Meet Mercedes (Blaze) Porter of Denver

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mercedes (Blaze) Porter

Hi Mercedes, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I used to work as a mechanic. During the pandemic, I ended up downloading TikTok and began to create videos. I missed going to EDM shows and music festivals and I was able to reconnect with my community via social media. My videos began to gain a lot of attention despite me only being able to make them after a long day of work and in my few days off in between. Multiple kinds of companies began to reach out and offer deals for promotion and advertising and now I work social media full time, promote music events, model for outfit and product companies, and inspire people with fashion and makeup looks! I now work remote full time and it’s very rewarding and amazing work!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There were many financial struggles. Nothing in school could have prepared me for how to emotionally and financially deal with figuring out the ways of the internet. I was barely making any money at all in the beginning while also working full time on cars. The internet is also very mentally exhausting. People can be horrible on social media so working through what I was in taking on a daily basis was a massive mental adjustment. Also working through my morals of what I’m willing to advertise for, knowing my self worth and financial benefit to companies that rarely inform you of how much they think your content is worth. I’ve also lived in my own apartment since I was 19, I just moved to Denver from Seattle a few months ago, so pulling everything off as a young adult (I’m currently 23 years old) has been difficult especially mostly being on my own.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m best known in the EDM (electronic dance music) Industry. I primarily create comedy/skit content. Even if I’m not necessarily always getting paid for every video I make, I find the most reward in knowing that I made someone smile. I love inspiring people through my fashion and style. One of my favorite things to do is makeup related content. It’s such a beautiful feeling when people send me pictures of them recreating the makeup looks that I created. Especially when I’m at an event and someone walks up to me with their makeup inspired from me, it brings happy tears to my eyes every time. I’ve always had, for lack of a better term, an interesting sense of fashion, and I’ve never really been scared to show it. I know that not everyone gets down with it, but it makes me happy, and it also inspires others to feel like they can express themselves too. I don’t seek validation from everyone. I know that’s impossible. So it doesn’t hurt when people disagree with my fashion or my content, because I know that there’s people out there that support and love what I do. That’s plenty for me, even if money isn’t involved! I’ve always loved making people feel happy and accepted because I know what it’s like to not feel that way.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I’d say I’m quite fortunate for how things ended up for me. It has been a quite lonely journey at times and there has been many hardships and unfortunate events throughout my life. The thing is, I’ve never let those unfortunate experiences define me. Yeah, I get sad sometimes and feel like giving up. However, every day that I keep going and keep perusing what I do and I continue helping others smile, I feel like karma has done me wonders.

For example, at one of my lowest lows last year, I ended up coming across a van that was for sale. I needed to desperately get out of the situation I was in, and I put every penny of my savings into that van to convert it to be suitable to live out of. I spent about three months on the road by myself and came across so many amazing opportunities and massively boosted my career. Sure, it may have seemed like a financially less than ideal situation in the moment, but the long term payoff was worth it. I believe that what goes around comes around.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baby._.blazee

Image Credits
@luisdcolato on instagram took the picture with the black and green checkered body suit