In 2013 I launched my food blog Omnivore’s Cookbook and I turned it into a full-time business. Once I’d had a taste of being an entrepreneur, there was no going back. I had been happily running my blog in a vacuum-bubble with very little contact with the outside world.
A turn of events happened in September 2017, when I was invited by the Indonesian Tourism Board to travel to Indonesia with a bunch of bloggers on a press trip. Different from my expectation that I’d be traveling with food bloggers, my companions were from very different fields such as fashion, travel, and lifestyle. The experience of the trip was mind-blowing in terms of inspiration and content creation. I learned to see things from different perspectives, through the lenses of others. I also got very fascinated by the world of fashion blogging.
It’s so ironic because the past 33 years of my life have not been fashionable at all. After moving to the US in 2015, the only clothes shopping I did was for a dozen black T-shirts from H&M and half a dozen sports bras from Costco. I didn’t care because I was constantly working at home alone. Plus, being raised in a strict Asian family caused some serious low self-esteem issues for me. I thought I’d never look good no matter what I wore.
The Indonesia trip opened my eyes towards fashion. And how it is deeply related to design, creativity, self-love, and confidence-building.
I was so curious about the fashion blogging industry that I booked myself a day trip to LA for the Fohr Card conference one month after Indonesia. It was so far out of my comfort zone and I was terrified to go. But I couldn’t help it. I knew no one at the conference and my work wasn’t remotely related to fashion blogging. But somehow the idea lingered in the back of my mind after I came back to Austin. I tried to suppress the idea of opening a new Instagram account to share the new outfits I’d purchased in LA. And failed.
So I started my magzzhu Instagram account on the 16th of November 2017. I was just going to see how long it lasted until the sparks wore off. It only got stronger. I decided to dive headfirst into this strange world with a new blog on New Year’s day.
I’m excited to see where it goes.
Cheers to all of you and I wish you an amazing 2018.
Photos by Uriah
