“If You’re In For The Long Run, ‘Fake It Till You Make It’ Won’t Work,” Says Karen Wazen

Karen Wazen wears many commendable hats — in addition to being the founder of her eponymous eyewear brand By Karen Wazen, a Partner at investment management company KE Partners, and a recently appointed UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, she also commands a digital audience of more than 15 million followers across social media, including eight million on Instagram alone.

But during a candid fireside chat at the 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai, the entrepreneur and content creator underscored how the weight of accountability only increases with success – a reality for many content creators who’ve built large follower bases across social media.

“Growth is a double edged sword at any stage,” Wazen said. “When you’re starting out a business when you’re relatively unknown and no community in place, there is room for mistakes…you’re allowed to have learning curves. But when you start a business with a community already in place, there is no room for mistakes. So creators need to know what they’re getting into.”

Wazen then reiterated that bypassing hard work isn’t an option despite the exposure offered by social media. “Nothing that you build is easy – there is no successful person who hasn’t put in the work,” she said. “For me, it took some hard work to start out, of course. But what I want to point out is that maintaining that success is just as difficult if not more.”

Wazen also shared the importance of celebrating small wins just as much as the big ones. “We recently reached the numbers that we’d wanted for so long but it took me just a few minutes to scroll online and see the numbers that another company had made, and immediately feel like we’d not done enough…but that is so unfair!” she said. “It is not healthy to dismiss the achievements you’ve made. Celebrating the small wins is so important, but reaching that mindset is a work in progress. And you have to remember, being paid is not just being paid in cash. This is an investment. But being paid can also be in credibility, networking, building contacts – all of this also hold a lot of value to me.”

Sharing that her biggest lesson so far has been to avoid collaborations that don’t align with her values, Wazen stated that pretending to adopt a certain persona does not guarantee longevity and sustainable growth.

“The ‘fake it till you make it’ mindset depends on till where you want to make it,” she said. “If you’re in for a quick buck or quick wins, it may work. But if you’re in it for the long run, ‘fake it till you make it’ won’t work. So, for me, I need to always work on something that feeds into my larger purpose. Even the small goals and projects must always be there to support the larger goal. Otherwise I won’t take it on.”