Paulina Porizkova speaks at the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi Monday.
Colin Baldwin/ForbesWhen Paulina Porizkova began modeling at 15 years old, she often felt more like a puppet than a person.
“You were not in control of your body, your face, and you certainly were not in control of your voice,” said Porizkova, now 56, at the inaugural Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi on March 7. “I became very successful, but when I was the most seen, I was the least heard.”
The rise of social media companies like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram gave celebrities like Porizkova power over their brands and images for the first time.
But for Porizkova, a supermodel-turned-actress and author, it wasn’t until after the tragic death of her husband, former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, in 2019 that she felt ready to show the public her real personality. “It brought me to a place where I couldn’t just post happy pictures of me wearing handbags and makeup, and making food,” Porizkova said. “I started posting my feelings about grief.” Soon she took to Instagram to share her difficult experience and start conversations with others going through similar hardships.
Like Porizkova, TikTok star and singer Loren Gray and Crowd Surf cofounder and co-CEO Cassie Petrey happened into social media stardom by accident.
Speaking at the Forbes 30/50 Summit in Abu Dhabi Monday, the three told Forbes Assistant Managing Editor Diane Brady about how social media has shaped their careers, personal lives and industry clout.
When it comes to social media, the three share the same strategy: be open, honest and vulnerable.
Forbes Assistant Managing Editor Diane Brady speaks with Loren Gray, Cassie Petrey and Paulina Porizkova at the inaugural Forbes 30/50 Summit.
Colin Baldwin/ForbesAs the first Central European supermodel to pose on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Porizkova, who has about 736,000 Instagram followers, has taken to social media to share raw experiences that vastly differ from the fantasy life of a glossy magazine cover. Porizkova, who grew up in Czechoslovakia when it was occupied by the Soviet Union, recently tweeted about how Instagram removed a post, about her rough childhood and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for violating the platform’s content rules.
Like Porizkova, Gray was also in the limelight from a young age, gaining a large social media audience at age 13. The Pennsylvania native quickly grew her fanbase, amassing over 75 million followers across TikTok and Instagram combined, calling her popularity an “awesome accident.” To take cash in on her digital stardom, Gray has launched her own jewelry brand, &always, and has partnered with brands Alphabet’s Android, Revlon and Clarins to power social media campaigns.
Petrey, a Hollywood powerplayer who has done social media management for Britney Spears and Steven Tyler (her clientele also includes Gray), has used social media as pathway to entrepreneurship. A Forbes Under 30 Lister with 40,800 Instagram followers, she cofounded digital marketing company Crowd Surf that now has 50 employees and provides media services to stars such as Camila Cabello, Backstreet Boys and Becky G.
Petrey’s strategy? Openness. “I think these platforms have sort of evolved to where you don’t have to be ‘on’ all the time,” Petrey said. “You can be more honest and share the hard things that are going on in your life. That’s what people want now.”
For Petrey, the trend of polished and heavily edited social media accounts is on its way out.
Gray’s advice for building social media influence is to be authentic and honest. While the space can be harshly negative, full of internet trolls, security threats and criticism, Gray said the positive side of social media still outweighs the downsides. Still, the three agreed social media giants must add more protection, privacy and controls for their billions of customers.
“I don’t know what the next big social media platform is going to be,” says Petrey. “But I think the ones that go out of their way to protect the people are going to win.”
