Meet Allie Mason | Social Media Strategist, Educator & Speaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Allie Mason and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Allie, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
As an entrepreneur and creative, balance has always been something of a moving target. In 2013 when I started my journey toward building a social media management agency, I was sold by the digital nomad and live-laugh-love lifestyle content I was seeing online. But ask any founder building a business from scratch what the first few years of building and scaling are really like.

In my first 3 years of entrepreneurship, I hustled hard to build my business and referral network. At the time, no one was really talking about how hard it was, and because I didn’t know many other entrepreneurs, I struggled a lot and made a lot of sacrifices to make it work — juggling 2-3 part-time side hustles on top of building my business, living in an apartment that wasn’t safe, opting out of health insurance because it was the difference between having money for food and rent, not taking any time off for almost 5 years.

When I think about balance, I’m not just thinking, “Do I time for yoga, seeing friends, traveling, and healthy meals?” I think, “Am I safe? Can I take time to rest? Will I be financially ruined if I get sick? Do I have what I need to meet my basic needs? Am I valuing myself and my work and am I able to make decisions in life and business that reflect that?”

We’ve gotten so tied up in the commercialization of self-care and balance — the idealized, social media highlight reel version — that we often forget that a sense of balance comes from a sense of calm, and a sense of calm requires our basic needs to be met, first and foremost. Without safety and our basic needs being met, maintaining balance is incredibly difficult.

When I think about balance now, as I come up on a decade as an entrepreneur, I ask myself these two questions: “What would give me the greatest sense of ease and fulfillment?” and “How can I make that a reality without sacrificing my authenticity, integrity, or long-term goals?”

The first question helps me get clarity around where I need to adjust my trajectory to come back into balance. The second question helps me to stay rooted in my Purpose. Because let’s be real: I could go around chasing ease and fulfillment impulsively, but often, that would mean stepping out of alignment with one or more of my core values, which will ultimately bring me further from balance, not closer.

I understand now that feeling unbalanced is a sign of something in my life or business being out of alignment. It’s my job, not just as Founder of CEO of my business, but also Founder and CEO of my life, to figure out where I stepped out of alignment, and use whatever knowledge and resources I have to course-correct.

What should our readers know about your business?
As a social media marketing expert, researcher, and experienced copywriter and content producer having worked across consumer protection, journalism, wellness, radio and television production, and entrepreneurship for almost 15 years, I bring a wide range of experience to the work that I do.

My business, Something Greater School of Social™, is a social media education and coaching consultancy specializing in cross-platform optimization and marketing ecosystem efficiency for purpose-driven experts and celebrities, with a focus on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. My goal in my business is to help my clients ethically, authentically, and sustainably convey who they are, what they do, and what sets them apart without sacrificing results.

In 2018, I decided to prioritize working with clients who want to build their businesses while being conscious and in support of social issues. Since then, I’ve supported clients with up to 6 million followers to speak up on challenging or divisive issues, handle negative audience feedback, determine boundaries and personal thresholds, and develop contingency plans to help them increase their resilience and stay aligned with their values, while still meeting their high-level business and social media goals.

This shift wasn’t easy. I had to figure out a way to discern whether or not clients were aligned with social issues, and I had to turn down potential clients who weren’t aligned with my mission. Ultimately, it made my business more purposeful and sustainable and opened up opportunities for consulting with major players in the social impact space Inspire Justice, Row House Publishing, Feel Good Action, and Question Culture, as well as managing and coaching celebrity accounts for actors and producers from hit shows How to Get Away With Murder, Insecure, Warrior, Queen Sugar, and more.

Although I only provide full-service social media management to very select clients now, allowing my business to evolve has furthered my belief that people can see and feel when you run your business from a place of authenticity, integrity, and truth. Not only will you attract more aligned clients, but you’ll also build a more sustainable business as a result.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When I’m in New York City, my favorite spots are a little off-the-beaten-path. For cafes, you can’t beat Brooklyn Blend in Bed-Stuy. Monday nights, you’ll usually find me dancing at the Reverend Vince at Union Pool in Williamsburg under the BQE, where you’ll also find the city’s best birria tacos at the Birria-Landia taco truck. And if you happen to be here for Body Language, an early evening dance party that travels to different venues throughout the city, you’ll be guaranteed a good time. Other top contenders:

In SoCal, I love Faridas Somali cuisine (San Diego), the Topanga Lookout trail (which is incredible if you hit it on a day when there’s an inversion layer), Underbelly in North Park (San Diego), and Riffs Yoga Studio in Ocean Beach (amazing outdoor practice space, San Diego).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The list of people who have supported me on my entrepreneurial journey is much too long to name, but I want to give a special shout-out to my long-time friends Tash Kouri (@bodyartbytash), Joe Arcidiacano (@joe.arcidiacano_dp), Kristen Jones, and my mom Wendy Kearly, for supporting me in myriad ways, but especially in the early days of running my business when I wasn’t making ends meet.

Website: www.thatalliemason.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/thatalliemason

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/thatalliemason

Twitter: www.twitter.com/thatalliemason

Youtube: youtube.com/@thatalliemason

Other: www.tiktok.com/@thatalliemason https://www.linkedin.com/in/thatalliemason/

Image Credits
Stephanie Naru Kat Paraskevopoulod Harley Jordan Allie Mason