. As an influencer, being yourself is your job and that never ends either. “What I like about acting is that no two days are the same and I can switch from Kamo and be my character. I’m not me, I am the character. It’s like a switch and you can live out your whole imagination and then it’s wrapped and back to Kamo.”

“I don’t think I’ll always be in the influencer space. I’m an introvert and to be completely successful in the influencer space, you have to reveal quite a lot. You need to share your entire being with the world and I don’t think I can do that for a long time.” When saying this, we’re in her car because she needs a minute to recharge her energy from all the social interaction and business of the photoshoot set. “I like my privacy. But I need to share so much for people to feel like they can connect with me and they are part of my family. That’s what it is: the influencer and her audience is a family. Could you call someone your mom if you didn’t know what’s her favourite colour or what she eats for dinner, you know?”

 “I put enough of my life out there. A lot of people do house tours and that is just like my space where I run away from everybody. But I want to! I want to be open with people but it’s my safe space.” It’s a tricky balancing act, to still have a private life but still be a person sharing so much of themselves in an honest way. It’s another aspect that makes her job difficult, one of the first is the misconception that it’s just about taking photos.

“Why are we not all influencers because we all take pictures, right? It’s literally like having an advertising company but you run every single department. You do your own HR, you do your own finance, you do your own shoots and production. It looks easy, and that’s good because we make it look easy, but we’re grinding hard. I’ve seen Jessica [van Heerden] wake up at 7AM, say she’s gonna go on TikTok to do this, then she’s going on Insta Live to do this, then she’s gonna do [something else] and she’s done her make-up for all of these things. And on one of these [platforms] she’s showing you how to do her face, on the other she’s teaching you how to do her hair and then once she’s done all of those she’s shooting a campaign and then still returning to her boyfriend, to her life. And then she sleeps at like two or three in the morning because she’s editing.”

 “It’s not just that, I have ten thousand followers then surely I am an influencer’,” she explains. “A lot of people follow you because you’ve got a big booty or a pretty face but can you sustain everything that an influencer involves? Do you have the knack for creating content?” Though she does see that more and more people are understanding and comfortable with the concept of influencers and making money online.

 The online space is ever changing and it’s also another difficult aspect to the job as well. “I had a post taken down this morning because they said I didn’t declare it as a sponsored post. But I declare all my posts as sponsored, they just had a problem with it. I sent a review and they still took it down. So now I have to call brands and say, ‘Hi, I did post your thing but Instagram took it down.’ Now we have to navigate this whole new space for everybody. Do I still get paid for a post that was taken down? Because I did do the work, you did see it but now [the brand] isn’t getting their insights because the post was removed by Instagram. It’s a space that is ever-evolving.”

 It’s not all doom and gloom of course. Influencing has also allowed Kamo to have her own car, a place she loves and to pursue the occasional splurge: designer handbags. “I love it but I don’t care for anything too out of my reach,” she says. It’s not all about the money or the great lifestyle. Just like with acting, it’s a passion job and she’s very quick to add that if you’re in it for the money, you won’t last very long. Everything you do has to be in service of others. “When people come onto my live or my Instagram, it’s a no judgement zone. It’s a safe zone.”