Erika Costell says influencer houses like Team 10 are 'bad for your mental health,' but they still have value
- Erika Costell was one of the first influencers to be involved in a content house - Team 10.
- She told Insider since she left in 2018, she has taken a step back from sharing everything online.
- She said influencer collectives can be bad for your mental health, but there is still value in them.
Erika Costell says that while she was a member of the content house Team 10, she had "a false sense of reality." Costell, an influencer and model turned fashion designer, rose to fame when she was hired by Jake Paul in 2015 to help him with running the first modern influencer house. Back then, Costell told Insider, she was trying to one-up herself every day.
"That might not bother you at the time because you're seeing numbers, and basically your career is exploding," she said. "But that's not a life. Waking up and trying to outdo yourself every single day, it's so bad for your mental health."
She added: "It's crazy to me that I even made it through that time period in my life."
Costell launched her brand Akire Sport in March this year anonymously. She had made branded merch from her time as a vlogger, and knew it would be easy to sell out clothing with her name on it thanks to her fanbase of 4 million followers on platforms like YouTube and Instagram. But she wanted to prove she could do it without her existing clout.
When working on her brand, which she has been doing solidly since 2018, Costell took a step back from sharing everything online. She said looking back, she didn't realize how "toxic" it was, and "how much emptiness" having her whole life on the internet had caused.
"All these people thinking they know you, and they do to an extent," she said. "But when you give too much of yourself, you kind of lose a part of yourself."
Costell also had an incredibly visible relationship and ultimate breakup with Paul in 2017, and has no desire to share that part of herself again, she said.
"I definitely took a step back and I like to keep things that are special to me private," she said. "If it's a relationship it's definitely private. If I get married I'm keeping that private forever."
At least 19 influencer creator houses have cropped up in the last few years - the most notable examples include Hype House and Sway. Costell admits she doesn't know "who belongs in what house anymore" and they are "oversaturated" now. But they still have a lot of value, she said, especially at the start of a young influencer's career.
The key thing is to not get too distracted, and to focus on your career in social media, which she said is a "full-time job."
"If you don't see it as that, and everything else just kind of gets in your way, we all see how fast people come and go," she said.
The challenges of Team 10 and being so open with the world about her life "caught up" to Costell after a couple of years, she said. But she has no regrets.
"It taught me so much," she said. "I would never ever take that experience back for anything because it really did set me up to be who I am in my career today."