I'm a 24-Year-Old Social-Media Editor and Show Host Making $70,000 – Business Insider

I’m a 24-year-old white woman living in the Northeast and working as a senior social editor and show host at a media company. This is my second job out of college, and I make $70,000 a year.
Even though I was given a raise last August, I ended up taking home the same salary I did when I first started as an hourly employee working overtime because of taxes and benefits withholdings. The experience has taught me a valuable lesson in gaining the confidence to ask for what I’m worth.
For example, I’m in the process of drafting something telling my company that I need a raise to $85,000 or $90,000, or I’m going to look elsewhere. Even though I like my job, if another offer came my way that offered better opportunities, I’d take it without hesitation.
I’m in a unique position where my company would have a hard time replacing me because I’m the face of one of the most successful shows in the whole company.
Currently, I run two channels across Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok with an audience of about 5 million people. I’m completely by myself, doing behind-the-scenes work for one channel and hosting the other. These are opportunities few people get, but I know I deserve a lot more.
Here’s my salary journey over the past couple years.
Editor’s note: Insider has verified the source’s pay and identity with documents for their current or most recent job. 
Before I was recruited by my current company, I worked at another media company writing editorial content. I was there for four months, and made $20 an hour.
When I started at my current company, I made $24.08 an hour, and I didn’t have health and dental benefits. Because I ran (and still run) two channels by myself, I was working a lot of overtime, so I was perfectly happy with my wages plus the overtime pay.
My yearly wage was $50,000, but in 2020, I actually made somewhere around $60,000 with overtime.
Last July, the company changed me from hourly to salaried, and offered me $56,000 a year. At the time I agreed to it, but when my paycheck came through, it was hundreds of dollars less than what I was making before.
I took that back to the company a few days later and said it wasn’t going to work for me. I was making much less money even though I had a raise and a promotion. I requested an increase to $75,000 and even changed my tone a little saying, “This is what I deserve.” 
In early August, they agreed to increase my salary to $70,000 plus a $5,000 bonus, but I never got back pay for the first paycheck.
It was very frustrating, and at the time I was agreeing to it because the senior people at my company made me think it was a good thing that I was getting a raise and a promotion.
Even with my raise at $70,000, I effectively make the same amount of money that I did on my first day on the job, because now I pay for health and dental benefits.
It feels like my income is back at square one, and now, many months after that August raise, I’m drafting a document to make the case for a raise to $85,000 or $90,000. This feels more in line with what I’m worth, given all I’ve accomplished and built for the company.
I always remember that I’m very lucky to have a job that I like. But that can also be what stops someone, especially a woman, from sending that email that says, “This is what I need. This is what I deserve.” 
An older coworker of mine is the one who gave me the confidence to ask for a raise in the first place. He told me I needed to look at the numbers from day one, look at what they are now, and show the company that I grew both of the channels I’m on from the ground up to millions of followers. 
My advice to anyone in my position would be to make a list of your accomplishments, so you can see what you’ve been responsible for over time and all the ways your work has grown. It puts things into a new perspective, especially on days when you feel like you’re not doing enough.
If you are interested in submitting your salary journey, please email salaryjourneys@insider.com. All submissions are kept confidential.
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