🗓️ Amber Lewis POSTED TO THE GROUP CHAT May 28, 2026

Marketing & Cultural Virality | Career & Personal Branding

You’re Focused on The wrong Thing….be present in your becoming like a boss

Online there’s no shortage of people trying to tell you how to grow an audience, go viral, and get sponsored. There's a whole industry built around the tactics, the hooks, the posting schedules, the networking, the pitch decks. And because of that, a lot of people are completely missing the magic that happens in the process of becoming the person who is called, qualified, and aligned to do those things in the first place.

If you want to be successful - as a content creator, community builder, entrepreneur, or anything you have to be obsessed with both being and becoming. Building a persona through someone else's tactics will not only not be sustainable but will not truly attract the opportunities or people who are actually yours.

Confidence is required to grow. And the only way to be confident is to stop chasing and to start choosing the right things. Choosing to know and invest in yourself.

The community you're trying to build will only be as sustainable as the person building it. You cannot pour from an empty cup and the relationships you want don't come from being in the right room, they come from being the right person. And the right person isn't built overnight. She's built in seasons.

Before I was a top creator in my hometown known as “Detroit's CEO” in partnership with the city's tourism board, I was consistently posting about places to go and people to know in my city. I wasn’t posting for a brand deal or for clout, I was posting because this is my life and I genuinely love this city and wanted other people to see it how I saw it. Before that, I was a social media director for the city and the mayor. Before that, a social media coordinator. Before that, an advertising student with an internship, and a vision I felt but didn’t see in fruition. Every single season required me to become something different. And every role, every lesson, every season I wanted to skip, was preparation for exactly where I am right now.

There were things I needed to learn that couldn't be taught in a course. Experiences I needed to have and things I needed to go through. Perspectives that could only be pulled out of me through irl moments. You cannot shortcut that. No viral moment, no growth hack, no perfectly optimized profile gets you there faster than the actual work of knowing yourself. There’s no amount of networking or viral tips that will make you something or someone you’re not meant to be. Focus on who you actually are and who you’re becoming.

So take the time. Figure out what genuinely brings you joy! Not just what's performing well right now, what actually lights you up. What conversations you could have for hours. What communities you're already a part of, not just the ones you're trying to build. Know what kind of leader you are, and what kind you want to grow into. Know what you care about deeply enough to show up for it consistently, even when the numbers don't reflect it yet.

Building something real starts with nurturing yourself first. With being self-aware enough to know where you are in your journey, fulfilled enough to give from a full place, and grounded enough to stay the course when the algorithm isn't cooperating.

The foundation underneath every every leader who's ever moved you is that she knows exactly who she is, she’s present or reflective in the becoming and she has a hold on her own ambition. Not the trending version of it. Hers.

Know who you are and what you’re walking towards every day that you take a step. You don’t need gimmicks or hacks to get to your people, you will attract your audience and community in the process of your own becoming.