Daria Rakitskaya: A Social Media Expert and Instapreneur

Daria Rakitskaya, CEO and founder of her own social media marketing agency, found her purpose during lockdown and is exploring the ways she can continue to grow her reach and be a help to those in need in the future. “I have big plans for this new exciting adventure I’m on,” she says. “I got a good sense of direction when I was researching and growing my own social media presence. I learned so much and it became something enjoyable so I kept going.”

As a passionate instapreneur and brand manager, she discovered that her own social media presence could be expanded. She has a travel focused instagram that gives travel tips that she learned from her previous profession as a tennis player. “We traveled to a lot of tournaments, so I just shared some useful resources to make traveling easier on people.” From there, her friend wanted to reach out and ask if she would want to found a club for entrepreneurs, and she agreed. The Baylor Entrepreneurship Club at Baylor University where she was attending was created and she worked with brands and businesses just starting out to expand their online presence. 

This club and social media growth shifted her focus on to something different. “I really wanted to continue with this entrepreneurship I was doing, I loved it. It was something that made me feel a lot of passion and excitement and so I stopped playing tennis and started building my business.”

A dream come true

Daria explains, “When the pandemic hit, I took hundreds of courses on content creation, social media marketing and everything that has to do with Instagram. It became my new passion and during lockdown, I started to help other influencers build their social media presence and create content. After the pandemic I decided to retire from professional sport and pursue my dreams of entrepreneurship.” 

Daria continues, “I completely changed my circle of friends and met the amazing people with whom I founded Baylor Entrepreneurship Club. I was a social media and brand manager for the club and helped student entrepreneurs launch their businesses on social media to gain new clients. Having this experience made me realize how much I loved managing social media platforms and doing social media marketing.”

She explains, “As more and more people started to reach out for my help with their Instagram pages, I decided to open my own social media marketing agency where I can help influencers and businesses all around the world.”

Social Media Expert

Daria expresses her vision, “My goal is to help influencers and businesses manage their social media, create growth strategies and social media marketing campaigns, as well as help them create outstanding content that will attract an audience and customers to their pages. 

During the quarantine she grew her instagram account from 1.9K followers, 3000 average impressions and less than 7,000 impressions to 5.5K followers with 9812 impressions and 54,000 average impressions in less than 4 months. In addition, she grew her account from 0-3 profile visits, 0-2 saves and 100 hashtag reaches per post to up to 4957 hashtag reaches, up to 45 saves and 247 profile visits that lead to sales increase.

Advice for other entrepreneurs 

Daria claims, “Money should not be a reason to start. Passion is a true reason that will help you grow and achieve your desired life goals. And while sometimes your goals are so big that it can be overwhelming, remember that it only takes one step at a time to get where you want. Always remember why you started and where you are going.”

Inspiration and creativity

Daria’s passion is apparent, her motivation is leading her into a great new direction. “There is a lot more purpose and excitement in my job now. I loved tennis, but this is something that I get much more out of. I feel so inspired and right where I want to be,” she says smiling. Her big plans for her instapreneur launch are going to be promising. “This is something that has filled the emptiness within me with purpose and excitement,” she expresses. “I want to do more than just social media management; I really hope that one day I will be able to help people all around the world outside of social media. I want to help build communities that thrive and help each other grow.” 

Daria’s focus is on her passion for marketing and social media management. She loves the challenge and excitement that comes with online content and growing her clients’ presence. “I worked really hard for this and I’m so excited that it will come to fruition soon enough!”