The story of Grace Sunny, social media manager, skills coach, and branding expert
This story is the transcript of this YouTube video.
Sunny’s LinkedIn profile can be found here.
My definition of success, when I was still in a call center, was like earning money and being able to be independent and all that stuff. But my definition of success now is learning and living the life that I want.
Antsa: I’m Antsa and it is my pleasure to bring to you this story today. We will hear from Grace Sunny, who is a social media manager, skills coach, and branding expert. Thank you so much, Sunny, for joining me today.
Sunny: Yeah, thank you so much for inviting me. It’s a great pleasure to be here with you. Would you please tell us about yourself? I’m Sunny. I’m now 24 years old, and I teach people online. I teach practical skills online, like how to craft Facebook posters, how to create short videos with CapCut, And yeah, some tools that you will need in your daily life, like let’s say Excel or anything like that. And yeah, that’s why I say I’m a skills coach. I run my own company in Madagascar, which is Better You. We teach robotics to kids in Madagascar. And lastly, I’m a social media manager where I help business owners with their online presence.
Antsa: Where did you grow up and go to school? And are there any interesting, fun stories you have about that?
I grew up in the capital city of Antananarivo.
One thing I loved to do when I was a kid was listen to music while my auntie was playing the music background. And I was pretending to be the singer myself. Not that much of a funny story, but it’s more about musical things for myself.
Antsa: So who or what influenced you to become who you are now?
Sunny: The one that influenced me to become who I am now is, uh, I can say that it’s my faith community because. Before I was not a good student. Let me be honest with you. I’m not, I don’t have good grades. I was about to abandon my studies, but, um, One thing that made me realize is that we are always taught in our faith community that learning is the most valuable thing. So I can say it’s my faith community and my parents that influenced me to be who I am now.
Antsa: Who are the greatest inspirations in your career and life?
Sunny: It’s still my faith community and still my parents and uh Dr. Myles Munroe. I read books by Dr. Myles Munroe and this year I want to read five more books of the books that he has written.
Antsa: What else are you passionate about? Do you have dogs, hobbies, plants? Would you please tell us about them?
Sunny: We have a whole zoo at home. We have an aquarium we fish, we have turtles, we have chickens, we have dogs, and we have a cat whose name is Tulip.
Antsa: Who among them is your favorite?
Sunny: Tulip is my favorite.
This is a, like, a story that is so strange, but yeah, I do sing to my animals if they are sick, And while I sing, I also take care of them. And they feel better after a few days.
Antsa: Is there a funny, amusing, or unusual event that’s happened in your world lately?
Sunny: There’s one thing I’ve been doing lately is that I keep track of my objectives and actionable steps in an Excel file. I can show you that later. But yeah, that’s what I do lately. I am used to, you know, just putting my objectives in a Word file. But this year, I put it in Excel, like, so I can track, and keep track of my goals. Yeah.
Antsa: How was your academic journey?
Sunny: I wasn’t a star student. My grades weren’t the best. I wasted, like, two years in 2014. And I couldn’t, I don’t think I could ever actually, I didn’t think I could ever actually graduate in high school, but luckily I did. But then my mom inspired me to pursue higher education. And I chose law studies because there’s a famous saying that, ignorance of the law excuses no one.
Antsa: I saw that you study at CNTEMAD. Why did you choose to study at CNTEMAD specifically?
Sunny: I, to be honest with you, to be honest with you, I didn’t, I thought I could make it to the university entrance exam at Ankatso, where I wanted to pursue higher education in English, but unlucky for me, I didn’t pass it. So I chose the CNTEMAD because it was like an alternative for my studies. but later on, I found out that yeah low was the best uh yeah it was the best decision I’ve ever made yeah it worked for me so what did you do to make sentiment work for you so um it worked for me um because I had no other choices I mean I for the first uh year it was hard. But then I was motivated because I passed my first-year exam. So I continued. Yeah. And so I learned on the web. I learned with YouTube. I read books and all that stuff, which is important when you are a law student.
Antsa: You started building the skills you are using today while you were a customer service advisor at Intelcia. I have worked in customer service before and I know it is tough. Would you share with us how did you manage your time?
Sunny: Let me take you back to 2020. Actually, in 2019, I was hired as a customer agent. I was still a junior at that time. So I was working full time for the whole year. And then I switched to a part-time job. I mean, I asked to be part-time. Well, I was it was a game changer for me, like switching from full-time to part-time, because when you work full-time in a call center, as you said, it’s very hard to work while you study. But I was in the morning. I am studying. I’m learning and I’m reading books. And in the afternoon, I started to work from 4 p.m. to 9 pm. So it worked. Yeah. But I’m not the kind of person who is age 24 in my books and learning. I’m not really like that. I just study like 30 minutes a day or 10 minutes and that’s all for me.
Antsa: I saw you study that ETP. Is there a technique that you learned there that anyone can apply in their language-learning journey? I was not accepted into the university entrance, so that’s why I chose ETP and CNTEMAD at the same time. So what I’ve learned with ETP is that I think I couldn’t have learned it in the university if I were pursuing higher education in English, is the oral presentation part. At ETP, we were taught to… to present in front of a whole class I mean like 20 people watching you or even more so uh because I’m a very was a very shy person you know um that that’s something I learned with ETP like how to present yourself in front of a whole people and how to speak with confidence.
Antsa: Now tell us about the challenge you faced as a student and how you overcame it?
Sunny: a challenge I faced was procrastination. But how did I manage to overcome procrastination? First of all, I switched to part-time. And secondly, I keep track of what I do every day. That’s what I do.
Antsa: Now, we have a question from Herimampionona Zeze Frankie. (The question is in Malagasy but I’ll only put the translation here)
What do you do to maintain discipline?
Sunny: In November, I start planning my goals for the coming year. I put my goals in an Excel sheet. (The video has more details) I have a check box for each daily habit and daily activity. You have goals you want to achieve, therefore you need to set what you are going to do every day to achieve them! To maintain discipline you need to convince yourself that you have to do this activity. You need to be convinced of the consequences of not doing those activities. And you need to do that before the start of the year!
Antsa: Why did you choose to volunteer at Sciences Physiques et Avenir?
Sunny: I love their work because it matches with Better You. They have some programs in schools and teach kids. And Better You does that also. Better You teaches robotics and electronics to kids in schools as well. So I love their work. I want to go deeper.
Antsa: So what are the benefits of volunteering?
Sunny: When you give your time to a good cause, like, I mean, I’m talking about a cause that you really support. Like, let’s say for me, for example, I personally love kids. So when you give time to them, you are feeling fulfilled. That’s one of my core values. I want to… If you see me, I do like so many stuff. I’m so curious and all that stuff because I really want to… to be fulfilled, to live life to the fullest. And also, you grow your network. You meet other people that are really, wow, these people are so good, so genius. So what types of activities are you involved in in those organizations? The same thing. I’m doing like, you know, I’m crafting some Facebook posters for people. But basically, that’s just it. Because in terms of my time, sometimes it doesn’t match with the schedule. So that’s why I do most of the things online. Yeah, but I do also give to those kind of organizations.
Antsa: When did you realize you want to become a social media manager, skill coach, and branding expert? And how did that happen?
Sunny: First of all, I have to start with my two activities. So I’m an entrepreneur and a freelancer. As an entrepreneur, I run a company which is registered in Madagascar. And as a freelancer, I help business owners online over social media market management. And also I teach online. I have been contacted by an organization. When I was working in a call center in 2022, I was like a burnout. Oh, yeah. In a burnout. And I already knew I wanted to do some other things back in 2021. But I felt like I was not recognized in a way that I should have been recognized. I mean, I… I switched from junior and then confirmed and then senior. But I did not leap to go any further. And I’ve also watched my options if I were to grow in a regular company. Like, should I become a coach or a team leader? So then I… It just came from nowhere that I was like, oh, I’m going to start my own company. What do I like to do? What do I want to be? I mean, I know how to coach people. I know this and that tool. I mean, I can be of good help to this kind of people. So I quit. I put in my letter, resignation letter, and quit. I started in August 2022 with my company, Better You. We were contacted by few schools in Madagascar to teach in schools. And later on, I also realized because I was already doing community management in Better You, you know, I was already doing community management. So I saw that I had also the potential to grow, uh, uh, engagement in, let’s say, a Facebook page. Before that also, I was already posting into groups, and people were reacting to what I said and replying to my comments. And I was like, oh, that too is something I can do. So that’s how I started with social media management and Better You, my company.
Antsa: You already have told me about this before, but is your Master of Laws degree relevant to your freelancing service and your entrepreneurship?
Sunny: Speaking of freelance services, yeah, I have helped a few business owners with company registration, but that’s just it. I’m not doing any other things than that. It’s just what I know, how to register, bring out the documents, set up the company, go to EDBM, and all that stuff. That’s something I also do for business owners. What is BeckerU and why did you find it? Better You is like some personal thing for me. As I told you earlier, I was in a total burnout. I felt like I was not at my full potential. So that’s how I created Better You, which is a company that creates and connects talent to businesses. For the moment, we do not yet connect. Yeah, I’ve had the possibility earlier. to hire people, but it was not consistent. But that’s one thing we really plan to do this year: connect Malagasy talents to business owners or to brands. And we create talents in a way that for the moment, I mean, for the moment, we only teach robotics for kids at school. Yeah. Wow. That’s what we do at the moment.
Antsa: We have a question from Sarah Rakotomalala. (question in French) How did you start finding clients
Sunny: As I am a social media girl, let’s say, my clients, I found via social media. I met my first client on Facebook. I saw his ad and I wrote him a message. And we started the conversation. In any situation, to find clients, First of all, you have to be sure of the value that you are going to bring to the person. And second, you have to address his needs. You heard me earlier, I was doing a lot of things, but I’m not going to directly offer that to everyone. What I mean is, that you just have to address your initial need. Then you can offer him other things. And that’s what I do. The third thing is that you just have to address the right person. If you don’t also address the right person, you won’t find your client. You must have an audience. For example, with Better You, we have a specific audience that is not the same as the audience I have with my online activities. I address more to people who are new entrepreneurs, and people who do online ventures for my social media management. But with Better You, we address institutions in Madagascar for the moment. Not institutions like universities, but high schools or junior high schools and all that. So you just have to have a specific audience. What is your audience? You have to address this audience and answer the needs of this audience.
Antsa: Our next question is, what are the pros and cons of freelancing?
Sunny: I don’t want to say cons. Because I was still, I just, you know, I’m not, I do not consider myself as a really, you know, I was not in this field for a long time. I just started in 2022. Okay. So for the moment, I did not experience any customers who did not pay me. for the moment. But, as I would say the cons are like, when they pay you, it can take time. You know, you have to say like, uh, you have to, to go over some emails again and like, uh, type in some emails, like how about the, the payment of this stuff. But for the moment I did not experience any customer who did not pay, but the delay is, yeah. It’s not that cool. And the pros are that you can, like, when you are a freelancer, you don’t necessarily work online. But let’s say you are a freelancer and you work online. You can travel while you’re working. That’s what I do. I mean, yeah, I do travel. to some communes and all that stuff. And you can also do many other jobs. You are like, um, it’s not like you’re an employee anymore with, uh, the relationship between you and your clients because when you are a freelancer, you consider them more as your clients, not your boss. So that’s one of the benefits.
Antsa: So do you have international clients?
Sunny: I do. But to be honest with you, I don’t have that many clients. But that’s still one of my goals. I still, I mean, I teach online and I have a few clients, let’s say.
Antsa: Would you consider this your life’s work?
Sunny: Yeah. Um, one of the, let’s say stereotypes of freelancers is that like, uh, oh, you, you only work for a few niches and like because when you’re a freelancer, the stability is not there, but yeah I do want to go deeper into social media management. I want to be able to teach, to coach many people worldwide. Uh, and yeah, these are things I, I will do for the rest of my life. At the moment, I also teach in an organization. So that’s one thing I particularly like, like teaching people how to use tools like Canva, CapCut, and all that stuff. But I also would like to stay as a social media manager because I love social media. And I just, you know, the thrill of, following some goals, like, okay, uh I’m gonna post five days uh five contents for this brand and all that stuff. And the thrill, you know, the thrill of uh pursuing your goals online, it’s like something like I really enjoy. I don’t consider myself uh returning to a normal, I mean, job anymore. Not normal. I won’t say normal, but let’s say an on-site job. That doesn’t hinder me from, you know, if someone asks me to go to do a masterclass in person, I am willing to go and do that for, yeah. But I enjoy working online.
Antsa: How do you set your price?
Sunny: I don’t set my price right away. I mean, I don’t have some kind of package, but first of all, I look at their social media stuff and what they want exactly. I have like a form that the customers fill in. And he puts there all the basic information before we have a discovery call. And I don’t say the price right away. But first of all, we have the discovery call after he or she fills the form. And then after taking into consideration everything the person said in the call, I say to them that I’ll get back to them. Then I set a personalized quote for them.
Antsa: What does your family think about your work?
Sunny: At first, because I was like, you know, I was resigning from my job. At first, they were like, what are you going to do? You have enrolled in a… Because at the time, I was still enrolled in a master class that cost like over millions of Malagasy Ariary. Yeah. So they were saying like, how are you going to pay that? How are you going to provide for your needs? How are you going to do this and that? I don’t want to be, because my mom did not want me to lean on her. So at first, it was tough. She was mad at me and all that stuff. She wanted me to have my independence. But now she’s proud of me. Because first of all, I was able to provide a job for my dad. That’s one thing. Because he had a problem with his previous job. And I was able to provide a job for him. I was so able to provide a job for a few other people. So they are proud of me right now. And they want me to do any further and reach new heights and more.
Antsa: Did you convince them like, yeah, this is good or it just happened all the time when they see you growing what you are doing? Was that what happened or did you need to convince them a lot?
Sunny: I didn’t convince them. They saw by themselves how well I was thriving, and how well I could support also my family in return. Because before when I was still in a call center, it was very hard. I did support, but I was not also consistent. But when I started to grow my business, it was last year. I could support them actually from the basic needs at home, like the expenses, and living expenses, which are increasing, by the way, in Madagascar. So they support me. They support me. They sell by themselves and they… Even my mom, she… Yeah. She likes what I’m doing.
Antsa: What is the most exciting project you are currently working on?
Sunny: It started in 2021. You see me doing that chemical reaction stuff with you. Like, what is she doing here? She’s like, not that scientific. But… In 2022 or so, I learned Arduino at the team of education. And… In 2023, I was able to start learning. I mean, I’m still learning. So don’t ask me any. But I also started to learn code. So to give you a better idea, I’m working on an app. Yeah. Not me. I mean, I’m not the one who is going to do all the work. But because I’m an entrepreneur. The reason why I wanted to experiment with all of that is not because I want to have certificates or I’m after diplomas or all that stuff. But I want to put myself in the shoes of other people. Like, how are they? What are they doing? And I also want to know a bit about the basics and how things work in general. So, yeah, we are working on an app. It’s an educational app. Because I’m all about learning and studies and all that stuff.
Antsa: How do you define success in your field?
Sunny: My definition of success, when I was still in a call center, was like earning money and being able to be independent and all that stuff. But my definition of success now is learning and living the life that I want, that I was striving for, because before I could not even… Let me tell you a little story about when I was in a call center. I was fighting to work online. I mean, I was all the people, but they were saying like, no, you work part-time. You cannot work at home and all that stuff. But I was fighting for that. So I, I could have, uh, so they accepted in the end so that I could work at home while I was still part-time. But, uh, so for me, the definition of success is just living the life you want to live, like working from home, uh, living a peaceful life, beauty of nature with your animals and all that stuff. That’s for me, uh, and living with your family as well. Because, uh, Before, I was not really into my family. I was not really that supportive, to be honest. But now it’s different. What was the best testimonial that someone ever gave you? Let me show you.
It’s not a testimonial of a customer or something like that, but it’s someone who I coached. Let’s say I coached, but I also helped. helped her with some tools and, um, she, I, I saw her, uh, growing. Uh, it’s always, uh, good to see someone who sends you this kind of message. I also did receive a few offers from my, uh, people I coach online because I also coach some, uh, coach some people abroad as well. But yeah, uh, every time I connect with people and that they are feeling like, um, Being uplifted, that’s one of the best testimonials I could ever receive.
Antsa: I know you are in the beginning phase right now, but what advice would you give to someone who is starting or planning on entering your industry?
Sunny: The advice is, you know, you don’t have to be defined by the years of experience you have. I mean, like, for myself, personally, when I stopped with, I mean, when I resigned to Intelcia, there were some few companies who were still coming to me. And when they interviewed me, they did not see exactly what skills I could bring. So, What I advise you is to learn skills as much as possible and not to be defined by years of experience, because this experience, the skills, it’s true that I am starting my entrepreneurship journey and freelancing phase, but I’ve already acquired the skills while I was still working in a call center. So the thing is that you need to learn as much as possible. You learn any relevant skills that you want to apply. And when you start as a freelancer, you start and then you learn. You learn while you are freelancing. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m still learning now. And yeah, that’s what I’m continuing to do.
Antsa: As we wrap up this interview today, how can people contact you?
Sunny: You can contact me on LinkedIn or Facebook as well. My name is still the same, Grace Sunny R. R stands for my family name. You can also contact me on WhatsApp. My number is +261 34 59 101 01 if you want to contact me. And feel free to connect on LinkedIn.
Antsa: Thank you so much, Sunny, for joining me today. And thank you to the viewer who made it to the end. Stay tuned for the next videos.
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