Instagram Influencer Spotlight On: Kevin Yatsushiro @Kiwi.cvlt

1) Tell us a little about yourself. What are you doing now and where do you come from?

Well I come from your typical American family. Grew up with my mom, dad, and sister in the midwestern suburbs near Chicago. We moved to the northern suburbs when I was about 8 or 9. Right now I’m working full time after having graduated from NEIU with my BA in English Lit and currently work for At&t.

2) What are your topics of interest? What do you post on Instagram the most?

My interests are literally all over the place. I post anything and everything ranging from food, selfies, musical.ly videos, landscape photos, music video screenshots and funny memes. I think it’s cool how people have one central theme to their page where they’ll only post one type of pic or will only post pics on one particular subject but that type of instagraming just isn’t for me. I feel like I’m suffocating if i restrict myself to certain content.

3) How did your Instagram name come about?

Well my instagram name used to be the first three letters of my first name, followed by the first four of my last name when I first started. Then, randomly, I ended up picking up the nickname “Kiwi” from a friend online and it miraculously stuck with me. Cvlt traces back to my obsession with the band “Pvris” and how deeply I relate to their lyrics. One could say I’m a pvris fanboy when it comes to my username but I wear it with pride!

4) What are some apps you use to edit your photos? Share with us your photo-editing routine!

Well, for a while I was using the Retrica app in combination with InstaSize and my instagram page had a very unique look to it. After a while, I grew bored with my page’s appearance and decided to mix it up a bit. I’ll edit some of my selfies with FaceTune and then adjust light levels, contrast, and fade within the IG app with its editing tools.

5) Any Instagrammers whom you really like? Which Instagrammer inspires you the most?

This is a tough one. I really don’t pay attention to a lot of big names on instagram, mainly because I’m not glued to my newsfeed 24/7. Author Michael Hainey is someone who’s ig page inspires me, along with drunkonshoes, And tekstiles. They all have super clean instagram pages with high quality content.

6) If there’s one thing your fellow Instagrammers just gotta try now, what’s it gonna be?

I would definitely say PopSockets. They look goofy at first but when you actually use one and see how much easier it makes handling a larger phone you’ll learn to really appreciate them.

7) What’s your favorite part about being an influencer?

I would definitely say it’s sharing the things I love with others. By others, I mean my followers, my friends, and my family. Everyone deserves to be in the loop when it comes to making educated choices and if I can help spread knowledge to the online community I would be forever grateful.

8) What are some of your top tips to brands for running campaigns? How do you maintain authenticity?

Just keep it real. Create products that ANYONE can use. Reach out to the people who make genuine connections with their fan base. It’s so overplayed to have the pretty faces of instagram model with a product. It’s a tried and true method but it’s so cliche and just boring.

9) What would your advice be on the importance of quality and original content?

Posting garbage is funny sometimes but it lowers your overall value when it comes to your fan base. When you post, you should have something to say and that something should carry weight.

10) What do you like best about partnering with brands?

I’ve only partnered once with a brand and they ended up flopping due to 0 communication with both their reps and their audience. I thought it was cool to help small companies get their name out there and level the playing field so that they could compete with major companies.

Topics:

• Animals & Pets
• Art
• Cooking
• Design
• Education
• Fashion
• Film, Music & Books
• Food & Drink
• Hair & Beauty
• Health & Fitness
• Humor
• Photography
• Technology

Country:

United States of America