Back in 2021, Anne Marie Irey signed up for an online home staging certification course mostly to have something to do during the Covid-19 lockdown. She had no idea that it would eventually lead her to a full-time career as a content creator, a Walmart brand partnership, and a community of followers who tune in every season to see how she’ll style her next space.

From home stager to content creator

Anne Marie’s business, Simply Staged and Styled, started exactly as the name suggests: she staged homes for resale, then expanded into interior design services for clients. Around the same time, she started an Instagram account to document her projects. Early on, Pottery Barn commented on one of her photos and asked to use it on their website. It was a small sign, but it confirmed that something was there. Brands started noticing. Gifting campaigns came first, then paid collaborations. The pivot from designer to creator happened gradually, organically, and almost without her realizing it.

Affordable, simple, and always seasonal

Anne Marie’s  content niche sits at the intersection of home decor and accessibility. Her whole design philosophy centers on the idea that less is more and that beautiful spaces don’t require big budgets. “My whole view and my whole ‘why’ I started my business was because I do things in a very simplistic way,” she says. “I think less is more a lot of the time.” That sensibility translates directly to her content: simple swaps with big impact, seasonal finds that don’t break the bank, DIYs that feel achievable rather than aspirational. Her followers are particularly drawn to her seasonal decor content, returning each quarter to see what she’s curating and how she’s styling it.

The month that changed everything

One of the clearest turning points in Anne Marie’s career came in August 2024, when a conversation with other creator friends led her to Mavely. The following month, she landed her first brand deal through the platform, a paid campaign with Walmart. That partnership has continued every month since. “It really has been a huge game changer for me,” she says. More than a single brand deal, that moment set off a chain reaction: within a few months, Anne Marie stopped taking on all other work entirely. Content creation became her full-time career, not because she had planned for it to, but because Mavely made it feel real and sustainable. “I didn’t realize that I could solely do this for a living until I started working with Mavely,” she says. “And then, soon after, I realized, oh my gosh, I can really do this.”

From product posts to experiences worth feeling

Her content has continued to evolve as her audience and the platform have grown. Anne Marie’s recent Mavely campaigns have shifted away from strictly product-focused posts toward something she describes as emotionally connected content, a trend she’s fully embraced: a Bridgerton-themed tablescape, a garden party with DIY charcuterie cups, and an elevated Easter project where she styled spring Walmart finds from her front porch to her festive tablescape. These projects take more effort to produce, but they open up creative outlets she genuinely enjoys, including hosting and food styling. “It’s less product-focused and more of an experience,” she explains. “I think we’re seeing that people really connect to this type of content. They want the experience and they’re connected to the feeling that you’re evoking.” She’s also become a consistent user of Mavely Analytics to guide her content decisions, checking her top sellers dashboard to identify what’s resonating and strategically reposting her strongest performers.

The part nobody talks about

The hardest part of transitioning from in-person design work to content creation, Anne Marie says, has been the isolation. When she worked in clients’ spaces, she was building relationships face to face. Now her connections are primarily with brands and, increasingly, with the Mavely community. What keeps that from feeling hollow is the feedback she gets from her followers: the message from someone who finally figured out how to pull together their living room, the comment from a person who just needed to see that a small, affordable home could look beautiful. “I’m still providing a service,” she says. “It just looks different.”

A platform where she felt like enough

Anne Marie describes finding Mavely as immediately feeling different from other platforms she’d worked with. “It felt like I mattered,” she says. “It felt like I was already enough. It didn’t matter that I live in a small house in the Midwest.” She’s attended multiple Mavely events, including Swipe Up, and credits the platform’s community focus with helping address one of the more overlooked challenges of the job. “Mavely gave me this community that I can rely on,” she says. “I feel the value in it, but I also feel valued. And I think that’s important.”

Her advice for up-and-coming creators

For anyone just starting out, Anne Marie’s advice is straightforward: give Mavely a try. The platform is easy to use, the community is genuinely supportive, and the brand deal opportunities are accessible even for creators who are still finding their footing. Her own experience is proof that you don’t have to have it all figured out before things start to click. “I felt like my work paid off very easily on Mavely,” she says. “It didn’t feel like a struggle. And that felt really nice.”

Follow Anne Marie on Instagram at @simplystagedandstyled.

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