CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — At least a dozen social media influencers in Charleston say they were the target of a business owner who misled them, lied to them, and took their money. Now, they hope their story will prevent the next person from falling for a similar trap. Morgan Hill and Nicole Farina are content […]
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — At least a dozen social media influencers in Charleston say they were the target of a business owner who misled them, lied to them, and took their money. Now, they hope their story will prevent the next person from falling for a similar trap.
Morgan Hill and Nicole Farina are content creators who are eager to grow their businesses.
Hill is a Charleston native sharing fashion, beauty, and travel experiences in the Lowcountry and beyond, amassing over 16,000 followers across her social media accounts. Nicole Farina moved to Charleston and fell in love with the city. She started an account called ‘The Charleston Diaries,’ hosting events and showcasing what Charleston offers to more than 67,000 followers.
The two women said they were approached by the owner of an influencer management agency over the summer offering to help them find new collaborations and grow their accounts. At the end of May, they signed with the agency called Dyoowe.
“The pitch was so good and I was so excited about having a team,” Hill said.
Both Hill and Farina signed a six-month contract. However, they said the exciting offer made them overlook a few things — like when they were asked to pay a sign-on fee.
“Because she was a start-up I figured she needed a way to pay her team — she needed a way to start this business,” said Hill.
Hill said she paid $1,000 to Dyoowe and Farina paid $500, even though they signed on a day apart.
The women said they also started noticing more red flags as time passed.
“I wanted to give her 100% chance to be my manager,” said Hill. “But when I started to realize I was the only one bringing in collaborations, I stopped sending the emails and there was nothing coming from her.”
“For the first month and a half I was like ‘Oh yeah they’re doing things’ — and then like mid-July I was like ‘Wait a second, how come like nothing is really happening?'” Farina explained.
Hill said the agency was taking 20% of her earnings, even though she was bringing in the majority of her collaborations. Then, there were some issues with payments.
“Specifically, there was a deal for photo usage that I was supposed to get paid for, and it took three months to get paid,” she explained. “Personally when I do brand collaborations sometimes I get paid next day from these brands — the most I would say is net 30 but it never really takes net 30.”
Finally, everything came to a head when Morgan was pitched an idea by the agency owner that involved one of Nicole’s events.
“She basically told me that this was a life-changing career-changing opportunity — that this was a favor to me — it was a paid position, and that my friend Nicole wanted me to take over as the face of her brand,” she said.
Hill then met up with Nicole and asked her more about the opportunity.
“So I sat down with Nicole and I basically looked at her and I said tell me what this opportunity is,” Hill recalled. “And that’s when we started to realize there were some red flags together.”
From there, the two women started comparing notes about their frustrations with the agency and Morgan called another team member from the agency to find out what was going on.
“And she basically told me that we had to get out — she said there were issues with people not getting paid, and that she knew that I should’ve been paid already,” Hill explained. “I was owed $1,080 and I was waiting on that money for way too long.”
A few days later, Farina also received a call from a team member at the agency.
“Basically what she told Morgan — ‘the CEO is misusing funds, people aren’t getting paid, all of the contacts she has are a lie’,” she recalled.
After this warning, Hill and Farina sent a legal letter to Dyoowe requesting they be released from their contracts without having to pay a buyout fee.
That same day, the women said all of the agency’s team members resigned. Then, once they were notified they were released from their contracts, they started to warn others.
“Ended up talking to three of my friends that were signed on with her that night — and then the next morning talked to maybe three more,” Hill said.
The following day, they were told the owner of the agency announced that Dyoowe was shutting down.
News 2 reached out to the owner, Ali Taylor. She said she had no comment about the allegations.
As for Hill and Farina, they believe their hard-learned lesson now shares an even bigger message.
“You might think from an outsider’s perspective that it’s all competition — but it’s not,” said Hill. “I think it’s cool for people to see how we came together as a community.”
“It was really good to just see us as women come together and make it happen,” Farina said.
Hill was paid back the money she was owed, but they said there are still other content creators waiting on payment from the company.
News 2 also reached out to the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs to provide tips for anyone who is deciding whether to work with a company.
Their advice includes:
Do your research — add the word ‘complaint’ or ‘scam’ when putting business names in a search engine
Don’t fall for high-pressure tactics
-Make sure all details are in a written contract or service agreement (and get a completed copy)
Trust your gut. If you have doubts, take your business elsewhere
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