Canadian-born Shannae Ingleton-Smith – known as @torontoshay to her loyal followers across social platforms – is a media strategist and multihyphenate entrepreneur who, along with her business partner-husband, has founded an influencer’s dream: a boutique influencer management agency firm named after her firstborn baby girl, Kensington.

Ingleton-Smith had a solid background in sales managing one of Canada’s largest mass media multi-million-dollar portfolios, but New York was always her ultimate destination as she eyed building her own media empire.

The Kensington Grey Agency was built from an idea, and like a diamond under pressure, this newly found establishment is where all the best shine bright – like diamonds, of course! The business-savvy, creativity, and sought-after influencer roster has amassed thousands of successful booked campaigns and millions of dollars in booked business to date. Being a loving wife and mother is by far Shannae’s most important role — an exemplification of bona fide diamond life!

When did your journey begin as a fashion and lifestyle blogger?

My journey began years ago when it was just blogs, and the term “influencer” was not yet coined. I initiated a blog in 2005 called “What Women Want,” and it was very successful, but as life began to unfold it was not the sort of endeavor that could be monetized for a living. I met my husband, got married, and started a family and at that point began a career in advertising. In Canada, maternity leave is granted for a full year, so after the birth of my daughter Kensington in 2017, I decided to give blogging and influencing a go! I partnered with my best friend here in New York, who had a career in fashion, and we created a Facebook Group called “The Glow Up.” We invited fashionistas and influencers to the group and in the group, we would share knowledge, resources, and information with each other so that we could all level up together. We learned how to get into Fashion Week; we learned how to negotiate deals and this undertaking led to the start of the agency. We are currently over 400 women strong, and in this group, we learned the business of blogging. I started in 2017, and with the knowledge I had by 2019, a few of the ladies approached me with requests to manage them. After declining multiple times, I surrendered because I knew I could conquer it.

You founded your boutique firm Kensington Grey Agency by the principle: “To give visibility to the spectrum of underrepresented groups with significant cultural capital.” So, is it safe to say Kensington Grey came from an undeniable need?

It definitely was absolutely birthed from a real need. We saw a knowledge gap on both sides. The marketing industry is predominately white, and people in the marketing industry book individuals for campaigns that look like them. They book opportunities based on the types of people that they follow – and people follow people that they can relate to. That often means it’s people that look like them. There was that gap. I saw that many individuals were not being selected because they were not on the radar of the decisionmakers. For the Black girls that were being selected for opportunities, they didn’t know how much to charge the client –so that’s where I came in. I had a background working in big media and that’s where I could share my knowledge and information of negotiating which supported several women that were in my Facebook group at the time. As a result of that, they encouraged the idea of the business. So, this came from a real need of the knowledge gap on the influencer side of not knowing how to structure influencer marketing pricing, and the marketing advertising side- as the decision makers were not selecting a diversity of influencers.

Talk briefly about influencer marketing and what that entails exactly?

Influencer marketing is a form of media no different than any other form of media. It is essentially word-of-mouth marketing, as it is real people recommending the things that they love, and they’re being paid for it. It carries the same weight and has replaced the traditional magazine. People still do love to hold and read a great magazine, but influencers and bloggers have sort of been that girlfriend you can talk to and will tell you her favorite skin care products and secrets, where and when the best sales are, and the latest on-trend fashion to buy. It’s traditional media and editorial married and personified.

When an influencer is negotiating a brand deal- how can a good one from a bad one be differentiated? And when should they walk away, table it, or proceed?

We have established rates that we have in place for influencers, and typically if a brand comes close to your rate, and it makes sense for you and aligns with your ethos and it’s a brand that you genuinely love, then you should say yes! You should walk away when the value that you are offering and the price that the brand is paying is too vast of a difference. It is different for everyone. There are some people that their dream brand is working with Chanel and the value of working with their brand and aligning with them is so high that they are willing to work with them for free. Whereas a partnership with Uniqlo, which is a great brand, but may not necessarily be a dream brand for influencers- they would need that brand to come close to their asking price, for it to make sense for them. And if it doesn’t make sense with the content you’re creating and the value you’re providing- with the price that the brand is paying, and it’s a stretch between the numbers, then at that point you should walk away.

How important is the Black female influencer to the fashion industry?

I think that we are the blueprint. The latest trends and ideas stem from very powerful, innovative, and creative Black women. We move the culture and inspire what you see on the runways. We inspire ideas. We’re o storyboards and mood boards. We’re on Pinterest pages inspiring and moving the culture. In so many ways, whether it’s beauty, hair, fashion, or fashion styling- honestly, there are very few things that are really original and unique that doesn’t have a Black woman involved along the lines.

Talk briefly about “The Glow Up” and its purpose in the social media space.

The Glow Up is essentially a sisterhood or community, a safe space for Black women to be able to share their thoughts, opportunities, and ideas and to feel safe doing so. We would talk about rates and negotiations and topics that are not discussed publicly. As a result of that, it allowed so many of us to level up. So many of us realized we were not charging our worth. We realized we were undervaluing ourselves based on the conversations we were having in The Glow Up. This brought about our next level- changing all our lives forever. Forbes did an article on what we were doing in The Glow Up, and The Glow Up was life changing for everyone that was a part of our group.

What advice would you give to brands looking to work with influencers? Specifically Black women.

“Don’t tokenize us” would be one, and also don’t just use us because it is Black History Month. Black women are not the buzzword; reach out to us year-round. Realize too that we move the needle. Realize that we convert. Black women have spending power. Black women shop luxury and spend tens of thousands of dollars per year on luxury items. Treat us accordingly. We should be represented in your advertising and considered in your marketing efforts. We should be a part of the conversation when it comes to ideating how you are going to market your campaign. On top of that, the people that are internal at your company should hopefully be reflective of what the world looks like outside, and if not, there should be a genuine plan in place to try and make it that way. It is a great business model when you consider everyone and you’re truly inclusive when it comes to race, gender, sexual orientation, and everything that the real world emulates.

What strategic advice would you give to emerging influencers who are trying to gain a following on social media?

Join Tik Tok immediately! It is the fastest growing app where you can gain followers and grow and cultivate a community faster than any other app I’ve seen in our generation. The window for opportunity with that is closing, and it is such an equal opportunity app that every time you post, your content is shown to new audience. The app is set up for discoverability. It’s not set up to service the people that follow you, it’s set up for new people to find you. Find what makes you unique and what your distinct point of view is and spend some time on the app. Watch other people and find out what their niche is, then figure out how you want to show up on the app. Then just start posting! You never know what piece of content will find your people. Video content first! Photos are not dead, but people want authenticity. Authenticity is key and it is difficult to find out who you are via a photo. It is so important now to show up on video and show your personality, let people in just a little bit more.

If you could describe yourself in one word-what would it be?

Persistent.

IG:@kensingtongrey

WEB: www.kensingtongrey.co