Looking Back On 4 Years of Blogging

This photo above with me featuring EOS shave cream is a recent photo (posted last night on my Instagram) in collaboration with EOS. The opportunities I've received over the past year have been insane, and I could not be more thankful for each and every single one of them.
But before we get to the now, we need to go back to the basics. I've wanted to talk more about how I started blogging and why. If you haven't read my about section, then you may not know that I wrote 10 blog posts as a senior college writing project. The goal was to write about one specific topic that you knew a lot about, and to own it for 10 blog posts. Can anyone guess what my topic was? 
EDM. Electronic dance music. I know, I know. It's a totally different vibe nowadays, but my roots were back in the music game and specific electronic events. I actually have a few photos from back in the day, but the quality is less than sub-par so I'd rather not share those here. 
Nowadays, it is still hard for a lot of my friends and family to understand why I am spending so much time at home hunched over a laptop rather than being outside enjoying the sunshine. Over the past few years, influencer agencies have popped up all over which makes it so easy to find more and more opportunities from brands. When I tell my mom and my boyfriend's mom how I "make money on the internet" I explain that there are agencies who work with the brands directly and they also give bloggers and influencers more opportunities because they handle the day to day communication with influencers. Most brands cannot handle that additional task within their own staff, so they outsource the influencer affairs to influencer agencies. My favorite for a long time has been Collectively.
Once I started working with Collectively, I was accepted into my biggest campaign at the time with Clinique. If you've been around for some time then you remember this. My best friend's boyfriend calls this campaign my "Covergirl moment" because I was holding the chubby stick next to my lips and it was a close up of my face, which evidently exuded Covergirl. Many others had a similiar thought, and were under the impression that I had somehow made it by working with an amazing brand like Clinique. While it was not a big Covergirl reveal, this campaign (almost one year ago!) spawned off into what my blog and business has become today. I have not only developed an incredible relationship with Clinique directly, but this campaign with Collectively truly helped me get recognized and become a legitimate player in the beauty blogosphere.

Today's post is not sponsored, but I really wanted to share a story about an influencer agency that helped get me from point A to point B. I am so much further along in my career because of Collectively, and this first big opportunity with them has really changed the way the industry sees my work and how capable I am, and for that I cannot thank Collectively enough!
They just re-did their website, and I am in love with the new look and feel. If you're an influencer, you must apply to become part of their network. They work with some of the best influencers and brands, and there's so much opportunity to get your big moment too.
Shop the post