Managing my friend's social media made me feel like a fraud, so here's my apology, roses
captured by royel, 2025, fashion district
🎧 darkest hour / someone new — astrid s
Alright, look—I don't just tell this story to anyone, so pay attention.
2015 was when I accidentally became this social media wizard. Not because I cracked some algorithm or anything, but because I actually gave a damn about connecting with people. It started at this Susanne Conrad goal coaching thing that honestly felt less like a seminar and more like someone shaking me awake.
So this friend of mine—just a friend, by the way—had just landed a role on Pretty Little Liars. Everything was moving fast, auditions were crazy, and her social media was basically a disaster. That's where I came in. I wasn't just managing accounts; I was telling her story.
I started calling her fans "the roses." Not as some marketing gimmick—it just felt right, you know? More personal. Those group chats on premiere nights became this weird safe space for me. We weren't just talking about a TV show; we were building something real, sharing these moments between all the drama and plot twists.
But here's the thing—I started feeling like a fraud. All this curated content, the performance of it all... it felt spiritually empty. I was guiding these young women through something that wasn't totally honest, and that didn't sit right with me.
San Diego changed everything. Cheap tacos, deep conversations with a mentor and his son, just peeling back all these layers I didn't even know I had. ELIXIR wasn't just a magazine project—it was me trying to find my way back to something genuine.
Looking back now, I get it. The real truth? Being authentic isn't some religious thing. It's about being brutally honest. It's stripping away all the fake stuff we put out there and just being real.
These days, everything I do is in-house. No middlemen. No filters. Just the raw, honest truth.
To the roses who were there then and are still here now: this is me. All of me. No apologies. Just proof that real connection still matters.
Mitchell Royel