Marcus Shaw, more commonly known as “The Saint Marcus” on Instagram, is a self-made serial entrepreneur based in Los Angeles, California. His journey started in 2014 when he became a Twitter icon, accumulating over 140,000 followers for his relatable and funny tweets that would constantly go viral.
“Yeah, my tweets would get over 35 million impressions a month, they got picked up by every article in the book. Chance the Rapper, Nicki Minaj, and Post Malone just to name a few, all interacted with my profile in some way whether it was a follow or a retweet”, said Saint Marcus.
But that all changed in March 2018, when Twitter started suspending accounts.
“So of course when you get successful, people around you, especially the people you went to school with will have some envy towards you.
Mostly because they came from the same place as you and they just can’t believe you actually accomplished your dreams, while they’re at home doing nothing. Because I used to march up and down the hallways saying I was going to be somebody and then two years after high school essentially I was. So people accused me of stealing tweets so that I would be suspended along with other accounts that also got purged during that time, and sadly enough it worked.”
All looked lost for Marcus, as he lost his huge Twitter account where he had all his eggs in one basket. Luckily for him, he found a new lane and was able to make a successful pivot in something he never thought would be in his wheelhouse, Photography.
“After I lost my Twitter account, I really lost a huge part of my identity, because I had that account since 2009, to build something up for nine years just to lose it in one button click was heartbreaking, to say the least. But I picked up photography, I would play around with my roommate’s camera, taking dope pics on Instagram, then one of my friends paid me to take photos of her, and when that money hit my Venmo account… I was like ‘Woah, this could be a thing’ and then we started another rampage from there.”
Using his social media skills, Saint Marcus made a successful pivot into the photography space.
“Marketing to me is as simple as making people aware of your presence. Every time I went out to the bar or club, I would find the prettiest girl in the room or the guy with the most drip, I would tell them ‘Hey my name is Marcus, I’m the best photographer around, here’s my work’ and that would work most of the time believe it or not. I worked with adult film actresses, DJs, artists, and everyone in between because everyone needs pictures. Once you have something applicable to everyone, you have a lot of opportunities to put yourself in rooms that you wouldn’t have been invited to before, from there you must soak up the knowledge around and apply it to your own life.”
When one door closes another one opens, and that’s the case with Marcus. From being a Twitter influencer before being an influencer wasn’t even a thing to being a celebrity photographer, Saint has made pivots that no one would expect, but this story isn’t over yet.
“So I’ve realized that I have my unique palette regarding clothes, music, and lifestyle. I’m the type of person who will spend three years looking for the perfect black t-shirt and then buy 30 of them. I have a certain aesthetic and viewpoint, which is why I created my brand, SHAW THE WALL, a Luxury Art store that expresses the taste of people similar to me, in terms that we don’t settle for less and we enjoy the finer things in life. Everything is created and curated in-house by me for you. What makes Shaw The Wall different from others, is that we stick away from generic stuff you see on Amazon and Esty, stolen quotes, and reused images of deceased celebrities. We test our images in hundreds of rooms and scenarios before we release them to the market. So make sure to check us out at shawthewall.com, luxury art for your home!”
Shop: www.shawthewall.com
Follow: www.instagram.com/thesaintmarcus
