Angelica Nwandu, creator of The Shade Room, joined our own Anthony Ha on the stage of TechCrunch Disrupt to discuss the growth of her Instagram-first gossip blog. Despite growing The Shade Room to 9.3 million Instagram followers and profitability, Nwandu says she has no interest in an acquisition.
Nwandu attributes her success to meme culture — the ability for large groups to effect change using the internet as a platform. She first recognized the value of her creation when it started influencing the news its writers were covering. And unlike many of her peers, Nwandu stepped back from complete control early on to allow the community around her to have a voice in the stories being written.
“Social media is about the community, and so are we,” explained Nwandu. “People come for the comments and for fellowship with the other roommates, that’s the main purpose, they want to hear what they have to say, it’s a forum.”
The Shade Room…