Inside the Instagram world of Ellie Gonsalves

Ellie Gonsalves is one in-demand woman. With a modelling resumé that includes the likes of GUESS and REVOLVE, a spot in upcoming television series ‘Fighting With My Family’, the founder of two health and fitness programs (Body By Ellie Program and the Best Friend Movement), and a social media following of 5 million+ – we’re pretty sure this is what success looks like.

But it hasn’t all just landed in her lap. Behind the enviable lifestyle depicted via the Gram belongs a hefty load of hard work and hustle. Yep, having that big a following doesn’t come at the click of a finger [well, I guess technically – it comes at the click of 5 million fingers].

Keen to find out more about her take on all things Instagram and influencing – we sat down with Ellie to chat everything from first getting into social media, to growing a following, to a typical day in her life.

When did you first begin Instablogging?
Instagram wasn’t really a thing when I first started. It was this new platform that everyone was like “What’s going on with Instagram?” – but I jumped on the boat very quickly and built up my following fast. It became such a big asset to what I was doing in the industry at the time. I started getting jobs because companies wanted exposure and it’s been a fantastic platform to build a career from. I didn’t start on Instagram [with business in mind], but I’ve made it work for me.

Were you a model first or is this a result of Instagram?
I started modelling when I was 18 and Instagram hadn’t even come out at that time. I jumped on Facebook Pages and I took advantage of that and built a following on there, and then Twitter, and then Instagram came out. But I was just doing something different from what everyone was doing and just tried to make it work for me… and it did! It’s all about doing something different to be seen.

Can you talk me through a typical day in your life?
I get up in the morning and work out first thing – so I go to the gym and smash out a workout, come home, and then it’s breakfast. I’ll then have phone conferences, meetings… there’s a lot happening at the moment because a lot of travel is going on and I have a couple of campaigns and editorials coming up. There’s been a lot of interviews lately and just working on some new stuff we’ve got coming out. And then it’s approving photos and going through the footage for this movie that’s coming out…

How many shoots would you do in a week?
Roughly I would say 4 to 5 times. I do shoot quite a lot and my life is very documented – but I really don’t mind it. It’s such an amazing way to share what everyone’s going through and followers to see that people like me are real people at the end of the day.

Do you sometimes find it hard having to share your whole life?
I actually really enjoy it because people see a different side of me that they may not necessarily see on a photo with Insta Stories and interviews and that sort of thing. I’m literally an open book. I’ve gone through so much in my lifetime and I love to share it with people.