With the growth of my blog I have been exposed to a lot of social networks, some of which I have joined in order to network with industry professionals as well as grow and strengthen my personal brand; the others are strictly personal. But the problem is knowing when to make which what. What?? Exactly so here is my break down:

Up and back in action! Thank you everyone for your support new posts are on their way!

Travelers, it's been a hard, hard week and my Freeway is out of fuel. More than once my character has come into question as well as my integrity and I am tired. No matter the content I always want my blog to motivate and inspire, so before I take a much needed internal retreat I will leave you with this:

When a company's product is recalled there is overhall to regain that brand's integrity. There is a public apology, and a whole lot of PR to repair the damage, and restructure brand image. Look at how these peanut butter companies banded together to face the issue as an industry.

However, as individuals we don't have a marketing or PR team, we just have ourselves. We are a consistent work in progress and sometimes the one "product" that we have been working on all our lives can be recalled by subjective opinion, misinterpretation, or question of intent. For me that is Authority; how I respond to it and handle myself when I'm in the position of it.

In my attempts to speak slowly clearly and concisely, my tone is mistaken as condescending. My attempts to remain emotionless and impartial, thought superior. My words taken out of context and heightened. Am I always blameless? No. I know that this has been my on going self-improvement task and I am publicly writing about it because there are many people reading this blog whose opinion I trust and appreciate.

Is it embarrassing? Yes, but my journey is not just my own and there will be times when you second guess yourself and beat yourself up for things that put your character into question. I understand. Read this post and know you are not alone. I am working on it and I know that you are too.

So thank you in advance for your patience as I take this time to review the events of this past week and really take some time to restructure my personal brand and fuel my Freeway.

Happy Travels,

"One Step Forward, Just Glance Back. No Fear, Just DIVA!"
photo source

It's a new quarter and I am adjusting to the new schedule and well, I looked up and saw that it has been 10 days since my last post and I'm thinking....where has the time gone?

So know travelers that this week I will be "hitting the road." There are so many things that I would like to talk about and other posts that I have started that I need to finish or re-write.

I have joined a few new social networks and I am planning a special post about how to build your personal brand using these sites. Until then follow me on Twitter! (link above)

For just a peak into my school schedule here are my classes this quarter:

• Computerized Flat Sketching
• Fabric Identification
• Apparel Process II
• Fundamentals of Product Development

Speaking of which, my Product Development class has this great weekly assignment called Job Journal that I will be writing a separate post about very soon! I love that assignment, but since I'm out for MLK day I have three weeks worth of assignments due next week!

But before I go....I love love love this pic of YaYa from ANTM (photo courtesy of photobucket), it's the perfect way to hit the road! Happy Travels!

"One Step Forward, Just Glance Back. No Fear, Just DIVA!"

On ASOP there are two thought provoking posts; Five Years From Today, and Choose Your Mission, and I chose to post my response here.

I remember my final year at Otterbein I took a supplementary class where I had to plan out my life for the next ten years. It has been three of those ten and needless to say my life looks nothing like originally planned.

While living in South Korea I had a lot of time to think about what I was doing with my life and where I want it to go.

I am 25, in 5 years I will be 30. 30, a milestone age, especially for women. So where do I see myself by this time?

• Working in the fashion industry in a capacity that allows me to exercise my business and fashion degrees, and interest in branding.
• Playing an active and consistent role in my organization
• Freelancing for niche fashion mags such as 944, or Trace Magazine
• A home owner- even if it’s a condo
• Working on my non profit




My Purpose: To encourage minority women between the ages of 15-21 to travel internationally. To inform them that their world is bigger than their neighborhood. To affirm that no dream is impossible if they are willing to put forth the effort to achieve it.

It’s the beginning of the quarter, new students are rolling in, and so are the questions. the one that struck close to home is “Do I need to know all the new designers that are out there?” (paraphrase) my answer “No”

I recently went through a similar self inflicted traffic jam when it came to branding blogs. I needed to know who was the industry expert, who’s blog should I read, what do I bookmark and then going through the archives to read every post tagged under “logos”. And of course I feel inadequate when a fashion blog that I never heard of is mentioned as one of the most influential in the blogosphere.


My advise to anyone who thinks they have to be a know it all in the Industry is to first realize that you don’t. It’s more important to have a clear idea of your point B and what vehicle you want to use to get there. Information overload can take away the enjoyment of discovery along your Freeway.

Know what you love and what you enjoy then happily endulge yourself with that, not on what you think you should know. From there add and subtract at your will. There are blogs, designers, other random sources of media and information that I no longer follow due to the fact that they no longer fuel my Freeway. But the ones that have taken their place give me exactly what I need.

Being a FIDM student can be stressful enough in itself, don’t add to it by taking the fun out of the journey. Remember “Happy Travels”. Now go, clear the road and enjoy the ride!

One step forward, just glance back. No Fear, Just DIVA!