TL;DR: After getting laid off in December, Elly left her corporate career to go all in on content creation, but was burning out trying to grow her account. That’s when she started using Stanley for Instagram growth, which connects to her account. Stanley helped Elly identify her top-performing formats and turn existing B-roll into a 16M-view post that doubled her following to 112K in one week.
Elly Walton is a 43-year-old skater, mom, and multi-passionate Creator who spent 20 years in corporate. When she was laid off from her software developer role a few months ago, she decided to leave her corporate career and go all in on content creation.
She’d already launched her Instagram account a year ago and had grown it from zero to over 40K followers, but she was struggling to keep momentum without burning out.
That’s when she discovered Stanley Instagram—the AI coach that could amplify her voice, not replace it. She began working with Stanley regularly in February and set a goal to hit 50K followers.
But in the weeks since, Elly has blown past that—hitting 112K followers and 16 million views in one week thanks to a video Stanley helped her create.
Here’s how she did it.
The Skater Mom Who Turned A Layoff Into Leverage
Elly launched her account last spring thanks to encouragement from a friend, initially creating fitness content.
“I always wanted to start, but I thought it was too late,” she shares. “Getting started was really intimidating. I had zero direction.”
After a few months, she realized sharing workouts and trying to maintain a picture-perfect aesthetic just wasn’t her vibe. Instead, she embraced her real life as a mom of two who loves to skateboard, surf, and share video editing tutorials.
In doing so, she carved out her own niche and built a community of fellow millennials who relate to her—not just a specific topic.
When she was laid off in December, it hit hard. But she decided this was her moment to bet on herself.
The Challenge: Hitting 50K Without Burning Out
As her Instagram account passed 40K followers, Elly hit a major creative wall. She was trying to post multiple times a week, but was completely burnt out.
She’d tried using ChatGPT to help write her captions and scripts, but it was too much work having to constantly spoon-feed the AI context about each video. She desperately needed something that felt like a true strategic partner.
That’s when she joined Club Stanley and started using Stanley to grow her Instagram.
The Solution: High-Performing Ideas Tailored to Her
Stanley isn’t like other AI tools Elly has tried before. It connects directly to her Instagram, so it already knows her tone of voice, her brand, and exactly which videos are landing.
Instead of guessing at best practices, Stanley digs into her past performance to help her understand why certain posts went viral—and its scoring tells her exactly where to focus next.
“There’s something about using Stanley that’s so motivating. It keeps me accountable—I just open up my app and see those three scores at the top.”
Elly started using Stanley for everything: brainstorming content ideas, scripting videos, and adapting trending formats to her voice—all while using voice dictation so collaborating feels more like a conversation than a prompt.
Within a few weeks of using Stanley, Elly reached her goal of 50K followers and celebrated with the team at Stan’s Toronto office. And just four days later, her growth exploded when one of her Stanley posts went viral.
The Viral Video That Changed Everything
When Elly’s daily growth score dipped to 67, Stanley nudged her to focus on creating a post for audience growth. It suggested she combine her two top-performing themes: her viral skateboarding clips and her relatable layoff story.
She gave Stanley a low-lift video of herself skateboarding while eating a bagel and mentioned she’d been getting a lot of questions post-layoff. Stanley used that direction to craft the perfect on-screen text about refusing to go back to a corporate job.
The next day, millions of people had watched Elly’s video—and the numbers kept climbing.
The Result: 16M Views and +60K Followers In One Week
Within 24 hours, Elly’s video hit 6 million views. Then 11 million. And today, it’s at over 16 million views.
That one post alone brought in 60K new followers in just one week, more than doubling Elly’s following to 112K. And the business impact has been just as wild.
Since using Stanley, Elly has signed five new brand deals, and her inbox is flooded with opportunities. Stanley gave her the exact direction she was missing—helping her avoid burnout and hit her goals in record time.
“I was getting partnerships here and there, but the amount of inbound that’s come in the last few weeks has been insane. I’ve gotten way more opportunities since my growth skyrocketed.”
Elly’s 3-Step Stanley Success Playbook
As Elly puts it, Stanley helps Creators figure out their own unique recipe for success by layering proven concepts that work for their specific audience. Here’s the exact 3-step process she used to create her viral post.
Step 1. Dig into your data
Elly opened Stanley and let it dig deeper into her Instagram data, audience, and niche. She looked to Stanley’s scores to understand which areas of her strategy needed work—like growing her audience.
Step 2. Make it yours
Elly already had the perfect B-roll in her camera roll, but needed low-lift ideas for how to use it for growth. Stanley recommended proven formats that had worked for her in the past and proposed an ultra-relatable hook about being laid off.
Step 3. Hit post
Elly applied Stanley’s hook as on-screen video text, captioned her post, and hit publish.
By using Stanley regularly, Elly has gained a whole new level of clarity on the formats and themes that work for her audience, while staying true to her brand.
“I wish I had Stanley when I first started my Instagram account, because it’s just so amazing to see all it knows.”
What’s Next for Elly: Dreaming Bigger
With her growth showing no signs of slowing down, Elly is dreaming even bigger. She recently bumped up her 2026 follower goal from 50K to 500K.
This year, she also wants to collaborate with her favorite brands, like Yow Surf and Vans, and help aspiring Creators by launching her own digital product.
Her advice to anyone still on the fence? Just start.
“Just do it. Take the video of yourself. Post it. Take action. If you’re thinking about doing it, you’re not doing it at all.”
Stop guessing what to post next. Stanley digs into what’s already working for you and helps you create more of it—in your voice, on your terms. Try it free.
Follow Elly’s Journey:
Stan Store: Elly’s Stan Store
Instagram: @elly.walton
TikTok: @itsellywalton
YouTube: @ellysfitpham
