The power of networking… never underestimate it

So as you pretties know I started “southern diamond” early this summer, what yall don’t know is the back story behind it! As most know I work for the visitor center at Sam Houston State, and one day I realized I had nothing to do and felt something was missing. I stumbled upon a blog on Instagram and it was the cutest thing ever, it was just a girl who loved fashion and lifestyle and wrote about upcoming fashion and beauty, the only thing was it was all out of reach for a college girl to afford, with everything being from Nordstrom’s and her expensive lifestyle, like jetting off to Paris, and the Hampton's. So I then decide why don’t I start my own blog but make it relatable to girls in college on a budget but still want the latest in fashion, no one I knew was doing a lifestyle blog, so I did and ever since then I have been writing away and (mostly at work) lol.

One day one of my co-workers Ericka, sat next to me and we sparked up the convo about me trying to get my blog off the ground and running so she then mentioned she loved to do photography but hadn’t done anything since high school and wanted to rebrand herself and at that moment I realized we could kill two birds with one stone! So she had her photography blog and I needed a professional photographer and from there the magic happened.

A few weeks and a few articles later Magnolia Mey boutique in Huntsville, TX contacted me interested in working with me through my blog, absolutely honored and humbled, I met with the owner Lauren and we discussed upcoming events, and the opportunities for me to utilize her store for my blog! Finally my blog was going where I wanted it to go.

Then I realized I could show-case my friends in Huntsville who have amazing talents on my blog to also get their names out there, like my makeup artist Sherien (makeup tutorial coming soon) and bam! Just like that, I could now fulfill my dream of inspiring fashion and lifestyle choices to my friends and family (with a budget in mind) and reach a bigger audience, I’m happy to start off this school year with this exciting adventure and see where this takes me and my audience!

Much Love,

Maria