Lee Yik Keat On How He Built His Empire

Photographer-influencer Lee Yik Keat on how he built his empire on diligence, perseverance and a helping of self-belief.

- Serene Goh

Shirt; shorts, Salvatore Ferragamo. Hat, H&M. Boots, Onitsuka Tiger. Earrings (worn throughout), Lee's own

Telling Gen-X parents you're going to be a social media influencer these days is tantamount to them telling their boomer parents in the 1990s that they're off to join a rock band. The pressure is tripled if you're the only child of Malaysian parents who moved from Ipoh to Singapore to give their son better prospects, and you've just been accepted into Nanyang Technological University to study aerospace engineering.

No shocker, then, that it took more than a year for Lee Yik Keat-known to his millions-strong following on Instagram and TikTok as @yk-to get their backing. Even then, they only agreed to letting him have a year to establish himself after his National Service. His father, a meat-loving chef at a vegetarian restaurant, was less worried. But his mother, a technician in a manufacturing company, fretted about stability and sustainability.

The self-confessed introvert sees himself as a creator, storyteller or photographer, dissimilar to celebrity influencers like, say, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has 305 million followers on Instagram and is believed to charge at least US$1 million (nearly S$1.36 million) for each post.

My main job is to put my results and visuals out there in the spotlight, not myself. Of course, secondarily, it's good to have a human personality [behind the work). Paired with that, I do a lot of 'portfolioing' (showcasing work from clients) to create a snowball effect-and build trust. As you clinch more, and bigger, clients, you have the leverage to increase your rate. When I first started, I worked with very, very small clients, he says.