Sunshine Coast’s Instagram, TikTok stars Jackson Johnson, Renee Herbert and others ranked
From fitness inspo to modelling and music, the Sunshine Coast’s social media stars know how to gain a following. See the full list of the region’s most influential on Tik Tok and Instagram.
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While it’s become a medium from which money can be made, the life of a social media influencer means much more for some Sunshine Coast stars.
For personal trainer Jackson Johnson, garnering a whopping 313,000 followers on Instagram was an unexpected rise but it’s since opened plenty of doors for him to pursue his ultimate passion which was health and fitness.
He opened his account three years after the platform launched after seeing his then girlfriend, now fiancee, using hers.
“I’m always someone who’s not an early adopter of things and I was still into Facebook and whatever,” he said.
He said growth was slow to begin with, but soon exploded as he dived deeper into the world of fitness competitions.
“I did some photo shoots with photographers and they posted my photos and it started going viral so that was where it grew,” he said.
While it was paying off for his bank account through sponsored posts, it allowed him to start and earn a living through his own business.
“When I first started Instagram I had no idea I was going to be able to make money off it,” he said.
“A lot of my followers would follow me when I was getting ready for a fitness competition and they would say to me ‘can I pay you to write down a meal plan and workout program for me’.
He’s since travelled the world on fitness retreats and started his own online coaching and personal training business, JFitmindbodystrong.com.
Former Sunshine Beach Primary and St Teresa’s Catholic College student Eliza Kohler has amassed 63,000 followers in five years.
She studied at the University of the Sunshine Coast and is now a qualified nurse.
“A large chunk of my following are nurses or aspiring nurses,” she said.
“I enjoy sharing content of the importance of taking care of mind, body and soul as a nurse.
“My dream is to inspire women to be the best versions of themselves by removing self-limiting beliefs and stepping into their own unique power.”
While she did do sponsored posts, the influencer said it was only a side hustle and “a bit of fun”.
Mr Johnson said he used to rely on the platform for a wage but had now shifted to focusing on his business and was quick to warns others of the potential pitfalls of social media.
“I could live off my social media right now but it’s really important for other people to know that if they want to become an influencer that you start to miss out on face-to-face human interaction,” he said.
“As much as you can live off being an influencer, if you have enough of a following and have the right brand, it’s really important to do a degree, trade or certificate and still have something to fall back on.
“Because, Instagram can be turned off tomorrow by the government or Instagram could change the algorithm and you could lose half your engagement.
“If companies decide to drop you then you're stuck without revenue.”
Here are 18 of the Sunshine Coast’s most powerful social media stars:
18. ELLA MCGARVEY
FOLLOWERS: 20.7k on Tik Tok
FROM: Sunshine Coast, former Sunshine Coast Grammar student
CONTENT: Lifestyle, vlog
ABOUT: This former Sunshine Coast Grammar student has built a solid following on Tik Tok detailing her day to day life with work, study and friends.
17. ASH ELIZA DAVIS
FOLLOWERS: 36.7k on Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Lifestyle, fashion, sponsored
ABOUT: Ash shows followers her laid-back lifestyle while infusing her love of fashion and the beach. She has worked with local, Australian and international clients such as Zulu & Zephyr, Faithfull the Brand, ROXY, Kevin Murphy and Clear Skin Clinics.
16. JACINDA FRANKCOM
FOLLOWERS: 37.5k on Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Jacinda posts about fun, sun, fashion and the beach. Her posts often detail goings on in her life including holidays, food, fashion and family.
15. LACEY MADISON
FOLLOWERS: 37.7k on Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Inspirational, business
ABOUT: Lacey Madison is an influencer coach, branding specialist and business and marketing expert. Her business, bylacemadison.com, helps people and businesses expand their potential through savvy branding and marketing.
14. GEORGIA BRANT
FOLLOWERS: 43k on Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Fashion, health, lifestyle, sponsored
ABOUT: The 21-year-old lifestyle influencer works in finance and has a passion for photo and video editing, fashion, interior design and plants. She has worked with a number of brands including Ryderwear, Culture Kings, Doc Martens and Glassons.
13. CASEY DRAPER
FOLLOWERS: 44.8k on Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Lifestyle, fashion, modelling, sponsored.
ABOUT: Casey has been growing her social media influence for the past five years and has worked with a number of brands including Princess Polly, Glassons, House of CB, Status Anxiety, GHD and verge girl. She regularly posts about her passions and beach lifestyle.
12. JAMES OXLEY (Oxlee Official)
FOLLOWERS: 48.9k on Tik Tok and 10.6k on Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Music, lifestyle, fun, comedy
ABOUT: James is an aspiring, self taught, musician and appeared on the Voice Australia in 2018. He grew up on the outskirts of London before relocating to Australia. He left school early to pursue music and busked as a teenager, even travelling around Australia sharing his music.
11. JETT KENNY
FOLLOWERS: 52.1kon Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast, Alexandra Headland surf lifesaver
CONTENT: Fashion, lifestyle, reality TV, fitness, sponsored.
ABOUT: Jett is an Alexandra Headland surf lifesaver and has competed in ironman events. He is the son of ironman Grant Kenny and competitive swimmer Lisa Curry-Kenny. He has done modelling work and even appeared on reality TV shows such as The Real Full Monty, Ninja Warrior and soon the second season of SAS Australia.
10. ELIZA KOHLER
FOLLOWERS: 63.2k on Instagram
FROM: Grew up on Sunshine Coast, went to Sunshine Beach Primary and St Teresa’s Catholic College
CONTENT: Fashion, lifestyle, nursing, sponsored.
ABOUT: Eliza is a former Sunshine Beach Primary and St Teresa’s Catholic College student and studied at the University of the Sunshine Coast to be a qualified nurse. She is now a registered nurse on the Gold Coast and enjoys posting about and inspiring those in the nursing community.
9. ELORA TAHITI (Real name: Elora Murger)
FOLLOWERS: The former Bachelor contestant has 65.6k followers on Instagram
FROM: Noosa
CONTENT: Horses, fitness, lifestyle, sponsored.
ABOUT: Elora Murger, aka Elora Tahiti, has appeared on a season of The Bachelor in 2017 and twice on Bachelor in Paradise in 2018 and 2019.
8. MILLER WILSON
FOLLOWERS: 100.5k followers and 1.3m likes on Tik Tok
FROM: Maleny, Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Nature and wildlife videos
ABOUT: Miller is passionate about wildlife and travels around Australia catching and sharing videos about Australian wildlife. He had his own web show, Made for the Wild: With Miller Wilson, which is a kid-friendly educational series.
7. TAKUNDA CHIPANGURA
FOLLOWERS: 128.4k followers and 2.6m likes on Tik Tok (thelifeoftak)
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Music, fitness
ABOUT: The Zimbabwe-born influencer is an aspiring rapper and has released music under the name Tf4k on Spotify.
6. MYLITTLELOLLY (Renee and daughter Lola)
FOLLOWERS: 144k on Instagram
FROM: Noosa
CONTENT: Kids clothing, life, sponsored
ABOUT: The Noosa-based mum and daughter share the latest baby and toddler fashion and give followers an insight to parent life on the Sunshine Coast.
5. ADDISON JAMES
FOLLOWERS: 185.5k followers on Tik Tok and 28.6k on Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Music, fashion, comedy
4. JACKSON JOHNSON
FOLLOWERS: 313k followers on Instagram
FROM: Gympie originally, but moved to Sunshine Coast in late teens.
CONTENT: Fitness, health, workouts, modelling, sponsored.
ABOUT: Originally from Gympie, Jackson runs his own personal fitness and coaching business, jfitmindbodystrong.com. He has travelled the world for fitness retreats where he offers motivation, eating plans and guidance on achieving the right health and body. His latest venture is Booty by Jacks where he provides a tailored program for women to achieve their desired look.
3. JADE KEVIN FOSTER
FOLLOWERS: 1.2m followers on Instagram
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Fashion, holidays, LGBTQ personality, reality TV
ABOUT: Jade, a Louis Vuitton and Mossimo model, shot to stardom after sharing a photo of himself with Kim Kardashian at one of her fragrance launches. The openly gay influencer has been a Mardi Gras ambassador and appeared on reality TV show First Dates Australia last year.
2. ANNA PAUL
FOLLOWERS: 669k followers on Tik Tok with 25.8m likes and 692k followers on a private Instagram account.
FROM: Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Daily vlogs.
ABOUT: Anna vlogs daily about her life and has garnered a big following. She is also in the top 0.02 per cent of all OnlyFans creators.
1. RENEE AND ELISHA HERBERT
FOLLOWERS: 1.8m and 1.6m followers on Instagram
FROM: Caloundra, Sunshine Coast
CONTENT: Both are models and post about fashion, holidays and clothing brands.
ABOUT: Renee and Elisha are identical twins and models who attended Unity College in Caloundra as teenagers. The pair started posting on Instagram when they were 14 and were quickly picked up by fashion brand Peppermayo. They now work under Elite Model Management.
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