The Accidental Influencer : How My Need to Get Likes Nearly Ruined My Life

When Bella Younger spawned Deliciously Stella ²her hilarious and daring social media alter ego ²she wanted to prove once and for all that Instagram does not equal reality. Within weeks, she·d gone viral and begun her very own #influencerlife. Shoot. Post. Repeat.

In 2016, Bella gained 75,000 followers overnight, and hundreds of likes a minute. Soon she was being paid thousands of pounds to beat up a cake for the ·gram. Along with newfound status as a witty caption-writing and emoji-bombing queen was figuring out how exactly the Instafamous made ¶work friends·while attending ludicrously lavish influencer gifting suites.

With notifications constantly pinging in real time, Bella·s health deteriorated as her carefree online presence flourished, culminating in a bipolar diagnosis and stints at The Priory for social media addiction. Should she have undertaken a month-long run of stand-up comedy immediately after she was discharged? Probably not, but the pressure to be ¶on it·and online was all-consuming.

Funny, frank and fearless, The Accidental Influencer is the relatable story behind the staged shots, spon-con, and the coveted but elusive blue tick.

About the Author

Bella Younger is a writer, comedian, speaker and social media sensation best known as her alter ego, Deliciously Stella. Since debuting at The Edinburgh Festival in 2015, she’s been named as one of Glamour magazine’s top 8 female comedians and as one of the Evening Standard’s most influential Londoners – twice. You’re most likely to recognise her from her Instagram account which currently boasts 125,000 followers. To date, the account has spawned a spoof cookbook, a podcast with over 100,000 downloads, and a sold out live show at the Edinburgh festival.

Deliciously Stella has reached international acclaim, seeing Bella appear everywhere from the cover of The Times to being the top trending topic worldwide on Buzzfeed, being viewed over 1 million times. Just don’t ask her if she ‘eats clean.’