I’m Maya Cakar, marketing strategist and founder of Grow Social Media. I built this business from zero, in a country that wasn’t mine, in a language that wasn’t my first. Today I lead with strategy, and my team helps me carry it out.
Macedonia, to the Balkans, to Sarasota, Florida.
I grew up in Macedonia, a small country in the Balkans. Mountains, rivers, and what I still believe is the most beautiful lake in Europe. It’s wine country, so I studied agricultural science with a focus on economics and marketing, and assumed I’d spend my career marketing wine.
Instead I spent years on USAID and UNDP programs as a marketing project manager and coordinator. I helped small businesses across the Balkans build and market their brands, including cross-border projects, and led a team of ten.
Then I met my husband and ended up in Sarasota. I worked at a bank. When I got pregnant, I realized I was about to trade my son’s childhood for a desk. So I left, with no plan and no network.
I started as an Amazon affiliate. I reviewed and promoted products and earned a commission on every sale. It worked, well enough that people began asking me how. That’s where I learned how selling actually works: what makes someone stop, trust and buy.
There was no AI to ask back then. There was Google, YouTube and whatever I could figure out. I saved up, bought one social media course, and built everything else from what I already understood about markets.
When I started the business, I knew the order mattered. Build a portfolio first. Research the market. Then design the offer the market is asking for, not the one I happen to like.
So I began by managing accounts only. Clients kept telling me they also needed someone to create the content, not just schedule it. So I changed the offer. That package is Managed Social today, and it has been my most successful service for three and a half years.
Now AI has changed what’s possible, and I have the experience to use it properly. Adding strategy and a build-and-train option isn’t a pivot. It’s the same evolution, one step further.
“Every plan I build for a client, I have already had to build for myself first. That is the difference between advice and experience.”
Maya Cakar, Founder, Grow Social Media LLC
Built from zero in under two years, with no network and no plan B
Invested in 2026 alone in training, AI and marketing education
In marketing, from international development programs to my own agency
Running Grow Social Media
Most businesses pour everything into one platform and wait. I’d rather find out where your buyers actually are, and then go there.
Search still sends real, ready-to-buy people, and now AI search sits on top of it. Yet most businesses haven’t touched their listing, keywords or site content in years. It’s the cheapest opportunity on the table and almost nobody takes it.
Depending on the audience and the age bracket, a local Facebook group can bring in more real inquiries than a polished Instagram feed. It’s unglamorous and it works.
Instagram is a must-have. It’s where people check whether you’re real. But my own clients have come through Google, Facebook groups and word of mouth. Every business is different, so we test, we watch, and we put the effort where it returns.
I’ve never needed heavy ad spend. Referrals built this business, and referrals can be encouraged on purpose rather than left to luck.
Marketing brings people to your door. What happens after that is on the business: how they’re greeted, how fast you answer, whether the experience holds up. I’ll tell you when that’s the real problem, because no campaign fixes it.
I work with founders, career-switchers, solopreneurs and established local businesses who want marketing that produces something, rather than a vendor who posts and disappears.
Strategy isn’t handed to a junior after the sales call. I build the plan and stay on the account.
Not stock, not recycled, not generated. Real footage of your business, edited properly.
We use AI to move faster on ideas, captions and workflows. The judgment stays human.
Some businesses should own this internally. I’d rather set you up properly than keep you dependent.
Senior-led, three-month minimum, and honest about what marketing can and cannot fix. Book a free 20-minute discovery call and we’ll see whether we’re a fit.
