hi everyone, and welcome back to the chats page! this chat is with annie, an incredibly inspirational and insightful person who i’ve been lucky enough to connect with through instagram. i absolutely loved reading about her journey and thoughts on social media, and i can’t wait for you to read her opinions as well!
tell me a little bit about yourself (where you’re from, age, etc).
my name is annie horcasitas and i am 39 years old. i was born in a tiny town in the mountains of maine, grew up mainly in a coastal town in massachusetts and currently reside in miami. i have three sons, ages 7, 10 and 13. i was originally in public education before starting my own business.
what does social media mean to you?
i am a communicator and an over-sharer so i love that aspect of social media, as well as the ability it offers to stay in touch and see how old friends are doing. as a business, social media has become a wonderful way to explore my creative side in creating content and i do love connecting with customers and brands. however, running a social media account for my own business has made it something i need to be a little more thoughtful and intentional about. in addition, it means i feel the need to post valuable and interesting content daily and that pressure can be a lot.
tell me a bit more about your brand/company.
pom vida is a curated clean personal care shop. the combination of having three babies and then having thyroid cancer at a young age (31) made me pay attention to the ingredients and quality level of everything we were putting in and on our bodies. when it came time to switch out all of our face, body and hair care products to safer versions i became completely overwhelmed with the options and data. i wanted it to be a simple process and it just wasn’t. so, i create a space where people can shop for the whole family and know for certain that each ingredient has been double checked and the products themselves are the best in that category. in order to ensure this, i research every ingredient in every product we offer and have a clear ‘NOPE’ list on the site explaining which ingredients we will never allow... and why. i also spent an entire year focusing entirely on trialing thousands of products in order to make our site truly curated. we only offer the products we LOVED in every way during trials and don’t simply carry full lines from any brand - only the products of theirs that all trialists loved the most. i am hoping to truly simplify the process of switching to cleaner products so that safer personal care is more accessible to everyone. clean skincare and beauty should not be an exclusive space; it should be approachable and inclusive.
do you see social media as more positive or negative?
overall, i definitely see it as a positive despite some of the stress and challenges it can create as i mentioned above. i love the ability to connect that it creates and to share your business or personal life with others in a meaningful way.
why do you think this is?
i think i find social media to be a positive space because i tend to use it in a positive way. i noticed that i was using facebook in a way that began to feel negative and upsetting so i began focusing any social media time and energy on instagram where i feel both my business and personal accounts are used for connection and creativity and where i only follow people or businesses that bring joy or knowledge.
what’s the goal of your social media?
with a background in education, i definitely view the main goal of the pom vida ig page as educational. i love sharing tips and data about products or ingredients with customers in a positive way that informs them without scaring or overwhelming them. also, of course, my hope is that the more people see and follow our ig, the more orders will come in so that our business can grow.
what’s taking up your headspace? (what are you thinking about?)
my children’s well-being (especially during covid) and how to grow pom vida take up about 97% of my headspace.
what do you do that brings you joy?
eat chocolate, fulfill pom vida orders, walk near the ocean, and most importantly, listen to my kids laugh with each other.