I was recently nominated for H&M’s Breakthrough Fashion
Blogger of the Year for the H&M X Bloglovin Awards 2016!! When I found out
this news I was elated and was dancing all around my house. I have been
blogging now for over 3 years and have almost 1,000 blog posts. I have worked
so hard as a blogger so to be recognized for this was beyond amazing to me.
Bloglovin and H&M flew me to New York to visit the H&M showroom and
have a mentorship session with Leandra Medine aka Man Repeller. This was truly
a dream come true for me because not only am I obsessed with H&M but I am
also obsessed with Leandra, she is incredible. Meeting her in person surpassed
my expectations of her even further.
Once we all arrived to the H&M showroom we were able
to walk around and explore and look at all the newest merchandise and the
newest H&M Fall Studio collection. Everything was gorgeous I was blown
away. The accessories were all on point and amazing. The H&M Fall Studio
collection was seriously comparable to something you would see in an LVMH
store, amazing details and quality.
We did a group session within one hour of
arrival with Leandra herself. We got to learn from her the ins and outs of
blogging and the world of business and media. I asked her what motivates and
inspires her and she said waking up excited is what inspires her and makes her
feel successful. I also asked her how she gets over a slump and she said she
takes a lot of "me" time and pampers herself. She will take a
magazine or one of her favorite books to the nearest cafe or restaurant and
drink some wine. Getting your mind off work is always helpful, it's always good
to take a break. I really needed to hear this because I never take any "me"
time, I am always about blogging and working.
After this we got to do a one on one session with Leandra.
I asked her about time management because I am all over the place and I need to
learn better time management skills. Leandra said she does the the
pomodoro technique which is 20 mins on and 10 min breaks in between, intervals.
She said she won't check her emails in between this time.
After this we got to try on our H&M Fall Studio
collection look for the Bloglovin’ Awards. My look is to die for it was the
perfect fit and style for me. I will give you a hint it was a collar! My motto
in life is put a collar on it!
After this we did a session with Morgan from Bloglovin’
and we got to learn more about the benefits Bloglovin’ offers us bloggers. She
explained the benefit of Bloglovin’ to all of us and told us better ways we can
utilize the platform and gain more visibility. We can even work with brands now
with their latest newest platform Activate.
The one thing that really inspired me about this entire
experience was talking with Leandra. I really related with her on so many
different levels. She's never taken fashion too seriously and always has fun
while dressing up, mixing and matching different things, never caring too much.
I am exactly like her I am random and fun with my style and I never ever take
it too serious. I love playing around with prints colors and styles. I am
spontaneous with my fashion. Another thing she said is when people ask her to
define her style she says she cannot do that, she feels that would put her
inside of a box and that is not what she is about. She also believes content is
the number one key as a content creator/ blogger. You will gain fans if you
have amazing content and you will keep them if you keep your amazing content
going.
Leandra is really a carefree amazing inspiring woman. She
took her platform and created an entire media channel within it. She branched
out and creates incredible stories within her platform. She is such a humble
amazing brilliant person. She is whitty, smart, funny, and overall on point.
She really inspired me this day because I love being so fun and carefree in my
blogging and sometimes I tend to lose that and now I am headed back that way
again. I just want to have fun and express myself the best way possible through
my blog. I want to inspire everyone and help everyone discover amazing new
indie brands through me.
She is so organic in her blogging approach and it's
refreshing to see this. She isn't this walking advertisement, she loves what
she does and incorporates it in the best ways. She has true organic amazing
fans that will always be by her side no matter what. She involves everyone in
her blog and media outlet and she constantly discussing topics with her
fans.
I am so grateful and thankful for this amazing opportunity
and even if I don't win I still won because this was the most rewarding
fantastic thing that could've ever happened to me. Like I said I have been
working so hard on my blog so to be recognized in any way is beyond amazing for
me. I love you Bloglovin’ and H&M and Man Repeller, Thank you!
xx
Amy
