From the comfort of her circus trailer that she lives in, Anja creates and shares content on Instagram and on her blog.

Anja Gasser is 29 years old and has been blogging for over 10 years, being the first blogger to register as self-employed in the canton of Zurich! She became a full-time influencer 5 years ago; simply calling her an influencer would diminish her enthusiasm and work. She shares details of her life every day: what she eats, what she wears, what she does or keeps her busy. Anja is more of a close friend that warmly invites you into her life, rather than an influencer.

We invited her for a quick chat over a cup of tea and she kindly accepted. We spoke about her blogging career, her hobbies, and her love of tea, of course!

It all started with...

We wanted to know more about her story, how she started and what fed this inspiration for Schu Schu.

“In 2010 I was done with my first professional training and needed to find a new purpose. That's how I started the blog. In it, I shared my thoughts with the world and implemented creative, visual ideas into practice. In the beginning, everything was a bit amateurish. Over time I learned how to use the photo camera and knew what to look out for.”

Anja told us her interest in photography and the creative comes from her childhood when she was using a small analogue camera for kids. At 13, she got a digital camera and had been using it every day, capturing everything.

“Sometimes I was called a paparazzi. In fact, it wasn't until I was 20 that I had my first smartphone.”

And once Anja got a smartphone... the magic continued online with the start of her blog.

In her 10 years of experience, Anja learned to communicate with her followers and has even made a few good friends. She loves to talk to and learn from different people. She also confessed that the only difficulty she encountered was ensuring that brands and agencies do not take advantage of her work.

“The bloggers were promised gifts. In return, they were supposed to do free advertising. For a long time, bloggers in Switzerland were exploited this way. In the end, the bloggers in Switzerland prevailed. Because at some point they realized that they could also be fairly remunerated for their services. In other countries, this has been the way since forever.”

The Daily Life of an Influencer

Anja is a big lover of food and nature, which make her feel the happiest and are also big sources of inspiration for her creations. This is reflected in her daily life as well, where she says that...

“I get up between 6:00 a.m. I make breakfast and have my morning drink - black tea with oat milk. Afterwards, I usually exercise for about 1h. After that, I work on my laptop and mobile phone. I cook lunch and, in the afternoon, I continue to work on my laptop and mobile phone. Sometimes I also create content for my Instagram. In the evening, I cook dinner. That's an average day. But with me, you never know what the day will bring. Since I cook a lot, you will often find me next to the stove. I love to make as much as I can by myself. Later, I would like to have my own garden to grow and harvest even more - eat fresh produce and be sustainable.”

Unfortunately, as with all people in the world, the COVID pandemic has affected Anja's work.

“I used to travel a lot. At events and on trips. Of course, all that is gone. In addition, I have lost many jobs that were linked to events or travel.”

Nevertheless, she managed to create engaging and inspiring content every day, without disappointing her followers.

Anja + tea = 💖

We couldn't interview one of the top influencers in Switzerland without getting her insights about tea as well.

Anja describes herself as a passionate tea drinker. Her first experience with tea was with her grandmother, who had been making her own tea for generations. They call it Grosi Tea, made only from herbs that they gathered themselves. "Grosi is the best for everything!" she says proudly.

Talking about her favorite types of tea, it's difficult to pick just one.

“In the morning I like to drink a black tea with oat milk as I like a warm milky drink in the morning. Otherwise, I don't mind. I love fruity teas... but also herbal teas, like chamomile.”

Final thoughts

It's been a wonderful experience to be able to speak with Anja and we are honoured and proud that she took the time to be with us! On a finishing note, we asked what advice she would give to aspiring influencers.

“Stay true to yourself, don't let your passion get in the way, don't let brands and agencies take advantage of you, put down your mobile phone and enjoy real life.”

Well then... everyone, grab a jug of iced tea and let's go outside in nature!