Keeley Mazurek
📷 UGC Creator
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📍 Toronto, ON
Keeley is a UGC creator and co-founder of Creator Confidential, the largest in-person creator event in Canada.
Before you became a UGC creator, you were an Account Manager & Creative Strategist at a 7-figure DTC company. What prompted you to quit?
Unfortunately, my department was let go. I would have liked to continue in my role, but the company went in a different direction for acquiring creators and strategy.
How did you land your very first client?
Through Instagram, actually. I had started posting more, and I got my first inbound request for UGC. It was a turning point in my path. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be the 'thing' for me, but getting that first client gave me a lot of hope.
Does integrating your husband into the videos expand the pool of brands that want to work with you? Whose idea was that?
It was my idea, and 100000% it does. In fact, in the beginning, it was harder to get him on board because he's not a social media guy and didn’t really want to film. But as we continued to work with brands and he got more comfortable on camera, he actually started to like it and would suggest shots and ideas, which was nice. Now he’s actually started to take it more seriously and is working on building his portfolio. We’ve worked together with one brand for the last year, and our content generated over 2M link clicks, so he already has some great stats as a technical 'newbie.'
What was the biggest turning point in your career?
Creator Confidential has been a major turning point in my career because I realized that this unique sector of the creator industry, the UGC creators, was so different from influencers. They didn’t have in-person events that replicated those fun influencer events we see online, but they wanted to feel that connection and community too. I also realized that what we created was very special and needed to be something that we replicated yearly for our community. So, after our 2025 event, we will be working on what else we can offer them when they aren’t in the room together. We’re asking ourselves, “How can we make CC a really unique company that brings a ton of value outside of the event?” This is something I am passionate about, very eager to expand on, and know that it’s going to pave the way for big things in the creator space.
Does creating content come naturally to you, or do you have to push yourself?
In the beginning, it did not feel natural to me at all. I felt very awkward on camera. When I look back at some of my first videos, I think, “Oh wow, how far you have come,” because the transformation has been cool to witness. I still have lots to improve on, but I don’t think of that as a roadblock - I actually enjoy the challenge of getting better.
What’s one misconception people have about being a UGC creator?
I think one misconception about being a UGC creator is that we are just here to make “pretty” videos, when in reality, we are a large part of developing the strategy.
What advice would you give to yourself on Day 1 of your UGC career?
Don’t take your eye off the target. Pay attention to what others are doing, but don’t let their success deter you from what you're after.
Do you have any rules or tips for maintaining work-life balance?
I think work-life balance is kinda BS, if I’m being honest. I’ve never met one person who was A+ in their field that had work-life balance while working their way to the top. When you're trying to be at the top of your game in any industry, you have to sacrifice massively to get there - and a lot of the time, that “life” part is the one that gets sidelined. Once you get there, you can attain a much better work-life balance. I’m striving for really big goals, so I don’t have the best balance right now. I guess the one thing I can say about creating balance is learning when to say no. My weekends are precious time for me right now, so I spend that time with my family as much as I can and say no to pretty much anything else.