Soheila Hakimi: Serial Traveler & Content Creator

Soheila, you are known on Instagram as @isthatsoh, a brillant content creator and an inspiring travel influencer. Please, tell everyone about yourself.
I grew up in Toronto. I went to school in Toronto Catholic High School and ended up going to university in Australia mainly because I wanted to see the world and be in a new environment where I kind of had to grow up and learn about myself as a person. I was there for commerce but I ended up not very enjoying it very much. Coming back to Toronto, I went into fashion design and I kind of fast tracked my way through fashion school. I went to George Brown in Toronto and then also studied in Milan for a summer. That was fun! After I graduated from fashion school, I worked with a big Canadian fashion designer. Then I started my own line which went on for about two seasons before I started to get really burnt out. After that, I went into buying for maybe two or three years before I started my Instagram.

How did you get your start working as a writer for Uproxx?
This is a funny story because I was never very good at writing especially in high school. I was already posting stuff to Instagram from my site and I had tagged Uproxx. My editor at Uproxx saw my content and appreciated it. He asked me to do a takeover on their Instagram. So I did a takeover and it went really well. Then he asked me if I could write and I said yes even though it was like completely unsure of my skills. I ended up writing a piece, he enjoyed it and he asked me to continue to write. At the time I was really nervous because I didn’t have the same kind of confidence in my writing as I do in my photography skills. He became my mentor, coached me to find my inner voice and helped me become more creative with my stories. So I definitely learned a lot from him and became a better writer.

How many countries have you seen and how often?
I’ve never counted. I’ve been to Norway, England, Paris, Italy, Greece, Portugal Spain, then Columbia… I’ve been to Buenos Aries, Australia and China. I think I’ve visisted around 15 countries!

What drives you and what are your dreams?
So much exciting stuff is happening! I’ve been super busy but I think I’ve been focusing a lot, especially recently, on my travels, writing and going on all these trips, writing for other people etc… but it’s about to change! I’m really pushing my brand right now and wanting to take my Instagram a little bit further. You know… If you feel like your growth is becoming stagnant, you need to do something different and shake it up. Being in or having been in the fashion industry, I am now exploring ways to incorporate my skills from those jobs to build my own my brand. I’m just thinking about things that I can do to elevate my brand even further. I’m also really obsessed with podcasts right now.

I turned down a lot of partnerships. I don’t like to promote anything that I wouldn’t use. It just doesn’t make sense. When a brand approaches me, I really think about their reputation.

So what is your favorite quote.
I love the Michelle Obama’s quote “When they go low, we go high” because I honestly feel like you don’t need to sink to someone’s level to feel like worthy. I think everyone is just trying to do a good job. A lot of people have issues communicating and I am lucky enough to have a platform where I can express myself daily. It’s almost like I have someone to talk to every single day about any kind of struggle I’m going through. I’m so grateful for this platform because it allows me to deal with any ongoing issues… Read more