Influencer
Nicole Blackmore of Latinococo on Mental Health and Domestic Abuse Advocacy
Domestic abuse is more common than many of us realize. After getting out of a relationship, Nicole Blackmore of Latinococo has helped countless men and women online with her domestic abuse and mental health advocacy. Today, she shares her experiences with domestic abuse, mental health struggles, and her journey growing online.
About Nicole Blackmore
Nicole Blackmore is a fashion and lifestyle Instagram influencer and TikToker. She shares that before she started influencing, she had a pretty average life filled with every type of job imaginable.
However, after getting out of a physically and emotionally abusive relationship of five years, Nicole decided that this experience would either break her or make her.
She shares, “In a way, it was one of those situations where it should have made me less confident. I should have come out of that [with] bruises on my self-esteem, my ambitions, things like that, but really it kind of pushed me.”
One of her most traumatic experiences during her relationship was losing her unborn daughter. Nicole shares that her ex was especially violent in the mornings. One morning, he lost his composure and beat her to the point where she lost the pregnancy. This moment was a serious eye-opener for her, and she left him.
After getting out of the abusive relationship, Nicole felt a significant push to speak about her experience to others and create more awareness about domestic abuse and how common it is.
“There are so many people that deal with domestic abuse, and it happens to more people than you would know. These people you could see on a daily basis, and they could seem so lovely and charming, and you wouldn’t have a clue behind closed doors of what they’re capable of, and for me, it was an eye opener.”
At her start, Nicole used to post polls, questions, and captions about her experiences. The polls and questions would keep people anonymous if they liked. This openness about her experiences led Nicole to receive many direct messages from other women and men sharing their experiences with domestic abuse.
“When I was helping people, it just powered me back up, if that makes sense. I feel like I was quite weak at the stage, and then it just gave me so much strength, and it was more so that I wanted to prove to them that when you go through that, it doesn’t mean your life is over and just to show that if you put your head to things and get your confidence back, you can work hard towards anything that you want to do.”
Creating Mental Health Awareness Online
Nicole has bipolar disorder and body dysmorphia, inspiring her to become a mental health advocate.
On bipolar disorder, she says, “I feel like a lot of people stereotype that illness in a way, and I think everyone feels like people that suffer with bipolar are just completely manic all over, and they’re just absolute psychopaths. For me, I’ve dealt with that since I was a child, [but] I only found out that I had bipolar when I was 17.”
Unfortunately, not knowing she had bipolar disorder led to more personal turmoil during her childhood and teen years.
@latinococo Ok my heads fried #concpiracytheory #adamandeve #fyp #religion #bible ♬ original sound – Yana Saint LéVie
Today, Nicole uses the symptoms of bipolar disorder, particularly manic episodes, to her advantage as much as possible. Common symptoms of mania include fast speech, high energy, distractibility, irritability, inconsistency in mood, and being full of many new ideas and plans.
She shares, “In a way, I’ve tried to use the bipolar. So, when I”m on a mania,.. My manias have pushed me so much to go for everything that I wanted to do when I’m in that mindset… I just don’t stop, and I do not come up for air, but then I kind of excel in what I’m doing when I’m like that. It’s got its pros and cons, but it can be exhausting.”
Nicole adds that the lows follow manic episodes, constantly creating an up-and-down mood state.
“There’s just no in-between. I don’t beat myself up about that anymore. Those days of my life are like switch-off days.”
Becoming an Influencer
As Nicole grew her following, she began posting more fashion content and landing more brand deals. Her first collaboration was with a small brand, and since then, the collaboration opportunities have continued to grow as she has.
Nicole also posts music videos online, which started small but has become another lucrative part of her career.
“At this stage of my life, I get people contacting me when they need me for a shoot. Before, it’d be me reaching out to other people, and now I don’t have to do that anymore.”
Creating Empowering Content
Nicole shares that when she started creating empowering content online, the content was usually more about feeling down about her experiences. Today, she works hard to keep her page on the positive side.
“What I do now is two times a week. I will post about mental health on my story. Even if I’m feeling a certain way, I’ll share how I’m feeling, and then I’ll put a question box [asking] about how everybody else is feeling.”
@latinococo #comedу #fypシ゚viral #fyp #nobodyknowsyou ♬ original sound – Warren Abercrombie
These stories create more positive engagement with her followers and encourage them to stop and think about how they feel that day. She also lets her audience know that her inbox is always open if they need to talk about anything.
“A lot of these people that come to me – I don’t think they realize how much they’ve actually helped me. So, I say it goes both ways.”
She also posts empowering quotes and reminders that if today is a bad day, there is always tomorrow.
Working with Sintillate Talent
Nicole shares that working with Sintillate Talent has been outstanding.
“When I suffer with my manic episodes, I would find myself taking on a lot more than I could chew. I would do that all the time… I’ve always got such a busy schedule, so I found going with Sintillate Talent for me just took a massive weight off my shoulders.”
Not having to pitch brands saves her time on admin work and prevents her from going overboard with brand deals when she is in a manic state.
She adds, “Another thing as well with Sintillate Talent is they do have a really good mental health manager. So, you’ve got a point of contact, and every single day they’ll put in the group chat if anybody’s feeling a certain way – don’t forget you’ve got [wellbeing manager’s name].”
The well-being managers are trained and able to support Nicole when she needs it, which is a significant help.
Nicole’s Thoughts on the Future
Nicole wants to see more opportunities for diverse creators with equal pay. She also wants to see more paid campaigns and opportunities, rather than companies reaching out about gifted collaborations, as influencing is a job and should be paid as such.
Nicole is also reopening her HeadOverHeels dance classes, which specialize in heel dance classes for models, dancers, and talents in music videos.
