Case study
How speaker and author Mace Curran got 4.99M Instagram views in 90 days
Former USAF Thunderbird pilot, USA Today bestselling author and speaker, with 202K followers on Instagram
4.99M
Instagram views, all organic
Feb 9 to May 9, 2026
Here's how a speaker and author grew on Instagram, with the screenshots to prove it. Michelle “Mace” Curran is a former USAF Thunderbird pilot, a USA Today bestselling author and a professional speaker, and she has 202K followers on Instagram. From February 9 to May 9, 2026 her posts got 4.99M views, all organic, and the number of accounts she reached doubled to 1.48M.
Where she started
Mace already had a story people stop scrolling for, since she flew with the Thunderbirds, and she was getting ready to launch her book, The Flipside. What she didn't have was someone to own the plan behind her content, so the ideas, the posting and the thinking about what to say next all ran through her, on top of speaking and writing.
She wanted her posts to keep her in front of the people who hire speakers, and she wanted to spend her own time on stage and on the book.
What was done
Afaq started working with her in August 2025 and took over the plan behind her content. He studied the people ahead of her and looked hard at what her own audience kept coming back for, and the posts that did best were her real stories from the cockpit and what they taught her about fear.
From that came a clear set of themes, a steady run of ideas for her reels, and a team that edited and posted under his direction. Mace got to do the part only she can do, which is tell the story on camera.
Alongside all this there was a paid launch for the book, kept separate from these organic numbers, and The Flipside went on to become a USA Today bestseller.
The results
4.99M
Instagram views, all organic
Feb 9 to May 9, 2026
1.48M
accounts reached, up 100.3%
Feb 9 to May 9, 2026
287K
Instagram interactions
Feb 9 to May 9, 2026
Bestseller
The Flipside on the USA Today list
Book launch, September 2025
4.99M Instagram views in 90 days
None of it was paid. The number of accounts she reached doubled in the same window, to 1.48M.
287K interactions in the same 90 days
People didn't just watch. They liked, saved, shared and commented, and most of it happened on her reels.
The reels behind it
Real stories from the cockpit and what flying taught her about fear. Her biggest reels are “How fighter pilots earn their callsigns” with 633K views, “9Gs” with 322K and “How Fighter Pilots Control Fear” with 262K.
The Flipside became a USA Today bestseller
Her posts kept the book in front of new people all through the launch, in the same voice as everything else she shares.
Working together
This was done-for-you work by Afaq and his team. Your results depend on your niche, your content and your effort.
How you'd do this with Kadenza
Kadenza is the app Afaq built from the way he runs this work. Here's what was done for Mace, next to the part of the app that does the same job for you.
What was done for her
Studied the people ahead of her and the posts that beat their usual.
What Kadenza does for you
Kadenza keeps reading the people you follow and shows you what beat their own usual.
What was done for her
Came up with a steady run of reel ideas in her voice, built on her own stories.
What Kadenza does for you
Ask your own AI, like Claude or ChatGPT, for this week's best shape, and it writes the post or the whole script to shoot.
What was done for her
Planned and posted her reels on Instagram.
What Kadenza does for you
One calendar for LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube, and nothing goes out unless you put it there.
What was done for her
Gave people who wanted more from her a simple next step.
What Kadenza does for you
Make a guide once. People who want it get it, and you get their name and email.
Want it done for you, the way Mace had it? That's the Done-For-You plan, and it's the same service she got, run by Afaq and his team. You can see it in the pricing section.
If you'd rather run it yourself with the app, that's the DIY plan, and if you want us to set it up with you first, that's Done-With-You. Both are in the pricing section too.
Pick the way that fits you
Do it yourself with the app, have us set it up with you, or have us run it for you.