Meet Sel and Amelia, the two people behind one of Instagram’s most aesthetic accounts, rogue.society. In this casual chat we talk about the joys of interacting with a community, co-running a platform and the creative process behind their uploads.
Fiona: How old are you?
Sel: 18
Amelia: I’m 15 years old.
F: How do you two know each other and what inspired you to start your Instagram account?
Sel: We didn’t know each other initially, a while back I had an application out looking for a new co-owner and Amelia stood out most to me. She took a break to deal with school and stuff and now I’m grateful to have her back with me, she’s very reliable and our followers definitely love interacting with her.
F: Amelia, what drew you to rogue.society?
Amelia: I came across rogue.society in the explore page and thought to myself, “wow this page is so inspirier and unique” and when I heard that she was co-owning, I thought it would be a great opportunity to build a friendship with Sel and all of the other followers. I also thought it would be amazing to give others hope and maybe inspire them to do the same thing for other individuals who are in need.
F: What does your creative process look like before you upload a new image and how much time do you put into your account?
Sel: Well if I’m being honest my theme has gotten to be pretty basic lately. Not many people know but I do not write the quotes on my page, they all are from other sources. At this point with my page… I mean I’ve had it for about 3, Almost 4 years now… I can throw together a post in less than 2 minutes and post it. I’m deciding whether or not I’ll be changing things up in the near future to bring my sense of creativity back but I haven’t had the time due to my personal life.
Amelia: Our creation process is actually very simple and we get a lot of requests such as what apps apps we use, where the quotes are from, etc. We use picsart and WeHeartIt for our aesthetic theme and we mostly create our own quotes! If we can’t think of any, we find other quotes on blogs, websites, etc. We put a lot of hard work and dedication into out account.
F: What have been the most and least rewarding experiences for you in the online world?
Sel: Most rewarding would be some of the DM’s I receive. It’s crazy to me how some of my posts impact other lives and the feedback is amazing. Least rewarding would be that it exists solely online. Nobody really knows me as a person on my account and that’s something I’d like to improve upon.
Amelia: The most rewarding experiences I’ve had with rogue.society I’d have to say are when people actually speak to us and say that we are their inspirations and that we brighten up their days when they see us in their timeline. I don’t ever reckon having a least rewarding experience on rogue.society. We encounter lots of amazing people.
F: Sel, have you ever thought about starting a blog? It’s a great way to interact on a very personal level (depending on how much you wish to share) and can serve as an amazing creative outlet.
Sel: I’ve thought about it but I personally don’t think I’d have as large of a following in the case of a personal blog and that’s what has stopped me from going that route.
F: What about you, Amelia?
Amelia: I have thought about it every now and then. Knowing that I’m a very outspoken person, I believe that it would be an amazing social outlet for me and a great way to let myself vent.
F: Do the quotes / images you upload reflect on your personal mood?
Amelia: Most of the time yes, it does reflect on my mood and how I feel.
F: How would you describe your working relationship? Have you had any organisational difficulties due to the fact that you exclusively correspond online?
Sel: It’s pretty easy going. Both Amelia and I understand the basics of how my feed is laid out and we post accordingly. We hardly communicate with each other directly at all.
Amelia: Our working cooperation is great in fact! Since Selena works now, I do my best to keep us active and interact with our followers. Sometimes it gets difficult. Especially when she’s working and I’m in school, but we always plan ahead and try to keep ourselves up do date.
F: Are you looking to go into the creative industry career-wise?
Sel: Most likely not, it’s this point in my life where I haven’t decided what field I want to pursue.
Amelia: I have always thought about that and yes, it’s something I would look forward to in life.
F: What song would you currently pick to be the theme song of your life?
Amelia: 44 Bars by Logic.
F: Last question – do you have any final words for your followers?
Amelia: My last words would have to be: I love you guys. I’m so thankful for each and every one of you who decided to follow rogue.society and remain to stay with us. We help each other with our problems, even if we really don’t know each other. All of you are so understanding and kind-hearted and I can’t thank any of you enough. I’m so grateful.💓
A special thank you goes to Sel and Amelia for letting me interview them.
Click here to visit their Instagram page @rogue.society!
About this series:
The Person Behind is an interview series I started on this blog to ask fellow creatives about themselves and their work. In this online-dominated world the way we communicate and work has shifted – blogs, Instagram accounts and YouTube channels are one of the most common ways of expressing ourselves and sharing our art. To shed light on this, The Person Behind focuses mainly on online personalities and their individual platforms.
Sticky Situation 