Vogue is set to share her story in Cork

VOGUE Williams, probably the most high profile Irish social media influencer, and a documentary presenter, will be at the Fota Island Resort Hotel on March 22 for the ‘24 Stories Conference’.

The event has been organised by Stephen Ryan from Narration and is aimed at helping people create better stories for themselves or their business. Attendees will get to hear from a variety of people across different industries including TV, film, music, retail, tech, digital and more.

Vogue is well qualified to speak at the event, given that she has approximately half a million followers and has made documentaries with arresting titles such as Vogue: My Sponsored Life.

She and her husband, Spencer Matthews and their six-month-old son, Theodore, were also the subject of an E4 reality show recently.

So, what with baby appearing on our TV screens, is everything up for grabs?

Vogue, who says her social media work “happened organically”, is very careful about “what I do and who I work with”.

She said: “I think to be a successful influencer and to do it for a long time, you’ve got to be honest with your followers. I’m not going to try and sell people some bizarre lifestyle that I don’t do. I would never promote a flat tummy shaper or a lollipop that suppresses your appetite. That’s not what I do. I turn down a lot of work. It might be something I don’t want to promote or something I don’t personally use. It wouldn’t make sense to put something like that on my page as it would seem inauthentic.”

“I’m not being paid for a lot of what I put on my social media. With baby stuff, if I like a product, I’ll want to put it up because it’s something I actually use and I think others will like it. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m being paid. I don’t take on too much brand work, only brands that work for me.”

The birth of Theodore, she says, has made life “a million times better”.

Vogue added: “Our little family is just the best thing in the world. Every day, I’m waking up to see him smiling. Every day is a good day. It has made me more selfless because there’s always somebody more important than me. It has made my relationship better. It’s the best thing that has happened to both of us.”

As for the reality TV show, Vogue says: “Spencer and I are not overly private. But we’re careful about what we post. I knew when we had a baby, it would be a reason to post more. We’re so proud of him and the cute little pictures of him are just something I love sharing.”

Life is busy for Vogue. She says that when she’s at home and puts Theodore down for a nap, she’ll often plan to have one herself at the same time: “But it never happens. There’s always a million and one things to catch up on.”

Vogue breast-feeds her son, now just in the mornings, and expects that to stop soon.

“It’s full-on, particularly at the start. You get into your own groove with it. It got harder when I was introducing formula to Theodore because I wasn’t used to all the bottles and sterilising them. But it’s all good now.”

While breastfeeding suited Vogue, she says no-one has the right to pressurise mothers into nursing their babies, adding: “Everyone parents differently.”

Vogue, 33, says she would love to have more children. It was while making a documentary about fertility issues that a doctor advised her to start trying for a child as it could take at least a year. “Spencer and I took his advice. It just happened super-quickly.”

Living mostly in south-west London, with occasional forays to Dublin, Vogue and Spencer, who has a diamond business, have created their own “little hub”.

“We live by the river which is nice. It’s as quiet as you want it to be. When my sister comes over, she thinks it’s a mad, busy city. But when you live here, you have your own area. I’m not hopping into Oxford Street every day... you stick to your own area. I have a lot of friends here so it does feel like home. But Dublin will always be home,” she said.

Having studied construction design and quantity surveying, Vogue has always had an interest in architecture, but didn’t get enough points to study it at university. However, she reckons her studying won’t go to waste.

“Spencer and I want to build our own house together. It could be quite a fun project to manage,” she says.

And, no doubt, good material for a documentary or reality TV...

Tickets for the 24 Stories Conference can be booked through Eventbrite.

Vogue Williams: Vogue is a TV Presenter, DJ, Model and is currently appearing alongside her husband, Spencer Matthews, in their new E4 Show “Spencer, Vogue and Baby Too.” Earlier this year she presented "Vogue. My Sponsored Life" for RTÉ which looked in depth at the world of social media influencers. With over a half a million followers on Instagram, Vogue will give a unique insight into the world of influencer marketing.

Chris Kubbernus: Chris also known as Chris Kubby on his social profiles, is an avid entrepreneur and keynote speaker with over 100 speaking engagements across North America and Europe. Chris was named the number one business guru on Snapchat by Forbes and is CEO and founder of Kubb & Co a digital marketing agency based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Chris is a skilled presenter who combines a unique style of knowledge, inspiration, humor and audience engagement to his keynotes, sharing insights from his 20 years experience as a digital marketer.

David Petherick: David also known Doctor LinkedIn is a regular at conferences on social & digital marketing. He has contributed to 2 books on social marketing, featured on BBC, TechCrunch, LinkedIn® Official Blog, MarketingLand and B2BMarketing. David is based in Edinburgh but has given Doctor LinkedIn® Talks and 'LinkedIn Surgery Pop-Ups' at events & conferences from Moscow to Paris.

Pat Phelan: Pat is a serial entrepreneur, having built and sold a number of companies in the telecoms and software space, including Trustev and Cubic Telecom. Recognized as one of Europe's most influential software innovators, Pat is an investor and advisor to a number of organisations including Asthetic Clinic SISU which he cofounded at the beginning of 2018.

Stephanie Rainey: Stephanie Rainey is the Irish singer songwriter who made the impossible happen. With no money, no manager, no contacts and no carefully calculated social media campaign, she created a music industry stampede with just one heart-stopping song – ‘Please Don’t Go’. Within 24 hours of the song being uploaded onto Facebook, Stephanie had more than a million hits, offers pouring in from US and UK record companies and world-wide media attention.

Brendan Canty: Brendan founder of Feel Good Lost started out making unofficial videos for music he loved and within a few months The Creator’s Project described his work as the ‘Best Unofficial Music Videos on the Internet’. In September 2013 Brendan made a video for a then unknown artist called Hozier for his track, ‘Take Me To Church’. The powerfully emotive film went viral and has over 500m views and two MTV VMA 2015 nominations.

Billy Cummings: Billy Cummings is the Director of Photography and Co.Founder at Dog Day Media; A film and Animation company based in Cork. Most recently Billy has acted as 2nd Unit Director and Cameraman on the Ed Sheeran film; 'Songwriter' which was selected to premiere at Berlinale & Tribeca film festivals.

Deirdre Corcoran: Deirdre is the Creative Director of Cork based Chapter a multi-disciplined, creative studio in love with design. Deidred heads up a team of strategists, designers and communicators whose combined experience shapes brands to win trust and gain brand loyalty and engagement with their audience at every touch point.

Damien Mulley: Damien is renowned for his expertise in digital marketing and will be giving a workshop on Facebook in the afternoon.

Whether telling stories in person or on Facebook, knowing what your story is and adjusting it to your audience is critical. In this workshop Damien will show you how best to use Facebook to create your story and have people spread your story.