Woman Ends Up With Massive $10,000 Debt After Trying To Become Instagram Star

Although some people would have you believe that being an Instagram influencer is easy, one woman tells us it’s certainly not the case. And she learned that firsthand so she definitely knows what she’s talking about.

Originally from Miami, Lissette Calveiro eventually moved to New York to chase the dream of being an Instagram star. She lived the life, documenting everything from her expensive trips, clothes, food, and everything else in between in the said social media platform.

Unfortunately, Lissette Calveiro ended up with a massive debt of $10,000 because of the lifestyle.

In an interview with Unilad, Lissette admitted:

“I intended to start my own blog to document ‘life in NYC.’ In 2013, I was an intern at a public relations firm. The idea of ‘influencers’ didn’t exist, but I wanted to see how far I could take my blog.

“I got a lot of nice engagement from people online, and really enjoyed connecting with strangers over similar interests and values so I continued to live a very public, social-forward lifestyle.

“Trying to emulate social media personalities at the budget of a young professional fresh out of college, it’s entirely unrealistic.”

Lissette was financially living on the edge.

The 26-year-old woman continued:

“I was swiping credit cards at every turn thinking ‘I’m sure I’ll pay this off later.’ While true, it’s a very dangerous slope and can cause many people to get into a sticky financial situation. Also – because I was always more focused on my career OFFLINE (profile).

“I didn’t have the time to build an influencer business like many others have to make money from it or do experiences for free. It simply wasn’t my priority to grow my audience and just kept ‘posting photos’ for whoever did want to listen.”

In 2013, she began ‘upping’ her lifestyle for her blog and Instagram but had to stop come 2016.

She went on shopping sprees each month to avoid wearing the same clothes twice.

This meant she had to spend about $200 monthly.

Her biggest expense in 2016 was a round-trip ticket to Austin, Texas to watch a Sia concert.

It cost her $700.

It wasn’t until the debt began piling up that she had a wake up call.

She confessed:

“We estimated around $10,000 — though this was ‘$1-3K USD’ spread around various cards, never one $10,000 bill (that would be even scarier!) Thankfully am not.

“The first step was growing my career to where I was making much more money in order to pay back debt, living UNDER my means. For example: moved to NY to live far from work, with a room mate, to have really cheap rent, cooking at home, and starting a savings at the same time.

“I also had a small following on Instagram at this point, but was already working with brands on sponsored content.

“I used any money made from Instagram to pay off debt. I also lucked out on jumping on the Crypto currency craze for a short period of time and used money to clear out debt.”

Now she’s warning others not to do the same mistakes that she did.

“Living above your means is never as enjoyable as spending on things you can actually afford,” said Lissette.

She also added:

“I find lots of joy in doing things I love – like travel – but being able to pay for it upfront and not on a credit card.

“The best way to grow a following is by being yourself and finding a community through that.

“These days, it’s important to stand out in the sea of sameness by finding something niche that you are a good voice for, or passionate about, and connecting with people in that space.”

Financial literacy is truly crucial.

According to Lissette, being financially literate is extremely important. “Nobody talks about [his or her] finances on Instagram,” she said. “It worries me how much I see girls care about image.”