Transcript:

Stephanie Cheape (00:00):

I went from having really no followers at all, but it just exploded between that to half a million followers on TikTok.

Ross Borden (00:08):

I think the way you look and the scenes of Scotland, it just stops people in their tracks.

Stephanie Cheape (00:13):

I just started posting fun videos of my life in Scotland, teaching people about scotch culture and creating these videos that were pretty random to me.

Ross Borden (00:25):

You blew up on TikTok. Now you’re presenter for big brands and sports teams in Scotland. It just shows you, you got to put yourself out there and be authentic to who you are and good things will happen.

Stephanie Cheape (00:37):

There’s a real fear that people have about Ian themselves. You can put yourself through a process where you learn to truly not care what people think. Just overcoming that it is the best thing you can do for yourself.

Ross Borden (00:51):

This is creator, the podcast for Matador Network. I’m your host, Ross Borden, and I believe creators are the future of all global advertising. So join me as I sit down with top creators to hear about how they got started, the challenges they’ve overcome, and the tips you need to become a full-time creator. Welcome back to another episode of Creator the podcast. I’m here with Scottish creator Stephanie Cheap. Stephanie, thanks for joining.

Stephanie Cheape (01:22):

Hi, thanks for having me.

Ross Borden (01:24):

Where in the world are you right now?

Stephanie Cheape (01:26):

Right now I’m at home and I stay in shore, which is the west coast of Scotland. So yeah, it’s very rainy.

Ross Borden (01:37):

Rainy but beautiful.

Stephanie Cheape (01:38):

I’ve

Ross Borden (01:39):

Only been to Scotland once, but I absolutely loved it. We did the Highlands, we did a couple of, I didn’t make it to Edinburgh. I still want to go to Edinburgh,

Stephanie Cheape (01:49):

But check that out. Yeah,

Ross Borden (01:51):

I loved it. It was awesome. I know you are a creator in a number of senses, not just a digital creator, but give the audience a little bit of your bio and background.

Stephanie Cheape (02:03):

Yeah, so my name’s Stephanie Cheap, and I guess I have a little bit of an eclectic background of where I come from. I guess I still am a singer songwriter, and I started my platform in the height of Covid just because there wasn’t much else to do, and I just started posting fun videos of my life in Scotland, and it was the first time, I guess I was being a little bit extroverted with my personality and not masking behind the sort of artist musician type persona that you have. And yeah, just kind of growing up in Scotland and being homeschooled for a period and learning guitar online, I guess I just started sharing little snippets of my music and my life and over that sort of a pandemic period, it just grew arms and legs. I kind of fell into showcasing more Scotland and teaching people about Scottish culture and I guess just creating these videos that were pretty random to me, but it was building this kind of a profile. And yeah, I went from having really no followers at all, and my focus was to maybe try and get some more people to hear my music, but it just exploded between that to half a million followers on TikTok and then Instagram followed. And yeah,

Ross Borden (03:47):

That’s where I discovered you. I discovered you on TikTok, and I think it was one of your super viral Scottish. I probably like Edinburgh tour videos, but I think the way you look and your accent and then the scenes of Scotland, it just stops people in their tracks. So those are very powerful videos, and I’ve talked to you about hoping to do a deal someday with Visit Scotland. We work with them a lot, and I think you are the ultimate ambassador for the country because you are Scotland through and through. So you originally started on TikTok, or did you also have an Instagram as well? Were you already promoting the music and then it turned into something else?

Stephanie Cheape (04:36):

Exactly. Yeah, I mean, I had an Instagram, I think I had maybe 3000 followers on Instagram, and I didn’t have a TikTok, and my music manager at the time had said to me, Steph, you’re never going to get a record label interested in you if you don’t have 10 K followers on TikTok because tiktoks where it’s at. And I was like, damn, I’m so screwed because it is hard to get your music out there. And so I guess one day I was a little bit frustrated and I thought, you know what? I’m just going to post something. And actually it was pretty funny because it was that crazy holiday that we have called National Kiss a Ginger Day, and I just shared how ridiculous it was and how it was developed from a South Park episode of National Kicker Ginger Day. And I was just laughing about how ridiculous it was, and it just went completely viral.

(05:37):

And that was my door into, I guess revealing my personality. And before that, I would’ve just never have dreamed of doing that on social media, but it just became the more authentic that I actually was, the more it grew and I kind of learned a bit of a lesson that you really just have to be yourself. That’s the best strategy for anything and creation. So that just kind of spiraled from there. And I’m kind of in a place now where I have a show on BBC and just all these crazy opportunities that I could have never have planned or strategized that just came from being creative, I guess. So it was just crazy.

Ross Borden (06:30):

So one that was the thing that broke it wide open is the South Park joke, kick a Ginger Day, became Kiss a Ginger Day in Scotland, and you basically just did that as a joke, like a fun little post, and then it went crazy viral and on it went,

Stephanie Cheape (06:48):

Yeah, yeah, it literally blew up.

Ross Borden (06:53):

I think TikTok surprises people in that way. When your manager was like, you need at least 10,000 followers on TikTok. You’re like, wow, that seems like a lot. And now you have half a million. So I think the algorithm and the for you page and the fact that your content, even as a brand new creator can just blow up and you can go viral and wake up to tens of thousands of new followers, it surprises people. And that’s one of the things I think is the most exciting part about TikTok, is that you don’t need to be posting for a year before you start getting traction.

Stephanie Cheape (07:28):

That’s right. And I think coming from the music industry background where you need a PR team and a press kit and you’ve got to really sell yourself to get exposure, having a platform where it’s organically performing and actually you can gain opportunities literally from your bedroom without needing to employ or have a big investment in your plan. It is kind of a bit of a hack in the game, I think. And I think it’s changed the music industry and it’s changed how brands look at the world as well and how they want to promote themselves and just going with it is the best thing that I ever did.

Ross Borden (08:18):

So tell us a little bit about that because we haven’t had anyone who’s a serious musician on the show yet. And I’m curious because TikTok is such a music first platform, I’ve heard a lot of people say that tiktoks actually a threat to Spotify’s dominance for music because music is so ingrained and it’s such a music discovery tool. Do you put some of your own music on your videos or have you made any of your music publicly available in the commercial catalog? And tell us about your experience as a musician on TikTok and some of these other platforms.

Stephanie Cheape (08:56):

Yeah, well, I mean, I released music prior to the kind of explosion of TikTok, and you always would go to a distributor who is essentially a guy with a laptop that can send your music on to Spotify and Amazon music and all the distribution platforms where people listen, and they were always key to that. And then round about the time that I was just going to release a song, I noticed that they started to promote TikTok sounds and actually putting your music on TikTok for six weeks before your release was a huge part. And it made me think differently about the music that I was making and how could I connect to people, because really on TikTok, people are connecting maybe with a who Can a song that’s maybe 10 seconds long. And it was a really interesting a process to write songs with TikTok in mind.

(09:55):

You go from writing a song that’s maybe three and a half minutes to maybe two minutes because that’s what you would perform on TikTok. But for me now, it is the only platform that I care about really when it comes to music. And I’m in a position where I’ve been writing an album for the last three years, and that’s coming out soon on the label that I’ve s now sang to. But for me, I am mindful of the visual that people will connect to the music about and actually the connection to creating some sort of a visual that people get, the feeling of what this track’s about has became just as important as the making the music for me. And three, four years ago, that was just not the case. But actually I think that TikTok has completely shaken up how people find music, and also it’s brought songs from various different eras back to life and gave them a rerun. I mean, one artist in particular is Natasha Bedingfield who wrote the song Unwritten 20 years ago, and it’s now in the top 10 Sharks and she’s back on tour. And it’s just amazing to see songs come back through that. And you could never do that on a platform like Spotify. And so TikTok is definitely changing the music industry and it’s exciting to watch.

Ross Borden (11:27):

Yeah, absolutely. One of the ones that I’ve seen you use is, I think it’s on the Braveheart soundtrack, which again, is just distinctly Scottish in Scotland in people’s minds, but that seems like a really powerful soundtrack to some of your videos on Scotland. Is that the most viral song or is that the song with the most viral videos on your platform?

Stephanie Cheape (11:55):

It’s a funny one because I started to find other artists who were, who creating cinematic type music that actually was so fitting. But originally, yes, I kind of sought out Celtic type music and there were a couple that were well performing. But what’s amazing is after the UNG issue where TikTok lost a lot of tracks and the rights, those songs disappeared. And I started to see a lot of new Celtic music come through. And so I found myself actually connecting with some of those bagpipers that were in the Highlands, and they were releasing songs to TikTok and using their music to one, boost my video, but obviously boost their music performance on the platform as well. And that felt like a really nice thing to do because it was supporting music of Celtic origin, which doesn’t have a massive space in the music industry. So it’s been a real interesting journey to watch because there are various musicians who have tapped into that, but I think that people really connect with Scotland in a way musically as well. And I think having that real emotive cinematic moment, it’s like escapism for people. So I always try and use super dramatic sounds to convey how I feel when I’m in that landscape.

Ross Borden (13:36):

For sure. For those who don’t know, just tell us quickly what happened with UMG pulling all the tracks, and it sounds like there were some good things that came out of it for smaller artists, but

Stephanie Cheape (13:49):

Yeah, so I believe that the contract lapse between TikTok and UMG, and they never reached an agreement on time for the music to legally stay on the platform. So they made the decision to withdraw all sounds owned by UNG. What that meant is all the creators who had used sounds from UMG, their videos were muted. You had to manually go in and either change the audio or unless you scroll back far enough, your videos that were maybe viral, completely lost audio. So it was a real shame actually that happened. I’m still so shocked that that did happen, but it definitely affect a lot of creators, but silver lining, some people came through as a result of it. Yeah.

Ross Borden (14:39):

So tell us about, I just was also on your channel earlier and saw the BBC partnership and you mentioned that earlier. Tell us a little bit about that, how that came about. Did they find you them and reach out and what is the partnership all about?

Stephanie Cheape (14:55):

Yeah, pretty crazy. I still can’t really go over it. Last, the start of this year, a January time, the head of BBC communications reached out via email and had said that they loved my TikTok channel and had I ever considered presenting and they’d love to chat. And at first I thought, is this a phishing email or something? But it looked legit and it was, but we had a call and they just spoke about how they had eyes on my channel and they liked how I came across, and I was sort of a brand neutral, if that makes sense, where I wasn’t necessarily political or associated with anything that could be, yeah, on brand safe,

Ross Borden (15:55):

Controversial,

Stephanie Cheape (15:56):

Everyone knows it. Yeah, nothing controversial. And I guess they just had said that they really liked what I was doing and wondered if I was interested in presenting and would I like to come in and do a couple of pilot shows. And I did, and then I never heard for a couple of months, and then I got a call one day to say that they wanted to offer me to be the presenter of a show, which is called BBC, introducing, and it’s basically the tool that artists use to break through into the music industry. So it’s all your new unsigned music and artists uploads their songs and if they’re good enough, they get selected and they can get sent to Radio One, which is huge for musicians in the uk. Yeah, and I still can’t go over it. I’m now working with them on a sort of permanent basis, and I have a show with them every Friday, and it just is the most bizarre thing in the world because I didn’t plan it and I still can’t really go over that that happened, but fake stuff, anything.

Ross Borden (17:09):

Do you go live on TikTok? I know some creators do some creators, and I know some of those can be incredible for engagement and actually having a closeness with your followers that you don’t get when you’re just doing posts. What’s been in your experience with that feature?

Stephanie Cheape (17:29):

I try and go live when I can in terms of, but it’s not very often, but I try and schedule it so people know that it’s coming up and I get the chance to catch up and chat. I think it is an amazing feature and I really love doing it. It’s such a nice way connect with the people that are supporting you, and I think that the feature itself offers a lot of potential for growth and getting your sort of a channel out there in a way that is instantaneous because people are making the decision whether they want to connect with you within a quick few seconds, sort of a doom scrolling, and it’s a great way to showcase anything you’ve got going on. I kind of see it the way that you would pr yourself if you had a book coming out or a show coming out or something. It’s a chance to do almost like a live interview. And I think people love that exclusivity of seeing what’s going on in your day. And I try and do it as much as I can, but I’ve been pretty bad recently just because I’ve been busy. But I think it’s definitely on my radar to do it more just because it’s such a really great way of building rapport with your followers.

Ross Borden (18:53):

I wanted to talk to you about the Scotland National Soccer team too. Can you tell us about that partnership as well? I just caught a glimpse of that, but it looked really

Stephanie Cheape (19:03):

Cool. Yeah, that’s actually so crazy. We see football, but I know it’s soccer as the translation and

Ross Borden (19:13):

Yeah, sorry, football Scotland

Stephanie Cheape (19:15):

Football team. Yeah, I know. It’s so confusing. But yeah, the national, the Scotland National Football slash soccer team, they reached out to me a few months ago. They were filming an advert for the Euros, which was a huge deal of Scotland, and they were being held in Germany, and so they wanted this advert and there was loads of famous Scottish faces, and I was like, why do they want me there? That’s so random. And anyway, I agreed to the filming and I went to this house and essentially the advert was designed around that scene in The Hangover where they wake up and he’s got a tattoo and there’s a chicken, and there had been this huge house party with all these famous kind of Scottish comedians and actors, and even a live chicken was there, which was a professional acting chicken. And yeah, we filmed advert and I had this kind of scene at the end, and then after the filming they’d said to me, oh, we actually want to use you for something else at a later stage. And I was like, yeah, cool. Just email me, whatever. So that was fine. And then I got contacted again by them during the euros to see that they wanted me to do the first ever a female feature on the Scottish Men’s Football page to showcase how to style the new kit. And I was like, are you sure? Because football fans can be really mean in the comments as well. And I was like, really? You really want me to do a Get Ready with Me video on the football page?

(21:11):

But they really are so open-minded to trends and the team behind the Scotland team, which is part of the Scotch Football Association, they’re so great with this kind of a thing, and they’re such creative guys that are working on the project. So I did that, and then I worked with them a few weeks ago there. They wanted to do a photo shoot, and I did the full advert for, sorry, the new league that’s just started whether we’re playing at Portugal. And it was just a huge moment for the Scotland team, and I still can’t go over that. I’m working with them, but again, that’s just the most bizarre thing to me ever. I’m a huge Scotland fan and they’re my team and I would pay any money to go and see them. So the fact that they are wanting me to work with them is I’m the biggest fan girl ever.

(22:13):

And yeah, again, it’s just such an honor to represent Scotland in that capacity and our relationship is just developing, and I’m really hopeful of a longer term partnership with them because I really want to support more women in sport, and that’s been a huge focus of mine as to get to get more women involved in supporting and playing sport. And that ranges from football to the Scottish rugby, which is American football and golf as well. The open was a huge part of my summer too, so it is just the most amazing thing ever to be part of Scotland sports scene in that sense. Yeah.

Ross Borden (23:05):

So that started as an event that you got invited to and then it became your talent for their videos. Are these online and social on your platform, or are they television and you’re like the spokesperson? How did that evolution happen?

Stephanie Cheape (23:24):

The first advert was on tv, and that was the announcement of the Euros and the team sheet essentially of who was going to be playing. So that was their advert. That’s still on YouTube and things now, but that went out on tv. And then everything else since then has been their sort of social campaigns that they’re doing. So I’ve been working with them across their Instagram and their TikTok, and yeah, we’ve been filming, some of the content has just been filmed by me here, but the last piece that we did a few weeks ago that came out was kind of filmed all around Glasgow, all the sort of iconic locations of Glasgow, and we had a fill crew for that, which was the most fun day ever, actually. It was such a great experience to work with them. So yeah, there’s so many different projects with them and they have a lot of exciting things coming up as well across men’s football and women’s football, but it just kind of shows you that these kind of things can really pop out of nowhere, I guess.

Ross Borden (24:37):

Yeah, I love the evolution. You started, you’re a musician then to promote your music. You started a TikTok, you blew up on TikTok, then you started doing social content. Now you’re full doing, you’re a presenter for big brands and sports teams in Scotland. It’s a pretty amazing evolution. Just shows you, you got to put yourself out there and to your point earlier, be authentic to who you are and good things will

Stephanie Cheape (25:04):

Happen. I think there’s a real fear that people have about being themselves or I get it, because it is just the fear of what will people say. And I think that best thing you can ever do to yourself is whether that’s your process is like therapy or fitness or whatever. If you can put yourself through a process where you learn to truly not care what people think or people have to say, and you’re not basing your decisions on other people’s reactions or opinions is the most freeing thing for your creative brain essentially. And just overcoming that is the best thing you can do for yourself. It’s so freeing and yeah, you just never look back after you can overcome that hurdle. I think

Ross Borden (25:53):

You said your manager was the one who encouraged you to start a TikTok to promote your music. Is your manager for music also your manager for the creator work, or are you represented by a different agency or are you just doing deals with brands on your own? What’s your POV and what’s your advice to other creators? Do you need representation?

Stephanie Cheape (26:19):

I had management established for music before I’d always worked and done music. And the plan was to try and become this musician. And at the time, the pandemic hit, that became impossible. And so I just focused on work and then the creativity thing happened. But I had a really great manager. I had two managers that were really, really great, and they were like, if you want to get a record deal, you’re going to need TikTok and you’re going to need this. And I just couldn’t get on board with it at the start, and then they encouraged me to do it, but funnily enough, life just kind of happened and I decided not to pursue a continuing with thing before things really took off on TikTok. I was a bit burnt out with making music for the end game of a deal, and I just didn’t know if it was me anymore to, I wasn’t really chasing that, if that makes sense.

(27:22):

So I decided to part ways and now I just manage myself. And in between then I have had an agency who I thought it would work, but I realized that no one cares more about what I’m doing than me. And maybe that’s a control freak thing, but I really just, I love creative freedom and honestly, I don’t really like being told what to do if I’m being completely honest. It makes me sound a bit mean, but I really just like having full creative freedom of what I’m doing, and the minute it starts to feel like a job, there’s something in me that rejects that. So to protect that creativity, I just decided to just keep my own counsel and keep my own team. And there are some really close friends who have came to support certain aspects of projects that I’ve wanted to do with filming and so on, and those are my people, but I just keep a really small circle. And to answer your question, no, I don’t think you need a manager. I don’t think you need anyone. I don’t even think you need budget beyond an iPhone or a smartphone with a camera and access to TikTok. I think that’s all you need and your own sense of belief, as cheesy as it sounds, I think that really is all you need, and there’s no one who knows what is going to work on TikTok next. It’s just your own creativity as we’ve seen so many times.

Ross Borden (29:01):

That’s super refreshing to hear because I am always, we work with tons of creators on larger brand projects and the project will have a budget associated with it. And oftentimes what I see is we’re offering pretty good deals in terms of talent fees, and then they go, oh, let me loop in my agent. And then the agent comes in and they’re like, oh, we want more. And then we’re like, well, that’s out of budget. We go with a different creator. And then the creator comes back and they go, what happened? I’m like, your agent turned down like $17,000. You’re toast. You’re out of this program. And it’s like I’ve seen agents lose money for the people they represent so often that I’m like, I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s really a good idea to have a super ambitious agent that’s playing this Hollywood agent game and then you’re actually losing money for the people that you represent, which seems like a bummer for the

Stephanie Cheape (29:59):

Creators. I completely agree. And honestly, that was I guess my experience, the period that I was signed for that couple of months that there was nothing happened within that. And it actually made me start to think, Hey, maybe this has ran its course and I need to go back to vet school. That was the one time that I thought, Hey, maybe this isn’t it. But what I realized was that it wasn’t gelling, the relationship wasn’t gelling. And honestly, there are so many great brands out there that believe in what you’re doing and they want to be part of it. And I think having a third party sort of communicate that relationship, it doesn’t really do much for you as a creator. Everyone I’ve worked with I have a great relationship with and I consider them friends and they’ve been really, really positive experiences. So I think if you can be your own person and be your own manager or whatever, a hundred percent I don’t see a massive space for the middle guy anymore or I’m not sure if

Ross Borden (31:11):

I ever did, but I’m more, I definitely am more on the side of you don’t need that. Yeah, totally agree. Alright, final question. Almost out of time, I ask this to everyone who comes on the show because I think it’s a really interesting question, and I don’t know how many countries you’ve been to, it doesn’t really matter, but if you had to choose three countries and your passport only worked in those three countries, and yes, I’m including Scotland in that, including the US in that, and you’d have to spend the rest of your life in only three countries, what three countries would they be and why?

Stephanie Cheape (31:47):

Definitely countries that I would love to live in would be, of course Scotland, the Netherlands is huge for me. And yeah, the states, I think the states looks great. I would love to live in Texas. I think that the Texas smoke barbecue is calling me at all times, and that’s something on my 2025 list is to go and have a barbecue in Texas and see if it’s as good as I’ve heard. So yeah, the Netherlands, Scotland, and the States,

Ross Borden (32:15):

Netherlands, Scotland’s and the States. Yep. That’s a solid lineup. I like it. And I share your love for the Netherlands. Absolutely. I haven’t really explored much of it, a couples, small cities outside of Amsterdam, but I do love their whole vibe and the way of life there. So I’m with you on that one. We talk to mostly travel creators on this podcast. You in a lot of ways are like, for those of us who don’t live in Scotland are like our window into that country. What about other travel? Have you taken your platform on the road? Have you talked to other travel brands like airlines or destinations, and is there a plan for that or are you passionate about travel where travel is a specific pillar for the kind of content you want to create?

Stephanie Cheape (33:08):

Yeah, so I’m working on a couple of different series for my channel. A lot of people don’t know that languages is a passion of mine, so I guess it’s sort of a gift of the A DHD world where maybe I can absorb things. I’ve always learned language languages from a young age, but that’s kind of opened some windows. Being able to speak Dutch and Spanish has been a really great mechanism to expand that further as well, and opening to those audiences within Europe. Do you

Ross Borden (33:48):

Speak Dutch fluently? You’re like a Dutch speaker?

Stephanie Cheape (33:51):

Not completely fluently, but definitely to a good level. And just honestly, the most hilarious thing is I just learn on apps. There’s no real, I mean, I go to a Spanish school where I live now, but just to keep things up. But Dutch is such a niche thing, but I love the Dutch people. I love it as a country and everything that they’re about, I really, I don’t know, resonate with. I just love the lifestyle there. So I am doing a trip to Holland and I said off camera earlier, we’ve got a tour in the States coming up in February and March as well. And I’m hoping to meet some fans as well in the States and connect with them and travel as much as possible and showcase that cultural difference and just kind of put myself out there. But yeah, I’m really hoping to collaborate with some airline brands and there’s been some other sort of a destination places that I’ve reached out to do some work that we’ve got coming up in the new year, 2025. So yeah, the world’s the oyster at the moment and we’ve got loads coming up, which is super exciting, but it’s definitely on the forefront to expand on the travel and to take it not just within Scotland, but outside of Scotland, and to incorporate our travels that we’ve always wanted to do and showcase that too on the

Ross Borden (35:22):

Channel. Love it. Well, congrats on everything. It sounds like you have all kinds of exciting momentum, and I’m excited to see the Holland content and your trip to the us, which should be amazing. Stephanie, tell everyone where to find you once more, what your channels are, if they want to follow you and follow your adventures.

Stephanie Cheape (35:43):

Yes. Yeah, if you want to follow me, you can follow me on TikTok at Cheap Official and on Instagram at Stephanie Cheap official. And if you want to listen to me, I’m on BBC Radio Scotland every Friday night from eight till 10.

Ross Borden (35:57):

Awesome. Thank you for joining the show, Steph, and we’ll be looking for you on the channels.

Stephanie Cheape (36:03):

Yeah, thank you. And thank you for supporting me as well. You guys were one of the first brands well within Matador network that I ever kind of aspire to work with, and I love what you guys create, and it was so exciting to, that was such a motivational collaboration for me. It was a sign that people overseeing what I was doing. So thank you,

Ross Borden (36:27):

Creator. The podcast is produced by Matador Network. We are leading global travel publisher focused on travel and adventure. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please subscribe. Every week I interview a new top creator. New episodes are released every Tuesday on YouTube, apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere podcasts are found. Thanks for listening.