Why Your Self-Worth Can't Be Attached to Your Blog
How do you put your best face forward?
How do you put your best face forward? It's a question that has been on our minds a lot as we've traveled from Miami to Dallas talking with influencers and beauty bloggers moving the needle forward in the beauty industry.
It's why we hit the road for the Create & Cultivate x Clinique “Best Face Forward” panel. Not only so attendees could receive makeovers and test out the Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer, but so that they could also get inspired by our panelists. Dallas didn't disappoint.
C&C Marketing Director Heather Records was joined onstage by 5 amazing women, who know all about the pressures of a public persona.
Courtney Kerr, is the blogger and influencer and editor of KERRently, a website that showcases her personal style, beauty tips & tricks, favorite recipes, interior design inspiration, travel diaries, & shopping inspiration.
Stephanie Taylor Jackson is a fashion and lifestyle blogger, stylist and content creator for brands.
Ashley Robertson is the founder of The Teacher Diva, a Dallas-based blog about fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.
Amanda Miller is the founder and Dallas-based blogger behind The Miller Affect.
Kate Padgitt is the founder of the fashion blog Lonestar Southern.
They all had their own nuggets of gold to drop. Read through to get inspired by some of our favorites.
ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THE PRESSURE ONLINE
“My self worth can’t be attached to my blog. It can’t be attached to how many followers I have or how many likes I get.”-Kate
“You have to accept that some people are going to like you and some people are going to think you taste like soap.” -Courtney Kerr
“There might be people throwing stones, but guess what? Their arms are going to get tired.”-Courtney Kerr
ON KEEPING IT REAL
"It’s a photo and you don’t know what went into it. Don’t let it make you feel little.”-Kate
“I want my followers to follow me because they like who I am.”-Amanda Miller
"When I'm feeling like Stephanie, when I feel like me, that's when I feel the most beautiful." - Stephanie Taylor Jackson.
ON PUTTING YOUR BEST FACE FOWARD
“It’s all about getting rest and making sure to have to have a balanced meal in order to truly put your best face forward.”-Steph Taylor Jackson
"I love experimenting with the latest brands latest products."-Courtney Kerr
"Beauty is something that I just started diving into late last year, but I'm really enjoying it."-Stepahine Taylor Jackson
'For me, beauty means confidence. There are days where I'm not feeling it, want to put on sweatpants and eat an entire pint of ice cream. I felt like I woke up feeling like Wayne's World. But it's all about confidence. If you fake it, it can allow your confidence to shine through. But also what you feel inside, is what comes out on the outside." -Courtney Kerr
"Anything that inspires me, I find the beauty in."- Kate
MORE FROM THE BLOG
Influencers Share How to Celebrate Confidence and Beauty
Plus more from our Best Face Forward #CCxClinique Miami Pop-up.
photo credit: Jessica Bordner Photo
How do your beauty and confidence line up?
It was a hot topic of the day when we gathered in Miami for our Create & Cultivate x Clinique “Best Face Forward” panel. Attendees received makeovers and tried out the Beyond Perfecting Foundation + Concealer, enjoyed drinks and had new headshots taken before sitting down to get inspired by our panelists.
Joining C&C founder Jaclyn Johnson on panel were an awesome array of women in the beauty space in Miami.
Annie Vazquez, is a fashion, travel and beauty expert and journalist who has been coined as one of the pioneers of Miami’s fashion blogging community. She is the founder of The Fashion Poet and was voted Miami’s Top Fashion Blog by the New York Times.
But that doesn’t mean that she went into the her career fully confident.
“When I first started, I was a journalist,” Annie shared on panel. “When I moved over to blogging I asked myself, ‘Do I really want to do this? Do I really want to put myself out there for criticism?’” Her internal answer was, “Let me just do it.”
You learn to do what you want and not worry about who is going to leave you a comment. It’s a business. And even at the end of the day, if this isn’t your business it’s important to have self-love.
Martha Graeff, is a former model, stylist and Womenswear buyer for Harvey Nichols. Fashion and beauty are in her blood.
But she also had to work on building confidence.
“When I was a model,” she shared, “I would go to twenty castings and hear no. There are so many other beautiful girls. And you’re always hearing no. No. No. No. You’re not good enough. That girl has better skin. It’s always rejection. Modeling breaks you. But it also makes you stronger because you deal with rejection constantly. When I stopped modeling and started blogging I felt a hundred kilos off my shoulders.”
When it comes to negative comments online, they all agree that there have to be boundaries. Hugette Montesinos, is the Editor in Chief and Creative Director for DISfunkshion Magazine. She is also a trained life coach and college professor.
“With this mega-digital era, we don’t set boundaries any more,” Hugette shared. “For me, I have to set boundaries with what I consume-- and what I allow into my life, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.” When it comes to social media, the EIC explained, “I’m not going to aimlessly browse. I’m going to connect and share.” She furthered, “You obviously don’t have control over what comes into your inbox or private messages but you do have control over whether you chose to entertain that thought or not. We have so much more power over our thoughts. For me, every time something negative comes it, I’m able to say, ‘I’m not going to entertain this thought and I’m going to bounce it out.”
It’s one of the reasons she started DISfunkshion. “I started the mag because there was nothing out there that I could enjoy and read,” she explained. “The motto and thought-process was to create a movement that looked at beauty from the inside out. Than from the outside in-- which is what culture teaches us.”
photo credit: Jessica Bordner photo
Martha piggybacked on this idea a bit explaining, “We post our best photo on Instagram. We use five different apps before we post it. Maybe we’re not really happy, but we’re smiling.” She says meditation has changed the way she feels about everything-- and before she wakes up and checks her phone, she meditates. ‘It’s really changed the game for me and the way I see other people’s lives.”
“We need to celebrate how we’re born,” Annie added. “And that’s it.”
Daniella Ramirez, is a Miami-based blogger and the founder of Nany’s Klozet. She was born in Caracas, Venezuela, moved to Miami to attend college and hasn’t left! “When I was growing up it was all about perfection,” she said. “I remember being 9 and in my ballet class. My teacher told me, if you’re not skinnier by tomorrow, you’re not dancing.” She says it’s not the same anymore. “If you had told me 12 or 13 year old self that I would be working with brands and having this careers, I would have said, ‘I’m not tall enough for that, or I’m not skinny enough for that.’ But the world is changing and we’re accepting different body types and beauty and it’s what we should continue to do.”
“It’s also super important for us to normalize, ‘normal,’” Hugette added, to the nods of everyone on panel.
How do you feel about beauty? And how do your beauty and confidence line up? Share in the comments below!