Interview with Gemma Summer

Disney captures the hearts of millions of people worldwide. Over on Instagram, there is a huge community who dedicate their Insta feeds to the magic. Whether that is posting their pics of their regular trips to Walt Disney World or showing off their new Disney merchandise. Disney has created a community that allows content creators all over the world to share their memories, outfits, and more!

As Walt Disney once said; "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." 

And of course, Walt Disney was right! Curiosity has led thousands of content creators down the path of dedicating their Instagram feed to Disney and all the magic that comes along with it. 

Gemma Summer started her Instagram @GemmaSummer_ back in 2018 to share her love for Disney with other Disney fans and to create an online photo album for herself. Fast forward 3 years and Gemma now has 35k followers and has posted over 1,000 posts!

Here at Vanilla Underground we absolutely love Gemma's feed and the content that she produces so we thought it would be great to (virtually) sit down with Gemma and ask her about all things Instagram and of course, Disney!

Hi I'm Gemma Summer, I'm a Disney, Fashion and Lifestyle content creator from the UK. I first visited a Disney Park when I was 3 years old, and then the obsession started, and since then I've been heading to Walt Disney World every year for the past 23 years!!

Disney is a massive part of my life, and I love to share it with the world over on my Instagram which I started in 2018.

What is your favourite thing about creating content?

I adore the content creation process, and my favourite is seeing it come to life, from an idea in my head, to a mood board and then seeing the finished set up.

I get to be creative off my own ideas and it's a great way to express myself in a way in which I want to and its neither right or wrong, so I love that the content creation has endless opportunities and it's just seeing how far your imagination will take you.

If you could be any Disney Princess, who would you be and why?

Beauty and The Beast is one of my favourite Disney movies so it would have to be Belle. I love what she stands for, she’s a strong independent character, and see’s that beauty is more about what’s on the inside, than the outside. 

What/who inspires you?

Lots of things inspire me, from Pinterest to my fellow content creators. 
It could be people I know or other times it’s seeing someone pop up on my explore page and just thinking wow I would like to create something like that or seeing how well someone has done and wanting to aspire for that same type of success. 
Also, seasonal holidays inspire me a lot to create content around a particular theme, I had a great time creating fun content for Halloween and Christmas this past year and once I took one photo, the ideas started flowing, so I guess you could say I inspire myself sometimes too.  

How long does it take you to create content?

Content creation takes a lot more time than people realise, I didn’t realise how much time it took until I started doing it myself. 

For example, if I'm filming an outfit look book for IGTV or a Reel, this takes about an hour choosing the outfits and setting up my equipment, then over an hour to film, and then an hour to edit and add music if it's an IGTV.
So, the overall content process for a short video takes around three hours of preparation and work behind the scenes. 

For photos it's the same, it's the ideas and set up which takes the most time, once I’ve done that, I know what I want and the angle so I’m usually pretty fast with the photos, but I am a perfectionist so for one Instagram post I will take 50 or so photos to choose from, and then edit with one of my presets to then eventually write the caption to post. 
It takes a lot of hours behind the scene to create Instagram worthy content. 

How did you build up your following?

Theres no real easy way to build up your following, but for me I post a lot of Disney content so I found my niche fairly early on and it was at a time when the Disney community on Instagram was fairly small back in 2018, so I made sure I was a part of that by supporting other Disney content creators and engaging with their content and also taking an interest in what was being posted in my relevant hashtags. 
I made an effort to post at least once a day, and made sure my content was relevant and exciting, and also engaging with my audience helped a lot too. 

What is your favourite Disney park and why?

My favourite Disney Park is Epcot in Walt Disney World, it has always been the one that gives me the Disney feels and I get excited to visit each trip.
Ever since I was little, I’ve loved visiting all the countries around the world showcase and learning about the different cultures, whilst talking to cast members from each country, there’s nowhere else in the world you can do all that in one day and eat all the great food at the same time. 

If you could live by any Disney quote, which one would you choose?

It's actually one from Walt Disney himself - “All Our Dreams Can Come True, If We Have The Courage To Pursue Them” I absolutely love this one!!

Favourite spot to take pictures in Disneyland/ Walt Disney World?

It’s got to be Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom, you know you are at Disney once you get that castle photo. It’s so magical, and I take a photo there every year I visit so it’s like a tradition now. 

Favourite season to style for?

I absolutely loved styling for Halloween last year, so it would have to be spooky season! I am obsessed with Mickey Pumpkins, and there’s just so many cute outfits you can give that spooky Disney style twist on. 

What made you start a Disney/ Disney style account?

I originally started my Disney account in 2018 as I wanted a place to post my Disney photos, and to just share my love of Disney. So it essentially started out as an online photo album really, and it grew into something so much more, and I absolutely adore everything that has come with it. Starting my Disney account was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
I’ve met some amazing friends for life with the same love for Disney as me, and been given so many great opportunities. 

Any advice for people out there who would like to start an Instagram account?

Post what you love, and what makes you happy. Create something different and use your own style to stand out from the crowd and most importantly do it for you and because it is your passion that you want to share with the world, and don’t be in it for the followers. It takes a lot of work but when you love something it doesn’t feel like work at all! 

Top tips for creating a Disney social account:

My top tips are:

1.  Be consistent with your posting.
2. Engage with others in the Disney community, and support each other.
3. Find your niche and what works for you, as what works for one person may not work for you.