Success did not always come easy to Bethanie Garcia and her family. Hailing from Gilbert, Arizona, Bethanie and her husband, Anthony, faced hardships in the beginning of their life together. However, once Bethanie decided to pursue her career in sponsoring brands, she grew her platform from a $200 brand deal in 2016 to over 150,000 total followers across various social media platforms.
High school sweethearts Bethanie and Anthony got married and had their first baby, Brooklynn, in 2013 when they were 17 and 18 years old, respectively. According to an interview in People Magazine, the Garcias struggled to keep their finances afloat. From food stamps to governmental assistance to family assistance, it was hard to manage the many finances that come with marriage and motherhood. That’s when Bethanie decided to turn her emotions into online musings.
The Garcia Diaries launched in 2014 and started out as capturing Bethanie’s motherhood journey. Bethanie used her blog as a “diary” for writing and photography about the motions of being a mother and a wife. From there, she began expanding her platform to various social media outlets. In 2016, she decided to pursue social media as a job with her first brand sponsorship.
From making $200 on her first brand sponsorship, Bethanie began to do bigger and better brand sponsorships. With this rapidly growing occupation, her and Anthony decided to leverage The Garcia Diaries and being an influencer their sole source of income and Bethanie’s full-time job.
She now centers The Garcia Diaries content around the everyday life of her, Anthony, and her 5 children: Brooklynn (7), Harlym (6), Deuce (5), Bronx (2), and Ellis (9 months). She takes pride in her authentic, non-candid content online.
The Garcia Diaries regularly features messages of self-love, body positivity and the beauty of family.
“I’m just sharing my thoughts and emotions rawly as it’s happening, and all of these things were making my online presence grow, which was so crazy to me,” she tells People Magazine.
When it comes to brand partnerships, Bethanie still likes to stick to her authentic roots. She likes to make sure that the partnership is in her best interest and there are certain things she looks for before agreeing to promote a product or brand. If a company reaches out to her promoting a value she doesn’t believe in, she likes to take a step back and remind herself of what she is looking to promote and encourage with her content.
“I should always respect and stick to my core values so that way I could keep the trust and keep a clear conscience.”
Bethanie primarily sponsors lifestyle brands that create products geared towards motherhood and family. Recently, she partnered with Joss+J, a baby clothing company, to create her own line of baby swaddles and clothing. She enjoys incorporating her children into her content to compliment the sponsorship work she does.
The Garcia children in Joss+J, designed by their mom, Bethanie Garcia.
One of her most recent campaigns was with Poise liners, which have been popular with her pregnant or recent mother followers. Tami Nealy, her talent manager with FYI Talent Management, a division of Find Your Influence, gives a little more insight into Bethanie’s brand partnerships in the motherhood industry.
“Those types of partnerships are most appealing to her, and fit perfectly with the content most featured on The Garcia Diaries, because she gets to be herself and bring conversations to the forefront that maybe women are not talking about today.”
FYI Talent Management has been able to help Bethanie manage these partnerships by allowing her to focus on creating interactive, engaging content. Tami has been able to handle tasks such as emailing back and forth with brands and discussing contracts, which is something Bethanie had to do on her own before finding management.
Throughout Bethanie’s time creating content online, she has set herself apart from what many people think influencers are. Her primary goal for her content is to be authentic and show people the real her, which is unique to her page.
Bethanie Garcia of The Garcia Diaries
“When people come to my page, I want them to know they are safe, and it is a safe space for them. They are beautiful and they are loved,” Bethanie mentions. “A lot of influencers shy away from certain topics because they think it’s gonna lose them followers or it’s going to hurt their paycheck. I am okay with losing any paycheck any day of the week if it means that my audience feels safe with me.”
Bethanie is not afraid to talk about today’s pressing topics, and wants to make sure her followers are informed and safe on her page. She had multiple guests come to her page to educate her followers, such as a friend who identifies with the LGBTQIA+ community sharing his experiences and a sex therapist answering people’s questions about their intimate lives.
“Her follower count has grown because of how creative she has been, how revealing she has been, and how much she shares,” Tami says. “She’s showing her followers what real life is and I don’t know many other creators out there who are that willing to be that revealing.”
As Bethanie continues to make relatable, inspiring content, she reflects on her journey thus far and what keeps her going each day. When I asked Bethanie about the most rewarding part of her journey, she immediately showed appreciation towards her followers.
“Just hearing that I have helped women change how they think of themselves or that I have encouraged them to reach out to a therapist or get on medication or to have honest conversations with their partner… that literally means everything to me.”
Learn more about Bethanie and her family on her blog, The Garcia Diaries.
Freelance contribution especially written for Find Your Influence by Jordan Landsman.