Meet Anesia: The woman who grew her Instagram from 200 to over 3000 in one year

Today we are meeting South African content creator Anesia Scheffler, who posts at @anesiaunfilteredmomlife

If you’d rather watch the live interview go here.

Anesia Scheffler - unfiltered mom life content creator.

Tell us about yourself and your family:

I’m Anesia, I’m 38 years old, I’m married. Between me and my husband we’ve got eight kids. Other than that I’m starting to try to do acting. I find that very interesting. And that’s me in a nutshell!

So, Anesia, you said you’ve got eight kids. Which ones are yours and and which are your husband’s?

So, I’ve got three and my husband has got five. They range in age from ten till twenty. So we’ve got a very busy lifestyle. And time flies. Having a lot of kids can be very fun and sometimes very challenging to get to everything. One child stays with us permanently, the rest also stay with the other parents from time to time. So we do have some “me time” for myself and my husband as well. It’s all worth it!

I’ve seen your posts about your husband, it’s really inspiring to me, still looking for love!

We met at his house. Our sons became friends. Then when I went to pick him up we would speak, and then it was coffee, and then a bit later he invited me over for a braai. Then we went for a laser quest with the boys. Then the day after that he asked me out on a date. He said he doesn’t want things to be uncomfortable because our children are friends, but I told him I would like to go on the date. Since then we saw each other every day after that. We have our ups and downs, like other couples, but we are very happy.

Tell me about your average day.

On days I’m not working I drop off the kids, try and help my husband wherever I can, then the cooking and the average day kind of stuff.

When I’m acting, hubby normally drops off and picks up the kids. Sometimes I need to be on set at 4 o’clock. Sometimes you work till the next morning, or late at night, so it can be challenging.

What acting are you doing at the moment, what character are you playing?

I have a role as Mrs Watson, she’s very angry, mad at her whole life situation, she can be bitchy. I’m super excited for that. And then the other stuff – once I played a mom, another time a medic. I really enjoy it, because to be someone else for those few seconds, it’s very fun. I would suggest everyone to do it once, and see if you like it. If you don’t you don’t, but for me, personally, it’s super fun.

Tell us more about your kids.

Ok so, let’s start from the youngest and we’ll work ourselves over to the eldest!

My ten year old, Christopher, is in Grade Four. He’s quite a smart child. He’s often on my comedy videos. He always likes cracking jokes.

Alexandra, 12, my husband’s child, is more the quiet one. She likes to observe before she says what she thinks.

Kara is 15 years old. She has a beautiful voice. I think she’s our spicy child.

Tiaan is my husband’s child and then Eden, that’s my child, they were friends before we dated, and they are still good friends. They are 15. They like playing video games, so if I want to connect with them, then, video games!

Benesia, who is my biological child, is 18 years old, is in matric, and she’s starting to study for law next year, so I’m super excited about that. Kaylee is also still busy studying to get her matric. Katelyn (20) is overseas doing au pair work at this stage.

How did you get started with content creation?

I think I started with about 200 followers. My cousin, Bonita (@life_with_bonita), actually got me into it. I said, “I don’t know what to do!” She said, “Just be yourself. Post stuff.” So I started doing it, and then I started enjoying it. And it grew from there.

What makes you different from the other content creators out there?

Besides the comedy part, I think I’m honest. Let’s say there is a product and we post it online, I personally won’t post something I don’t like. If I don’t like the product for whatever reason, I will rather tell the supplier I don’t like it. But I won’t badmouth them, I feel it’s not nice to do that. I will rather give my honest opinion. I will rather post stuff I personally like. Some influencers post stuff because of posting it.

Share with us a valuable content creating tip that you’ve learnt.

You need to stick to your niche, what you personally like. I feel, honestly, just to be yourself. If you are yourself, it’s very easy just to make a cute video on the side, and it just comes naturally, than trying to be someone else or trying to follow someone else’s niche. Just stay true to yourself.

If you make money, how do you do it?

I’ve got a lot of products, to be honest, but I haven’t earned money on it. Going forward I would rather be myself, if I don’t like a product, I would rather turn down that campaign and say sorry, I couldn’t post it, whatever it is. If they want to pay me for my video, great, I’m not going to complain about that, but I’m still very small, and I’m still growing and I’m learning. So I don’t mind companies sending me products and posting it because I feel with everything you get, you learn a new skill how to do things like unboxing or whatever. So I see it as a growing experience.

Sometimes the products do cost a lot of money, so although you’re not getting cash, in a way you do get something.

Some of Anesia’s best posts:

“Can I play with Jannie today?” (with negative gestures!) We saw a similar video on TikTok, and I showed my son and he said “Let’s do this!” He really is a little actor on his own.
When my husband says he cleaned the kitchen and I’m trying not to judge the quality of the job (with cat image). I think most women can relate to that.
Making a cabinet home for the pet I saw something on Facebook Market – someone selling something like that, but it was very expensive. We had an old cupboard that we didn’t use. I made it, it’s mine, so it makes it a bit more personal. And Mika loves sleeping in it.
Step mom perspectives. For me, personally, it was just the way I felt, because of personal struggles that I went through. There are so many step moms – we do so much for our husband’s children and the other partner doesn’t always appreciate it. They rather see us trying to mingle in or “steal their child,” not as another person who loves your child so much, we would do anything for them. To all the step moms out there, it does get better. You’re a team and you find a way to work things better.