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10 million new friends

Anna first learned about Photoshop in high school. It fueled her passion for bringing her creative visions to life. Then, at the beginning of her grad school career, an exciting new opportunity to express herself came along when a friend told her about this new app called TikTok that was blowing up.

Anna was getting a masters in film and television production in Los Angeles, which, she says, “was a full 180 switch” after graduating in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

“My mom and dad always instilled in me that you should take chances while you're young,” says Anna, who has always had a passion for multimedia.

She started playing around and making content on TikTok that felt natural to her creativity and sense of humor. Six months later, COVID hit, and she was sent back home to Michigan to study online.

“I was like, ‘you know what? I should really try this TikTok thing,” Anna recalls. It marked the beginning of her journey to establish herself as a content creator and commit to producing content consistently on the platform. She started doing fashion and makeup GRWM videos, and. music became a big inspiration for her during this. “I would create morning musicals where I make a music video out of my morning routine. Then, I started making these “I don't want it” videos,” she recalls, which ultimately took off as a major social trend.

While she says she was “mentally, physically, and emotionally prepared to be some director's assistant for the next 10 years,” before she knew it, she had over 10 million friends on the app.

“It was such an incredible way to not only connect with people, but to share creativity and feel so freely self-expressive too. I'm so happy to be here,” she says. “TikTok reignited that creativity that I had as a kid,” she told us.

It’s all about the (creative) process

Anna admits that she’s not really a planner. “My mom always jokes, ‘I get my best ideas when I'm sleeping,’ and I feel the same way,” she says. Her creative process always starts with whatever inspires her when she wakes up in the morning. Then she’s able to turn a creative idea into something that’s fun and silly and resonates with her audiences. And that’s why she works with tools like Photoshop, the ultimate image editing and design app, that lets her bring her creativity to life at the speed of her imagination whenever and whenever her inspiration strikes.

“Photoshop allows me to just have such creative freedom. It's such a powerful app and allows me to not only have precision and creative control, but it lets me bring ideas in my head to life. I love that it's something that connects all of us,” she says.

She’s able to take a photo or video and elevate it in a way that makes it even more beautiful and powerful than it was before. Photoshop can be used in so many ways during the creative process beyond photo editing – creating mood boards to kick off the creative process, graphic design for marketing and even for storyboards for videos. Photoshop has a diverse set of features that help with inspiration too. So what is her latest obsession with Photoshop?

“I'm obsessed with making collages – that's my new little love right now in life,” she says. When we spoke, she was getting ready for a spec shoot, and using Photoshop to put all of her ideas in one place, making sure colors worked well together and idealizing and expanding images. She was focused on building the flow of her video through inspirational imagery, so she could execute the perfect setups, fashion, theme and a plan to film her video. As a creator, she doesn’t just shoot and post, but loves to get creative with tools like Photoshop to bring a larger concept to life. “I love that I have an app that just allows me to expand further from just taking a photo and posting it on Instagram versus really bringing different ideas to life,” she adds.

Social media Dos and Don’ts

Anna is known for herrefreshing down-to-earth personality – you can feel it throughout her content. She’s really just herself and living her best life.

“Authenticity is an absolute DO,” she says. But that doesn’t mean you have to focus on just one aspect of yourself. “People often say to try to fit into a niche and I disagree. I don't think you should make content that's catered toward one idea. I think that YOU are the exciting idea, and everything that you have – all of these passions and things that you love – are a mosaic of what makes you creative,” she adds.

Another major DO? Finding the creative tools that most authentically support your content creation process. As an avid Photoshop user from a young age, Anna has continued to utilize the app for creative design across her channels to create content that is undeniably HER, without limits.

For all the chatter about posting multiple times a day to gain an audience, you might be surprised by Anna’s Don’ts. “You make your best content when you feel creative and when you feel like posting and making things that you're enjoying. If you're in a creative block, one, two, three days of rest are actually only going to benefit you in the long run,” she says. And along the lines of authenticity, “don't feel the need to make what everybody else is making to make something good,” she adds.

Adobe Photoshop tips and tricks

Anna has had a passion for photography since childhood. “I loved making little home movies out of our family vacations, and I grew up really loving photography,” she says. Photoshop is a tool that seamlessly fits into her life as a professional and in her day-to-day.

“I think when people think Photoshop, they think, ‘oh my gosh, I have to be doing these major changes to whatever I'm creating.’ But the truth is, I really do use it for everything from my Instagram post for my podcast page to giving a photo a different color scheme, or resizing or creating a little collage to inspire whatever I want to do next,” she says.

While talking about her community, Anna mentioned how much her Instagram community loves the black and white posters she creates withPhotoshop. “Even for the simplest tasks, the first app that I reach for is Photoshop. I really enjoy having an app that makes me feel like I can have my creativity at my fingertips. It has so many uses beyond just being a tool for elite creatives. It really is a great app for day-to-day life as well,” she adds.

Finding inspiration as a creator

As a creator, it can be easy to live your life online. Anna avoids that way of life and it makes her content even stronger for it. “When you're on a phone all the time and creating content, it's so easy to get lost in filming 90 percent of your life, and filming every time you go to a coffee shop, every time you have a hang out with a friend, every time you wear a good outfit that you're proud of. But my greatest inspiration comes from actually what I'm truly firsthand living and not documenting my life. And then the lessons that I learned and the things that I see and the value that brings to my life is only further elevating the content that I make,” she says.

Anna’s advice

If you’re someone who aspires to have a creative outlet, Anna has some advice for you.“Even if it's little baby steps that you take a photo every single day, or you make a video every single day, or you brainstorm every single day, I think action is the best way that you're going to learn,” she says.

Anna also recommends doing what she does, tinker with different tools and apps, this helps make her content shine. “You can learn so much by just testing out different features to edit photos, different ways to expand and add text and ways to make your creativity really come to life,” she says

“I think the best advice is to play and do what makes you happy."