Who is Alexa Collins? Bikini model who dropped out of college to become Insta influencer is now a millionaire
An Instagram bikini model who dropped out of college to become an influencer says she’s now a millionaire through her social media career. Alexa Collins, of Miami, stated that she dropped out of college when she was 21 years old to pursue her modeling dreams and her decision has apparently paid dividends, with 1.2 million followers on Instagram, a million in the bank and a deluxe pad with a pool.
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In an interview with Fabulous, she Collins said: "I hit 1 million followers in July 2020, which felt really cool, but I want to keep growing. I'm a millionaire now, I made my first $1m right before I hit a million followers, that felt pretty awesome. My boyfriend Tom and I have even bought a house together. It’s a four-bedroom home, we have a pool in the backyard. It’s really nice and it’s our first home, so we’re excited."
Collins grew up in Palm Beach, South Florida, and launched her Instagram in 2014 and quickly transformed it into a business. She said: "At the time I didn't see it as a full-time job, I always thought it would be something on the side - but I knew Instagram was the way things were going to go. I started modelling when I was 18 and used the photo shoot pictures to build a social media presence. Over time, I became more of an influencer. When I left high school, I studied communications at college for three years but I decided to take a break year before graduating - and never went back. It took three years for me to see a big growth in my business, that's when I left college as I realised this was what I wanted to do. I was already working with a lot of big brands, so I realized there were opportunities there."
"You need about 50,000 followers to start making money, that's when you become a micro-influencer. My parents were not too happy about it. Because of their generation, they didn't understand what Instagram was or the power of social media. They were set on me going to school, but I told them ‘guys you have to listen to me, understand this is the new age and what I’m going to do’. I was super confident going into it and it turned out great."
She has now bagged big name brands like PrettyLittleThing, Fashion Nova, Urban Decay and Tart Cosmetics. She grew her following by posting twice-a-day, chatting to fans online and "documenting every single thing I was doing". She said: "That gained interested. People wanted to watch so I started posting more about my life, my routine, how I go to photo shoots and create content. "I started to create a little fan base of both men and women. From the minute I wake up at 7:30 am, I spend the whole day on social media - I'm always very busy. I reply to my followers first thing, then I spend my afternoons creating content, going around town taking pictures for clothing brands, make-up brands and swimwear companies. Then I come home and I have to edit my pictures, I also have a YouTube channel now so there’s a lot going on."
Talking about her traveling experience while working, she said: "Travel is the best part of the job, it’s been really cool to see lots of parts of the world I wouldn't have been able to travel to otherwise. My favourite place I went to was Croatia, I’ve been all over Europe."