This week’s episode of “The Community Corner” features an interview with founder and CEO of Zfluence, Ava McDonald (COL ’24). ZFluence facilitates marketing relationships between companies and their younger customers through the use of Generation-Z-aged influencers.
Tune in to hear McDonald talk more about ZFluence, and her experience as an entrepreneur in college. McDonald also offers advice for future aspiring young business owners.
Podcast Transcript:
MR: From The Hoya, I’m Mia Rasamny (COL ’24), and this is the Community Corner, a weekly show about the lives and stories of Hoyas near and far from the Hilltop. This week multimedia staffer Amna Shamim was on a mission to learn more about entrepreneurship and its relationship to Generation Z’s. So she sat down with founder and CEO of Zfluence, Ava McDonald. Here’s Shamim with more.
AS: Titled the “Dating App Between Brands and Their Gen Z Fans,” McDonald works with big brands such as Benefit, Olaplex and Sperry by connecting them with Generation Z (Gen Z) members, titled Zfluencers, who can help them market to other members of Gen Z. Zfluencers come from all Gen-Z backgrounds, but most of them are current college students from over 1,500 American universities.
AM: I started Zfluence about three years ago, when I was a junior in high school. We have since built ourselves into a network of more than 4,000 influencers with a total reach of more than 40 million Gen-Z consumers, which is a staggering figure every time that I think about it.
AS: When McDonald was in high school, she was scrolling through Instagram and saw a celebrity-endorsed advertisement that made her cringe. She realized that these influencer ads were not at all effective in advertising to her generation, Gen Z. So, she asked her friends for confirmation: What did they want to see in an endorsed advertisement?
AM: I thought to myself that members of Gen-Z can really easily see through those transparent pay-to-say sponsorships and the people who I really take my product advice from are my friends. So maybe I’m with my friends in the dorms asking for recommendations on clothing brands or any other kind of product. And it’s those people who I’m actually going to trust because they have so much credibility thinking about that I did some research because I thought to myself something like this must exist. And when I found out that it didn’t, I thought oh, okay, let’s create it myself. I launched Zfluence in March of 2019 and since launching, we’ve been able to work with incredible clients from startups to Fortune Five Hundred companies, and tons of different industries and connect them with tons of influencers who authentically love and want to share their companies with their friends.
AS: As McDonald juggles the positions of CEO and student, she emphasizes the importance of “work-work” balance and staying organized.
AM: I try to make sure that I have a great work-life balance and for me, this is devoting certain hours of my day to going to my office space. I put all of my classes into blocks, so when I’m on campus, I can be on campus and present and thinking about my classes.
AS: While maintaining a balance can be difficult, McDonald is truly passionate about both positions.
AM: Every day is different, which makes things really interesting. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the challenge and excitement of balancing entrepreneurship with classes and I love that I’m able to get a really great education while also furthering my business.
AS: Coming to Georgetown has only helped McDonald’s experience with business, as being around other members of Gen Z has resulted in many Hoya Zfluencers.
AM: I’ve been able to interact with lots of other Gen Z’s. And I think that that’s the best thing. And the thing that Georgetown has really contributed is that I’ve been able to talk to so many people; I’ve been able to hear about their different life experiences, the brands that they love; I reach out to and some of those have joined our platform. And the more Gen-Z’s — I think I need just as a product of my everyday life. I think I am a better entrepreneur because it is that exposure that helps me to create a network of influencers that is the most representative of Gen Z as a whole. So I think that that’s been really great. And all of my friends and peers have been incredibly supportive of Zfluence and always want to learn more. So that’s been really great.
AS: McDonald works with many brands, from big companies to nonprofits and startups, and anything in between that needs a platform to reach Gen Z members more effectively.
AM: We really work with all different types of brands. We work with nonprofits, publicly traded companies, Fortune 500 startups — as I mentioned earlier, it really depends. Any company that wants to reach Gen Z more effectively, I always say, is a perfect fit for our platform. And of course, across tons of different industries. We’ve worked with beauty companies, we’ve worked with apps and tech companies, apparel, even college centric kinds of companies.
AS: So, how does it work? Well Zfluencers recommend brands they like and want to work with to Zfluence, and Zfluence gets to work in setting up their influencer-brand relationship. Zfluence essentially facilitates the relationship between the brand and the influencer in order to ensure the advertisement’s authenticity.
AM: We will get recommendations from the influencers of brands that they love and want to work with. We’ll reach out and we’ll talk to the brands, get them on the platform, get them subscribed in a plan that’s right for them and then enable them to connect with their Gen Z fans and build really powerful brand ambassador relationships.
AS: Although graduation is still a couple years away, McDonald plans to continue Zfluence after college, hoping to expand its reach even further.
AM: So after graduating my plan is to continue working on Zfluence. I’m really, really grateful that I have found my passion so early on in my life and something that I enjoy doing. And Zfluence is something that excites me every day and is a job that I don’t consider work, which is really great. It’s really fun.
AS: Since McDonald was able to discover and follow through with her passion at a young age, her career security has made her stay more present both in class and throughout her Georgetown experience.
AM: As a result of feeling that kind of security, and then I found what I really, really enjoy doing, I’m really able to enjoy and engage in my classes and not feel so much more pressure when it comes to performance in grades, which I think in turn actually helps me to do better with my schoolwork. But I’m really able to pay attention and be present. And that’s been really great. But my ultimate goal, of course, at Georgetown is to continue making wonderful friendships. I’m involved in a number of organizations here on campus that I like to be really actively involved in, and just to graduate knowing that I’ve had the full Georgetown experience because I definitely don’t want to sacrifice my college experience for Zfluence. And vice versa. So feeling like I’ve had a great balance where I’m able to get a little bit of everything, is my goal for when I graduate eventually.
AS: For those students who are aspiring entrepreneurs, McDonald has some advice for you.
AM: I think that being a young person sets you up in a really, really unique way to launch a powerful business, and to be a great business person. And I have faced my fair share of doubts from adults who don’t think that people who are my age — or our age — are in the position to start successful businesses. But I think that as young people, we have a really interesting perspective, especially when it comes to tech and the digital world and social media that a lot of older people who own businesses do not have and really want to get at. So I think that finding something that you’re passionate about, that you’re also good at, and identifying a problem that you see. It doesn’t have to be world peace. For me I just really noticed a lack of authenticity on social media that bothered me and I thought that I knew a way that things could be better on both the brand and the influencer sides. And that’s why I launched Zfluence. So thinking about just the areas in your life that you could improve, and utilizing the natural capabilities that you have as a young person and that really unique perspective. Finding a way to intersect all of those different things and creating a product is something I encourage anyone to do. I think it’s a great thought exercise even if you don’t take it beyond that kind of thought stage. But I also think it’s the breeding ground for really powerful ideas that can become companies, that make a really huge impact, that are more powerful and valuable to companies than we think.
AS: This podcast was recorded by Amna Shamim and edited and produced by Mia Rasamny. Special thanks to Ava McDonald for taking the time to speak with The Hoya.
