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Cass DiMicco is a fashion blogger turned influencer with her own jewelry company and more than 300,000 Instagram followers.
After attending Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, DiMicco, 31, worked as an assistant buyer for Lord & Taylor. But she had aspirations to work at a “trendy, fashion-forward” company like Intermix, which is what inspired her to start her blog. In 2017, she quit her job to pursue being an influencer full-time and in 2019 she launched Aureum Collective, her jewelry brand which she runs with her husband in Miami.
“I basically was pretty strategic about knowing that if I built up a following for my personal brand, then I could eventually down the line launch my own brand as well,” DiMicco said.
DiMicco’s target audience are 28-34 year olds in major cities who like to see a combination of designer brands and more affordable looks. DiMicco splits her efforts evenly between running her social media presence and her work with Aureum.
“I don’t ever want to be going full in on Aureum because my personal brand really helps to connect with my audience and helps sell Aureum on a more personal level,” she said. “And so that’s why I’m constantly balancing between the two.”
How DiMicco makes money
DiMicco said her main revenue streams as an influencer come from the work she does with companies. She forms what she calls partnerships, which involve her promoting a brand. DiMicco also makes some money through affiliate work, though, where she gets paid a percentage of the sales she generates from links she promotes.
“I get a little bit of revenue from affiliate, but that’s definitely not my focus, especially because I’ve been working more with luxury brands,” she said.”
“A lot of times when you’re working with partnerships, it’s really a lot about brand awareness, and maybe gaining followers for their account or maybe you’re creating content that the brands can then use,” she said.
Fashion and Beauty Influencing
DiMicco said fashion and beauty influencing is more transactional than other niches because it is focused on buying merchandise. For example, influencers will shop at stores in bulk and collect a “haul” of merchandise to display on social media.
“A lot of times people follow people because they’re funny or you just enjoy their lifestyle,” she said. “Whereas fashion and beauty are a little bit more tangible. You’re following someone for very tangible advice on, ‘Okay, she did a haul, I can watch her Zara haul and now easily decide what I want from Zara and I don’t need to scroll through the whole Zara website.’”
DiMicco believes she has attracted a strong base of followers partially because of her experience working as an assistant buyer: “My number one skillset is knowing what trends are going to be next, knowing which brands are going to be the next ‘it’ brands,” she said. “My followers really trust my opinion and judgment on filtering out all the fashion that there is and sharing what I think are the best investments and the best way to put things together and just having an eye for what I think is the best pieces to have in your wardrobe.”
Advice for Aspiring Influencers
DiMicco stressed the importance of trial and error and being resilient in the influencing space, including experimenting with different platforms to see what works.
“It’s important to have a really unique perspective,” she said. “Because I think if you’re trying to replicate someone else’s formula, you might not get as far as if you just make up your own rules and have your own individual perspective of how you do your content.”
This interview was originally published in The Creators, a newsletter about the people powering the creator economy. Get it in your inbox before it’s online.
