Influencer Merrie Cox talks to Furlough about how her success on Instagram is something she never planned on happening. She explains her aspirations to work with big brands such as Adidas and how some simple wise words from her Grandpa impact the way she lives her life today.

Merrie Cox (@merriecox_96) was born on December 25, 1996 in Birmingham. The place she grew up in was a close and familiar environment.

Birmingham is very much a place where everyone knows everyone which can be a bad thing when you try to keep your private life private as nothing stays quiet for long however I also love that aspect of it as it makes going out clubbing a sociable thing and I never have a bad night out in brum.

Currently, Merrie still lives in Birmingham, though she says she would love to travel the world next year and potentially spend an entire summer in a place like Ibiza.

She never intended to gain such a large following or collaborate with such large brands when she started posting on Instagram. In fact, a look through her feed will show you that the content in her posts today is no different than the pictures and fashion she had when her account only had 5k followers.

The popularity of her account started to increase dramatically after she got out of a long-term relationship 3 years ago. Being recently single she found herself doing as most of her friends did and started going out every weekend. She always had the habit of wearing bright or different dresses and outfits. 

Merrie thinks that the combination of her interesting outfits and her posting more frequently on the platform were the biggest factors that contributed to her rapid increase in followers. Fast forward a couple of years, and by September 2019 she is about to break 90k followers.

I get to collaborate with so many amazing brands and big clothing companies and yet I’m still posting exactly like I did a few years back.

Being an influencer in the Fashion niche, Merrie faced some challenges along the way. One of the problems many influencers have experienced is receiving negative comments on their posts. 

Merrie doesn’t get negative comments often, but if she does the way she deals with them is to delete the comments and block the person. At the end of the day, the only people she likes to focus her attention on are those who truly care about her.

Being that her beginnings on Instagram were just a way of showing her followers what she was wearing on nights out with her friends, Merrie has had the opportunity to work with many notable brands such as Polly, Pretty Little Thing, and Fashion Nova.

In the future, she would not only love to continue collaborating with brands and make new partnerships with big brands such as JD, Adidas, and Maniere De Voir, but Merrie also wants to start her own company in Aesthetics.

I see social media and Instagram as a fun thing that allows you to show off your style and just post the good aspects of your life. I do believe that it could also help me to start up my own business in the future.

Along her journey, Merrie has taken a bit of advice from her Grandpa in everything she does. He has always told her to live her life exactly how she wants to live it. She says, “You only get one chance and you never want to reach old age and look back with regret.”

When faced with a decision of whether to buy that pair of trainers or go on that holiday vacation she doesn’t hesitate to do it, because you can’t take money with you when you die and life is about loving every day.

If you want to keep up with what Merrie is doing, you can follow her on Instagram @merriecox_96.