NATALIA PARR
Founder, Parr Creative Agency | Age: 20
Twenty-year-old Natalia Parr established the Parr Creative Agency when she was 18. Today, it’s a six-figure social media management and digital strategy agency that works with local organizations aiming to raise St. Louis’ profile, including Explore St. Louis, Pattan & Co., STL Bucket List, Food City, the Gateway Foundation and the University of Missouri-St. Louis Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center.
“Natalia's core clientele are St. Louis firms who work to uplift the region,” her nominator, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville communications professor Sarah VanSlette, wrote. “These clients seek out Natalia's work because in her captivating digital storytelling, her love for St. Louis shines through.”
What makes you good at social media management and digital strategy? What should the broader public know about this work? Social media is about so much more than snapping pretty pictures and using hashtags. It’s a multifaceted industry, from content creation to platform management to paid advertising to influencer marketing. To thrive in this space, you need a combination of a deep understanding of audience behavior and consumer patterns along with the ability to pivot and adapt to trends in the blink of an eye.
I like to think my hyperactive brain gives me an edge. I’m fiercely curious about the brands I work with and the people who engage with them. I constantly tweak messaging, refine content and improve interactions based on what I learn about our audiences. It’s all about finding that sweet spot where a brand’s voice and purpose aligns with what people are looking for!
What I wish the broader public understood is that effective social media management is about building genuine connections, not just racking up likes and followers. You have to stay on top of platform changes, incorporate and understand user data to inform your decisions and craft stories that deeply align with your brand, while connecting with your audience.
Are there any clients that are good case studies of the work you do? My work focuses on the social impact, startup, arts and culture sectors, and I’ve had the pleasure of partnering with a diverse range of clients. From the tutoring startup Top Tutors For Us to UMSL’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center and the Gateway Foundation, which includes projects like Citygarden and Arch Relamping to the Delmar Loop to creating content for Karlie Kloss’s Kode With Klossy camps, I feel deeply grateful for every opportunity to help advance their missions through good social media and email communications.
My work with Food City STL is some of my best! Food City by the Serving Our Communities Foundation is dedicated to creating a more inclusive, sustainable food ecosystem in the St. Louis metro area. I truly love the mission and core values of the brand, and it’s a privilege to help amplify the voices and stories that come from this project. I’ve worked with a team of agencies and creatives like Pattan & Co., Hello And Studio, My Friends And I, Keisha Mabry and Sara Bannoura to build the Food City brand and community. Food City’s social channels are a reflection of the organization’s collaborative, people-centered culture.
I’m also thankful for my work with STL Bucket List and StLouisGram, the two largest Instagram pages in the city. Over the past three years, working with the amazing team at Bucket List has been a fantastic journey. I’ve gained so much knowledge and experience, and it’s been a great opportunity to perfect my craft in community building and curation.
How do the economics of this business work? Do you have retainer agreements, or do they pay for specific projects? Can we get a sense of the dollars and cents? The majority of my work is done through long term retainer agreements. This allows me to provide my clients with ongoing, dedicated support for their social media and community-building efforts while allowing me to dive deep into their brand, get to know their customers and develop and implement strategies that work, pivoting as needed and leaning in to what’s working. I also take on smaller projects which might include launching a new campaign, providing content or consultation for a specific event/activation, or offering training sessions for a client's team.
Where do you see this industry going in the future? What developments are you excited about? I believe that social media, like anything, happens in cycles. When you look at platforms when they started, everything felt raw and real. We were tweeting our random thoughts, snapping blurry selfies on iPhone 4’s and (unintentionally) photo-dumping our experiences into Facebook albums without a second thought.
As platforms matured, social transitioned to over-polished and over-produced content. Consumers, celebrities and brands started curating our online personas, making everything look perfect and, oftentimes, way too artificial. During the pandemic we returned back to those gritty roots, as we all craved connection. Trends like photo dumps made a comeback, and platforms that celebrated authenticity, like TikTok and BeReal, gained major traction.
Moving forward I see Gen Z and Gen Alpha pushing for a lot more transparency, connectivity and participation. We want to feel like we’re part of a community, not just passive consumers.
AI is a hot topic, and I’m excited to see how its widespread adoption is integrated within social platforms. Facebook already uses AI learning to do so much from curating your feed, to recognizing your face in photos to targeting users with advertising. Instagram has rolled out an AI chatbot in-app, and now images can opt for a AI-generated label on instagram
It's really interesting to note the contradiction in these trends. With consumers, we're seeing a desire for authenticity and real human connection, especially among younger generations. They're craving transparency and genuine interactions in their social media experiences. On the other hand, we're witnessing the integration of AI into the same platforms. While AI can enhance user experiences and can be helpful on the back end, it's inherently not human. I’m interested to see how platforms, brands, and users will be able to strike a balance!
Click on the links below to read profiles of this year's Inno Under 25 honorees:
