In our society, not that long ago, having a child and getting engaged seemed like enough to keep any new mother occupied. In most cases, just one of those events would be life-changing enough to consume all of a person’s energy, and nobody would blame them. Rachel Bush is not that person. In fact, for everyone that knows her or follows her life, she's only moving faster and doing more.
Who is Rachel Bush, you ask?
Rachel is revolutionizing what it means to be an empowered mother breaking the previously agreed upon "social norms" of our society, and she's doing it all while over 500,000 people watch, critique, praise and offer unsolicited feedback on Instagram. Bush, who is engaged to Buffalo Bills free safety, Jordan Poyer, built her success the way that millions aspire to today, by creating a lifestyle fitness business on Instagram.
She consistently posts photos of her workouts, products and the brands she works with and fully embraces her female sexuality. Rachel has done all of this in the public eye, and her personal brand has exploded, all while going through a pregnancy and raising her beautiful baby girl, Aliyah. She certainly isn't one to shy away from the spotlight and has taken a stance of female empowerment, inspiring women, and mothers everywhere that they don't have to stop following their dreams just because their life has changed.
If anything, Rachel has used motherhood as a sounding board to show others how they can balance their lives no matter how hectic they may seem. We had a chance to ask Rachel about motherhood, her crazy life, how she's balancing everything, her engagement and what’s next for her and her family.
The first thing we came to realize is just how much she loves her daughter and how proud she is to be a mother.
"My beautiful baby girl Lealea. Aliyah is 6 months, almost 7 now! She's so advanced for her age. She already wants just to stand and walk! My life has changed in so many ways since I've had her and it has just made it so much more chaotic! However, it's a good kind of crazy! I'm busy 24/7 which I actually really enjoy."
On top of everything, she somehow manages her lifestyle outside of being a mom.
"I kind of live a double life right now. If I'm not with Aliyah, I'm either in the gym or doing something for Instagram, which basically is my job at this point! My fiancé, Aliyah, photo shoots and the gym basically consume all my time!"
Within just a short time of speaking with Rachel, it immediately became clear that not only has motherhood not slowed her down, but she's actually more inspired now than ever. Rachel shared with us about her new responsibility of being a mother and pushing other mothers to continue to follow their own dreams. Honestly Aliyah has been the best thing that has ever happened to me in so many ways.
She has shown me that I can inspire other moms and other girls even that being a mom doesn't mean you have to give up you're own social and personal life up. I believe it's so healthy to focus on your own physical and mental health as a mother. This means taking time for yourself and staying active whether that's going out, going to the gym or traveling! Whatever it is you like to do! The happier you are, the better mom you'll be, so it is important to get that "me" time in and stay active. Rachel certainly isn't shy about living her life to the fullest and continuing to grow her brand on Instagram. Reaching over 500,000 followers, Rachel has turned Instagram into a full-time business by working directly with brands to promote products and build brand engagement.
So, how has Aliyah coming into her life affected her Instagram business?
"When It comes to sponsors and Instagram, Aliyah has helped me with that! I can appeal to a lot more people now on social media. Before my audience was mainly males. Now I'm seeing that my female followers are growing due to Aliyah and my family and it's awesome! It brings me in a lot of sponsor content opportunities and I honestly just love having more female followers.”
Aliyah’s father and Rachels fiancé, Jordan Poyer is no stranger to the limelight either. The former All-American at Oregon St and now Safety for the Buffalo Bills seem to be the only person that can keep up with Bush’s ambition.
Rachel explained how having someone with similar ambition and lifestyle is so beneficial and that she feels like they completely understand each other because of it.
“I really do feel it helps to marry someone like my fiancé Jordan. He understands just how hectic my schedule is because he is just as chaotic! We are both in twenty different directions all at once. Lately, it seems. Especially now because his season is about to start in Buffalo and we just bought a house here while planning our wedding. You can't forget about the 24/7 task of being a parent on top of it all.”
The power couple is engaged to be married in February 2018, and there doesn’t seem to be any pre-wedding stress whatsoever. When we asked Rachel about her upcoming wedding, she told us, “the wedding!! My life is crazy right now! So much going on but again, I like it that way. I'm young, so I'm capable I believe of living this constant "go gogo" lifestyle. It's great! The wedding planning is so much fun though! Our wedding date is set for February 17th, 2018 in Jamaica! We can't wait! I've always dreamed of a tropical wedding, and I am having the best time making that dream come true and planning it all.”
What exactly does it mean to be an Instagram influencer?
Just 10 years ago if you told everyone that people would get paid to take pictures of themselves and post them on the internet, people would have called you crazy. However, today that exact action is a billion-dollar industry and expected to continue to grow. Rachel talked to us about when she knew she had a real business in Instagram.
“Honestly as soon as I got to college I realized I could use my platform and really brand myself in a sense. I started with hosting events and just promoting them on Instagram and then came Instagram products mixed with events and it honestly just kept growing from there. The more followers you get, the more money you make so I'm always trying to figure out how to please a wide range of people to grow my followers!”
That’s exactly what she has done. During the process of writing this article, she has attained more followers than most people will in a lifetime and she’s doing it now by appealing to both the male and female demographics.
So what’s next for Rachel, Jordan, and Aliyah?
“Seems like there's so much coming up! What isn't next for us! Once we move into our new home, I think the main focus will be football season and our wedding! Jordan is constantly on the move during football season, so I'm going to be a full-time mom while trying to plan this wedding! All while squeezing in gym time every day and making time for that social media life as well! Although I'll be in full mom mode this season, I can't wait for football to start! I'm excited for our new home in Buffalo since this is Jordan's first year up there! A lot to look forward to for us as a family!”
The future is bright indeed for the Poyer family. Rachel has built her influence by being true to herself even if that means challenging the old school mentality of how a mother “should act.” It’s refreshing to see because women, mothers and even fathers can learn something from what Rachel is doing. You have to do what makes you happy, even if others question or judge. In the end, isn’t that the message we want to show our children? That no matter what comes at you in life, you are in control and you can always follow your dreams. Rachel certainly has, and we can’t wait to see what she does next.