Joëlle van Dorp (21) has thousands of followers who she introduces to her passion: sneakers. Her followers learn about certain issues, about the concept of reselling and how to score couples themselves. On Instagram and TikTok, she introduces a wider audience to the world.
Joëlle – better known as Sneakrsjoe on social media – started her account Sneakrsjoe a year ago. She now has 21,000 followers on Instagram and knows how to reach more than 30,000 followers on the TikTok app with her content about sneakers. TikTok is a popular app among young people with more than 680 million users worldwide. On the app, users make videos of up to 1 minute that can be about anything. Joëlle mainly films her own collection or gives her opinion on upcoming releases.
“I also make a lot of short videos about my expectations about the value of a new sneaker. I like to deal with statistics. I do a lot of research into the history and background, and based on that information I make an estimate. I notice that enthusiasts find it extremely interesting and useful, “says Joëlle.
The passion for sneakers
Joëlle had been involved with sneakers for a long time. She was infected by her nephew and his friends. “They always talked a lot about sneakers and then I started to look into them,” says Joëlle. Since then she has been participating in draws to acquire exclusive couples.
And she posted those sneakers on her personal Instagram account. Joëlle: “At one point I posted so much about sneakers that I thought people were going crazy. Then I created another account where I could show all my wins to people who were really interested in it. A lot of friends followed me anyway and suddenly I got a lot of strangers as followers. That’s how it continued to grow. “”
The community
A closed community; that’s how outsiders viewed the sneaker world. Social media has changed this a lot. According to Joëlle, as a fan you are now a lot closer to your audience. They all share the same passion and it is easier to meet each other. Groups made it seem like a closed community. This is often no longer an issue, because social media makes it a lot easier to step into the world.
According to Joëlle, this is a positive change: “It is great to see how the community grows like this. And the great thing is that it is also a hugely diverse community. All kinds of age categories or interests in certain sneakers. The common passion transcends and brings each other together in a fun way. “”
The future
What started as a hobby has now grown into a professional brand. Joëlle sells exclusive sneakers through her Instagram page and her own site Sneakrsjoe. And all this in combination with studying. “” I am now studying psychology at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Combining my studies and my work is still going well. I have actually mapped out my future well. I would like to continue with my passion, but I want to have a diploma anyway. Then I can always fall back on my diploma “”, says 21-year-old Joëlle.