Aysia Kamiliah Excels In Business Through Her Company, AK Social
This interview was released on January 7, 2021.
Have you always been creative in the form of media and technology?
Everything for me started at the art table in school. My mom used to get mad at me because every time she checked my mailbox in school, it would be full of paintings. As a kid, and even now, I’m introverted, but I’m encouraged by others around me to socialize. Being creative at such a young age was a way for me to be productive and different, and I’ve been doing it non-stop since then.
You became an entrepreneur before it was the “trendy” thing to do. When did you decide that your branding-design company AK Social was the direction to pursue?
Honestly, I was thrown into entrepreneurship. When I graduated from Eastern, I didn’t apply for any jobs. I wanted to move on my own time, so I got introduced to entrepreneurship by a woman that my father was dating, and I did social media management with her for a short time. I honed my skills right before Instagram became extremely popular. As I was working for her, I got recruited through LinkedIn to start a marketing job over at GM. I went through training at GM, and everything was great, but things changed when I walked into work and saw that half of my department was missing. At this point, I realized that I needed to do something different because I was already fired twice, and I couldn’t let it happen a third time (I did end up getting fired from GM). While at GM, I started working for The Lip Bar, and the owner forced me to learn graphic arts because she needed them for her business. I branched off and started making logos for other brands, and this was the birth of AK Social.
Elaborate on how you manage to build AK Social while maintaining a solid social media presence.
When I got started, I was just trying to make some extra money because I had an apartment, a car note, and other bills I had to pay. I think a lot of new entrepreneurs need the approval of others, but they must hone in on their skills so they can get paid. It’s hard now because everyone wants to be seen as a boss or a CEO, but it takes work to get to that level. Personally, I don’t care for the vanity of it all, but I know it’s necessary because of the position that I’m striving to be in. It’s amazing how times have changed since I’ve started AK Social.
You have a family of your own now, so how has this changed things for you personally and professionally?
A few years ago, I knew I wanted to have a family of my own, but I didn’t want to go to work and hand her off to someone. Now that I’m comfortable in my business, it feels really good to be with her every day. My daughter knows that I’m always going to be there, and nothing will happen to her. Entrepreneurship is hard when you’re in a relationship because I can’t always just shut off at 5:00 PM. I’m finally starting to find some balance with AK Social, which has improved my relationship tremendously because it can be tough sometimes. As I figure things out, I get better over time.
Talk about your new rebrand for AK Social.
At the time, my website was down for three months, and I kept working out of fear of people forgetting about me. I learned that sometimes you have to scale back to move forward, so I took December off to work on specific aspects of my business, especially customer service. I’m striving to work smarter so I can spend more time with my family and do the things I enjoy doing. It’s no point in being a slave to your own business, so that’s why I’m starting to delegate and scale my business for 2021.
To keep up with Ay’Sia Kamiliah and AK Social, CLICK HERE.
