Someone told me this a long time and I try to remember it every day.
“If your real life worst than your online life, you living life all wrong”
Case in point.
When Lissette Calveiro moved to New York from Miami in 2013, for an internship, she felt like she was living the “Sex and the City” dream.
The now-26-year-old was having brunch with friends and buying new outfits online — and documenting it all on her Instagram account.
Although her social media life looked glamorous, she was struggling financially, given that her internship only paid for a transportation stipend. Living off her savings, she also got a part-time retail job. Even after she moved back to Miami in fall 2013 and landed a full-time publicist gig, Calveiro sank $10,000 into debt trying to live an Instagram-worthy life.
“I was living above my means,” she said.
While living with her parents in Miami, most of her salary went to dining out, shopping sprees and traveling — all to curate a covetable life online.
“I was living a lie,” she said. Although she was earning in the low- to mid-five figures, “Debt was looming over my head.”
Calveiro would treat herself to monthly $200 shopping sprees so she wouldn’t be seen on Instagram wearing the same outfit twice. Every month, she’d also splurge on a designer item, such as a $1,000 vintage Louis Vuitton bag or an accessory from Kate Spade, so she could show it off to her followers.
Then there was the desire to look like a jet-setter, traveling to a new location — such as Las Vegas, the Bahamas and Los Angeles — every month for a year.
“Snapchat had these [geo-] filters [like digital passport stamps] and I wanted to collect at least 12,” Calveiro said.
“Nobody talks about [his or her] finances on Instagram,” she said. “It worries me how much I see girls care about image.”
Flip the pages to see some of her IG adventures.