How one of the OG Instagram influencers became the Adobe evangelist

^{Making a living as a creator shouldn’t be some elusive thing. And what’s the best way to learn how creators are making it work? To go behind-the-scenes. These bi-weekly interview issues are like having coffee with your favorite creators. If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about solopreneurship and the creator economy.}

Good morning. Part of what’s cool about being a creator is rewriting traditional career paths. Out with the career ladder, in with the portfolio career. 

This means there’s no straight trajectory to success. The creator path is full of zigging and zagging. And sometimes, this means accepting a full-time gig for some time, when the opportunity is too good to pass up. 

This week’s creator did just that. She was one of the OG Instagram influencers, and there was one tool she’s used from the start. 

You’re going to dig this read.

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Elise Swopes never had a “real job” until recently. As one of the very first Instagram influencers, she accidentally built a personal brand before that was a thing. Her signature surreal style created with her iPhone got her in rooms with celebs and big brands. 

But Swopes is no ordinary influencer. She worked on an initiative for incarcerated people and is an advocate for women of color. In 2023, she received a DM from Adobe, who she had a long-standing partnership with, asking if she was interested in a job of an evangelist. 

She was certainly that – having first opened Adobe Illustrator when she was nine years old, and has been a loyalist since. Swopes saw social shifting, especially with TikTok, which wasn’t her thing. 

So accepted her first 9-5 at 34.  

“I basically do the exact same thing I’ve always done as an influencer. I just do it exclusively for Adobe,” said Swopes. 

As the Senior Adobe Express Evangelist and Community Advocate, Swopes gets to interview artists, speak at events such as Adobe MAX, hosting demos, community engagement on social media, and collaborating with product teams. 

“Half of my job is evangelism, and the other half is community advocacy, which means I’m pulling information from people, creators and artists, and making sure that’s heard at Adobe.” 

Swopes had partnered with Adobe as a freelancer for 10 years, so she had already been to the offices, travelled, and collaborated on testing for new products.    

To have a role in the product development is new territory for creators, but something Swopes believes we’ll see more of. 

There’s an overabundance of creators, which has led to partnerships not being as lucrative as they once were. 

“I think we’ll see creators wanting to have more consistent benefits and work. At the same time, we’ll see more brands hiring creators to help them understand where the creator economy is going and be an internal support.”  

“Behind-the-scenes, a lot of brands are getting information from creators. It’s just not as obvious as someone having evangelist in their bio yet.” 

Today, if Swopes gets an opportunity that’s public facing, she won’t say yes to it unless it makes sense to Adobe. “I’m a representation of Adobe, but I’m also myself. That’s the reason Adobe came to me in the first place. 

If I can blend in our product announcements, creator conversations, and my authentic art that I create with our products, it’s an authentic flow.” 

After 15 years as an Instagram influencer, Swopes said she’s no longer focusing on the numbers. Instead, her new success “metric” is whether she’s expressing herself. “Building for meaning, not performance.” 

She’s not interested in “flattening herself into digestible frames” because it’s not realistic. She said she could easily aim for 300K Instagram followers this year but that’s outside of her control. 

Swopes is exploring long-form writing on Substack, especially for the content that’s not built for aesthetics. 

She believes given the state of the world, we’re going to see creators speak out on a lot more topics, and do their part to change the world. This will shift what authenticity really means – not just being yourself but being yourself consistently. 

“I believe proof is going to be one of the biggest trends. Proof of care, proof of passion, proof of life, and proof of creation.”

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Amanda

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