Meet Malena & Sarah: Social Light
With partners like Spotify and Facebook, Malena & Sarah are founders of an branding and marketing company, Social Light, that not only wants to grow your brand but CELEBRATE your brand! They believe in the loudness of women’s voices as a collective- not against each other but for each other. They are incredibly blunt in this interview which I greatly appreciate- they bring to the forefront several issues women face while viewing their business as a process, not a finished product. I know you will take away many “golden nuggets” of truth from this interview! Go ladies go!
Can you share a little of your journey with us and who you are?
Malena: My name is Malena Lloyd, I’m 50% of Social Light (I’m a co-owner), and I mostly handle everything on the creative/branding side of the business. I moved to Los Angeles about 3 years ago now and immediately got into social media through internships and part-time jobs. My academic background is very different from Marketing: I have a Bachelors in Creative Writing and a Masters in Screenwriting. This is still the career I’m pursuing, but developing Social Light and helping people (our clients) reach their goals is beyond rewarding. I’ve always wanted to do something bigger with my life and in a way, this is doing that. As far as screenwriting, I thoroughly enjoy writing sitcoms - I’m mainly inspired by New Girl and Younger.
Sarah: My name Sarah Olea and I’m the other half of Social Light! I got into marketing and music when I was a younger. My parents were in the music business and I realized I had a knack for it as well when I started throwing backyard music parties when I was 14. From there, I got a job in PR and started meeting people in the industry. I began doing freelance and I also worked for a shoe company that I needed a marketing assistant at, so that’s how I met Malena - I interviewed her and immediately knew I’d ask her to be my business partner. The rest is pretty much history!
2. Tell us about the mission of your brand - how does it empower women?
M: I look up to any woman who does their own thing with passion and integrity and I hope others can look at us as business owners the same way. We’ve also come across several people who ended up being our clients who were, to be blunt, screwed over. There’s so many women, especially artists, who have taken a back seat compared to men, and even women who are at “war” with other women. I believe in women helping women. We’re loudest when we work together.
S: We’re a women-run business that jumped in feet first. Malena and I were both working at the same job before this, and we quit together on the same day to focus full-time on Social Light. We’ve surrounded ourselves with other business women and do what we can to support their companies as well. The world of women in business is growing and is a very supportive community.
3. What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to press through as a female entrepreneur? What are the steps you had to take to overcome it?
M: I wouldn’t say it’s a challenge, but often when I tell people we own the business, there’s a certain ‘shock-factor.’ I’ll often get an “Oh wow you OWN the business? That’s great. Hard work though.” Something along those lines. Yes, it is hard work. It mainly feels like it’s hard work because it feels like we have to prove ourselves more than men might.
S: Definitely the biggest issue we’ve run into is working for female clients who tend to tear down other females to climb the ladder of success, or men who simply don’t have respect for authoritative women. Unfortunately this is an issue we’re still trying to work through. I wouldn’t say it’s something we’ve overcome just yet - the result as of late is that we find ourselves having to do more work.
4. What sets your brand apart from others?
M: We’re quite literally a one-stop-shop marketing company. We try to stay ahead of the game in the ever-changing world of social media. We love keeping as much as we can in-house and have a great team we trust of photographers, videographers, graphic designers, and more- all who have their own specialty: music videos, commercials, social media content, album cover photography, product photography, etc. We’ve cultivated great relationships.
S: We like to integrate others. We never think we know it all. We like to learn and study, both on the creative and analytical end, but we find we’re most successful when we work with & hire people who have a passion for what they do and for our company.
5. How do you collaborate with others working towards a better world?
M: As a blanket statement, we make sure to surround ourselves with intelligent and genuine people. Diving in deeper to this, as a creative and visual person myself, I’m so impressed with the team of content creators we have. I think the creatives we have within our reach are incredibly diverse and want to use their talents to make a difference, and therefore care about the work they do.
S: We also have tried to our greatest abilities to help our clients reach their goals. We do what we can to work with all budgets or help guide our clients to someone who’s a great resource for them. We’re here to help.
6. What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs in the beginning stages of launching their brand or business?
M & S: Have a business plan! But know that it may change and evolve over time, which is totally fine. You’ll also rarely be ready for anything that comes at you. Just keep moving forward.