1 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:06,519 Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mom never told you. From how Supports 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Caroline 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: and I'm Kristen, and I have tried to follow fashion 4 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 1: blogs in my time at tried and failed. I know 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: that sounds kind of silly to like say that you've 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: tried to follow a blog, but it is exhausting for 7 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: me to like be going to a blog every day 8 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: or in this case, in this day and age Instagram 9 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: account and look at all of these beautiful clothes and 10 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:40,279 Speaker 1: just be like, I don't even know how do these 11 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: people even put an outfit together? Yeah, it makes me 12 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: feel behind. Scrolling through Instagram, I'm like, oh, man, I thought, oh, 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: and I looked down right now? Can I tell you 14 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: what I'm wearing? Should we describe what we're wearing to 15 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: let listeners know where we're coming from. I'm wearing a 16 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: striped sweatshirt a massive like lime green tank top underneath 17 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: it to cover up the fact that I'm wearing exercise 18 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,559 Speaker 1: pants under that. You could call it athlete harker. Yeah, 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,959 Speaker 1: cutting edge atha. Yeah, I'm wearing sneakers, and yes I 20 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:17,960 Speaker 1: did um accessorise with a bracelet and a necklace. But seriously, 21 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: this is called I didn't want to put off take 22 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: off all of my pajamas, so you're half your half pajama. Yeah, 23 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 1: I basically put on a sweatshirt and came to work. 24 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: I think that's totally fine. I used to literally go 25 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: to work in my pajamas when I worked at the 26 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: newspaper and I was hungover on Sundays because I worked 27 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: from Friday to Tuesday or Friday to yeah, that's right, 28 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: Friday to Tuesday, and so I'd go in on Sundays 29 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: just like, unapologetically disgusting. But you're looking more put together 30 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: than I am today, Oh thank you. I am wearing 31 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: a Canadian tuxedo. I'm wearing some dark dinnam pants in 32 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: a a shambre shirt yes oh yes, and a and 33 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: a chunky knit sweater over it because it's cold in Atlanta. 34 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,800 Speaker 1: Finally it's chili here. But yeah, I mean I can't. 35 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: I can't keep up with with fashion blogs because it 36 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: just makes me feel like I need to immediately go shopping. 37 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: So what I do is when I get the urge 38 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: to go shopping, which is pretty spotty for me. I'm 39 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: one of those like I really do believe the science 40 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: that it is tied to ovulation. So it's like once 41 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: a month, I'll be suddenly like I need a new 42 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: something or other, and then I'll go online and you'll 43 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: google something or other. I'll google something or other and 44 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: what the Internet tells me is appropriate for ladies to 45 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: be wearing, then I might go get it. I'm so impressed. 46 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: But so you do like fashion research a list? Yeah, 47 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: I'll usually have like an instinct of like what I 48 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: want to be wearing. See, I just walk blind into 49 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: the store, which is why I end up with things 50 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: that don't go together. I'm not I'm not a browser. 51 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,120 Speaker 1: I can't browse well, I don't see. I'm I'm more 52 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,760 Speaker 1: of an efficient I'm more efficient than just browsing. I 53 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:08,399 Speaker 1: don't want to go in into shop, but I'll walk 54 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 1: in and be like this, this, this, this and this, 55 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,079 Speaker 1: try it on. Nothing fits. The one time and made well, 56 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: I got stuck in a silk shirt because my boobs 57 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: were too big for it. Uh, that was the longest 58 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: I've ever spent in a maid. Well, I do shop. 59 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: There's I like it. It's just you gotta watch out 60 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: for the silk shirts that don't have zippers, you know, 61 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: when you've got when you've got boobs on your chest. 62 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 1: Never been a problem for this, just it's a thing. Well, 63 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: but the thing about doing like fashion research, whether you 64 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: are intending to go shopping or whether you are just 65 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: passing the time on the internet, is that these fashion 66 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: bloggers can make everything look so perfect and effortless that 67 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: it does tend to make me feel like there is 68 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: no way I can achieve that. Like the way that 69 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: this woman or whoever is like putting together these outfits 70 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: and these successories. How did she even think of that? 71 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: My head is too big for that hat. I could 72 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: never pull it off. My face is too round. What's happening? 73 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: Where am I helped me? I'm trapped in blog world? 74 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: But I end up almost like resenting these strangers on 75 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 1: the internet for how amazing and put together they look. 76 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:15,119 Speaker 1: I started following uh Chiara Farini, who's the blonde salad. 77 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: She's like a bajillion followers on social media. Uh, And 78 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: I like three days later I un followed her. Oh 79 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: it's too much, it's too much, And and I was 80 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: just like, I don't need to see like strangers in 81 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: designer dresses, like looking effortless with their glass of champagne, 82 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: because you know what, I am a effortless with my 83 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: glass of champagne on my couch on Sunday in my pajamas. 84 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: Leandrew Medine of Man Repeller is a rare fashion blogger 85 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:47,679 Speaker 1: that I do follow, mostly because I'm drawn to her 86 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,599 Speaker 1: business and branding savvy. But she's also one of those 87 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: where her outfits would look clownish on me because she can. 88 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: I mean, half of it is, you know, they're wearing 89 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: designer clothes. We're wearing made well sale, so there's going 90 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,159 Speaker 1: to be a difference in how it's gonna at best 91 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: kinda look. Yeah, paid well sell the best. But there 92 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: have been so many times when she's like, now I've 93 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: got my highways cropped billowing trousers and my crop top 94 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: switchbacks ready to go. What did you even just say? 95 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think a crop top switchback 96 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: is actually a thing. It sounds like a dance or 97 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: like a cheerleading move. It was like an old home 98 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: sculpture leading term from back in my youth. Well I 99 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: don't know where I got it, but that's just what 100 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: I think of. But what I'm what I'm trying to 101 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: say is I relate in not understanding how outfits are 102 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: pulled off, and I think Man Repeller obviously is one 103 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: of those top names in fashion blogging and fashion social media. 104 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:02,320 Speaker 1: She definitely kind of at the top of the heap. 105 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 1: But it is interesting to see sort of the evolution 106 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: of fashion blogging, how it got started, what role the 107 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: recession played in it, the fact that it's almost basically 108 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: been distilled down except for maybe those people who are 109 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: at the top of the heap. It's been pretty much 110 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: distilled down to just like Instagram accounts nowadays, especially with 111 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,160 Speaker 1: this flood of fashion bloggers into the market. But we 112 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: wanted to look at today the reality of what it 113 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: means to be a fashion blogger, whether you are the 114 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 1: Man Repeller at the top of the heap, or whether 115 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: you are you know, the mom in Albuquerque who just 116 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:40,359 Speaker 1: really likes fashion and wants to blog about it or 117 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: Target halls. Yeah, Target, But it has changed so much, 118 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: even just as a complete fashion outsider that I am 119 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: from not so long ago, when I still remember a 120 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: friend of mine asking me, have you read Style Rookie before? 121 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:00,920 Speaker 1: It's this amazing fashion blog that you have to read. 122 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,280 Speaker 1: Her writing is so good and surprised. She's like like 123 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: thirteen years old. Oh my god. And she's talking about, 124 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: of course, um, Tobby Givinson, now of Rookie Magazine and 125 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: just all around amazing nous. And back then fashion blogging 126 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: was so much more, yes, curating outfits and photo shoots, 127 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: but it was her writing too that um really legitimized 128 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: the whole thing, whereas now it is so much just 129 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: insta followers, monetized, monetized, monetized. Do you know what I 130 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: was wearing? A twelve years old crop top switchback? Yeah, 131 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: it was underneath my sleeveless button up denim shirt and 132 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: which was tucked into my pleaded Bermuda shorts and belted. 133 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: And I don't mean to suggest in any way that 134 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: this was a positive look at all. Do you know 135 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: what pleaded shorts due to me? No? I don't. It's 136 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 1: not pretty ladies and gentlemen. But yeah, so I'm quite 137 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: impressed by by Tavvy. That was more doing my soccker phase. 138 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: It was lots of umbros and T shirts I thought 139 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: were cool, and by cool I mean duckhead T shirts. 140 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: No umbros were my twelve year old Caroline athletes. Sure 141 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: I would wear umbros for no reason really other than 142 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: to just be like, oh, I've got a breeze going 143 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: on now. Whereas twelve year olds today can go to 144 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: thrift stores, go vintage shopping, they can curate all these outfits, 145 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: they can create their own lifestyle brands and become fashion 146 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: brands of their own. Yea, So it's no wonder that 147 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: being a fashion blogger would attract so many people, whether 148 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: it's a passion for fashion or whether it's just people 149 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:47,400 Speaker 1: who are like, I need to make money, and some 150 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: of those people end up making the jillions of dollars. Yeah, 151 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: Harper's bizarre estimates that brands not like these cottage brands, 152 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: but big name brands, are spending more than a billion 153 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: dollars a year unsponsored Instagram posts. Yeah, so if you 154 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: are a top flight uh fashion blogger or fashion Instagram 155 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: or someone might come knocking and want to pay you 156 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 1: a bunch of money. And of course how much you 157 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: make depends on factors, mainly including audience size. But Harper's 158 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: was writing about how if you have hundreds of thousands 159 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: of followers, you can make anywhere from five hundred to 160 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: five thousand dollars per post, whereas if you have in 161 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: the millions. Your fee to some of these companies who 162 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: want you to wear their stuff can range from twenty 163 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: grand to a hundred grand per shot and I am dead, 164 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:43,160 Speaker 1: I have died. I'm dead now, which shock well. The 165 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: thing about it is, though getting all that cash that 166 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 1: is that is literally killing you is fewer and farther 167 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: between these days. Because while this whole fashion blogging um 168 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: entrepreneurialism has grown with people like Rachel Parcel of Pink 169 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: Peonies and Amy Song of song Style like making all 170 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:08,559 Speaker 1: this money and branding all of this stuff and having 171 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:10,840 Speaker 1: these fabulous lives that we're all seeing and following and 172 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:14,079 Speaker 1: making us want to get into the game. Because the 173 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: pool of bloggers is growing, brands are getting stingier with 174 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:21,320 Speaker 1: their money and their sponsorships as well. Yeah, I mean, 175 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: obviously brands are getting hip to what is going on 176 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: on the internet, knowing that they can get away with 177 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: either not paying anyone anything or paying people a lot less, 178 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: like you should just be happy that we sent you 179 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,319 Speaker 1: a purse, so like take pictures of yourself wearing it. Um. 180 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:38,319 Speaker 1: There was a New York Times article in January and 181 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: they were talking to pr folks who admitted that the 182 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: quote digital girls. So in other words, fashion blogging women, 183 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: thank you very much, are sparking higher conversions. And that's 184 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:53,520 Speaker 1: marketing speak for, uh, converting those web visits into direct 185 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: sales than celebrity placement. So Jennifer Aniston hawking like a 186 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: vino or what's the other one, living proof hair stuff, 187 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: it's not going to pay off necessarily as much as 188 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:11,200 Speaker 1: if you're having these big faces in fashion blogging wearing 189 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:14,840 Speaker 1: your stuff, because they are authentic, they're relatable, their effortless, 190 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,560 Speaker 1: they're beautiful, they're just like you. Well, and you'll see 191 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: too in their Instagram posts. They will you know, you 192 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:25,240 Speaker 1: can shop the post and like Bloomingdale's and other kinds 193 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 1: of stories like that, have set up systems where you know, 194 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: you get a cut of whatever sales that you you 195 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: make driving your followers to that store. Yeah, and technically 196 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 1: we should mention that according to the Federal Trade Commission, 197 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: these fashion instagrammers are supposed to disclose the gifts and 198 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:49,440 Speaker 1: payments they received from companies, but the enforcements really uneven. 199 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:51,720 Speaker 1: So it's kind of like the wild West for fashion 200 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: bloggers in terms of the compensation you receive and whether 201 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: you are going to be reporting any on your taxes. 202 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: But the thing that we don't see that we did 203 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,800 Speaker 1: talk about a lot in our hashtag Blessed podcast a 204 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 1: little while back, is all of the invisible work that 205 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:14,000 Speaker 1: goes into even crafting just a single Instagram post, much 206 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: less managing an entire lifestyle brand, especially if you aren't 207 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: someone likely Andrew Medine, who now has a whole staff. 208 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: If it's just you, your life is your lifestyle brand. Yeah, 209 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:27,680 Speaker 1: and so today and just a little bit, we're gonna 210 00:12:27,679 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 1: be talking with Brooke Aaron Duffy, who's a professor at 211 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: Temple University School of Media and Communication, and Emily Hunt, 212 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: who's a pH d student at the University of Pennsylvania 213 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: and in Burg School for Communication. Communication students were upsentum 214 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 1: because these ladies just published a study about the hidden 215 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,680 Speaker 1: lives of fashion bloggers. It's called Having it All on 216 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 1: Social Media, Entrepreneurial femininity and self Branding among fashion bloggers, 217 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,080 Speaker 1: And the whole point of their research was talking to 218 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: a bunch of these women about what they do, how 219 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: they make their blogs, how they go about living their lives, 220 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:06,080 Speaker 1: and they ended up finding a lot of drudgery behind 221 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:10,920 Speaker 1: that whole, easy, breezy chic veneer such as eighty to 222 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: one hundred hour work weeks and Caroline, you, you and 223 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: I put in a lot of a lot of time 224 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: and stuff. I've never told you every week, not to 225 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: humble Brad, but eighty two hundred hours a week, it 226 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:28,199 Speaker 1: is not no And I mean you can argue um 227 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: that this is a passion job. These women love fashion, 228 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 1: they love what they do. They're going to be taking 229 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 1: pictures anyway, so they should be making a little money 230 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,080 Speaker 1: for it. But that's crazy town. A hundred hours a 231 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: week of anything is aside from sleep or maybe like milkshakes. 232 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,000 Speaker 1: That's like crazy to be just posting about fashion all 233 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:47,080 Speaker 1: the time and taking pictures of yourself all the time. 234 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: Hundred hours a week of drinking milkshakes. Okay, so bloated, 235 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: true real talk. I am lactics. Lactos does not agree 236 00:13:56,040 --> 00:14:00,720 Speaker 1: with me, and I missed milkshakes so much. That's me projecting. 237 00:14:00,720 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Well, there's also not guaranteed financial stability with this, 238 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,000 Speaker 1: no surprise, because it's a different kind of freelance work. 239 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: You're really going from maybe sponsorship to sponsorship or freelance 240 00:14:13,440 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: post to post, so until you are at that higher level. 241 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: I mean, you're not necessarily going to be making the 242 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: kind of money to support the kind of lifestyle that 243 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: you will need to be projecting. Although yeah, yes, exactly. 244 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: Speaking of projecting, so Emily researcher. Emily wrote an email 245 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 1: that fashion bloggers look like they have it all, fulfilling careers, 246 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: financial success, flexible schedules, and fun lives. I mean that 247 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: sounds great, right, but unlike the having it all icons 248 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: of the analog era. She cites people like Helen Gurley 249 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: Brown or Ali mcbeel. She says, these creative mavens are 250 00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: as sensibly women just like us. As such, their digital 251 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: images make it seem as though having it all is 252 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:00,080 Speaker 1: accessible to all, just a whole lot of pass and 253 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: and a few social media accounts away, which, yeah, that 254 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: sounds like totally easy, right. So there was a lot 255 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: of really great, fascinating information to talk about with Emily 256 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 1: and Brooke when it comes to the hidden lives of 257 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 1: fashion bloggers, so many different aspects of what shapes a 258 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 1: career as a fashion blogger. It's definitely much more than 259 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: a hobby for the women they spoke with, and one 260 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,160 Speaker 1: of the things that really shaped a lot of these 261 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 1: women's experiences was the oh, I don't know, entire recession 262 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: because when the economy became so unstable, it shook up 263 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: things that a lot of those legacy fashion magazines, but 264 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,000 Speaker 1: it also meant that the rest of the economy was unstable. 265 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: So you have a lot of people going into starting 266 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: their own personal fashion brands, uh, not only as a 267 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: passion job, but also to make money. And so then 268 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: you have the issue of once you get into this 269 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:54,800 Speaker 1: type of line of work, you have to make money somehow. 270 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 1: So part of the work that goes into it is 271 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 1: having to negotiate sponsored posts for however much money. There 272 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: was one article that we were looking at that talked 273 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: to a whole bunch of different fashion bloggers about how 274 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: much they made, which a lot of fashion bloggers are 275 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: a little reticent to talk about that. But Antoinette coolest Ak, 276 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: a Sydney fashion blogger, said, clients say, I'll pay you 277 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 1: to wear that dress, I'll pay you to wear those shoes, 278 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, they sponsor me. I hate to 279 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: say it, but if you think of me like a 280 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 1: giant billboard, people are paying for that space. Not everybody 281 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: is so open with that financial wheeling and dealing that 282 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:36,480 Speaker 1: goes into what looks like just an effortless spontaneous image 283 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: and Caroline, in case you were wondering, a sweatshirt company 284 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: didn't pay me to wear the sweashot you know, I mean, 285 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: I know, I look like a billboard in my in 286 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:49,840 Speaker 1: my sweats today, you look like a vision. It's just me. 287 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: I'm sponsoring myself today. And in addition to the business 288 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: side of it, there's a whole community management side of 289 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: it that we know person really via working on the 290 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:06,760 Speaker 1: internet as well. That you have your fans and advertisers 291 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:09,479 Speaker 1: to answer to, but you also have to deal with 292 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: people who are not going to be so happy about 293 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:15,399 Speaker 1: seeing you in a pretty dress or what you're cooking 294 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,440 Speaker 1: for dinner, what you're doing with your kids. I mean, 295 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 1: online abuse definitely happens for these women as well, UM, 296 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:24,359 Speaker 1: and it can be exhausting, especially when you are trying 297 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:29,360 Speaker 1: to merge not just branding yourself but also branding your 298 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,199 Speaker 1: entire family. And that's something that Heather Armstrong, who is 299 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:36,360 Speaker 1: much more of a quote unquote mommy blogger than fashion 300 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 1: blogger UM, has experienced to the point that she ak 301 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: a deuce recently announced that she's essentially retiring from the 302 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:51,159 Speaker 1: whole mommy blogger thing because her life had just becomes 303 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:56,119 Speaker 1: so sponsored and it was in fearing with her kids lives. Yeah, 304 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: she said that she found that brands that wanted to 305 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: be featured we're basically trying to exert more and more 306 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 1: control over not only what was featured, but the tone, uh, 307 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: the image itself. And She's like, listen, at some point, 308 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 1: I'm just a copywriter for you, like, and I'm not 309 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: earning benefits. I'm not earning like paid time off or 310 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: leave or anything that an employee might. I'm just some 311 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: lady on the internet and you're trying to exploit my 312 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:25,679 Speaker 1: children for your benefit. Um. And one really important point 313 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: of the conversation with Brooke and Emily centered around this 314 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:34,080 Speaker 1: idea of emotional labor and women's work. They argued that 315 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 1: fashion blogging is emotional labor, and what emotional labor refers 316 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:46,640 Speaker 1: to is essentially managing your public facing persona and bodily 317 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,639 Speaker 1: display in order to, i don't know, like kind of 318 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 1: sell a good. You're sort of selling your the experience 319 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,199 Speaker 1: of being around you. Customer service, for instance, is a 320 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,119 Speaker 1: form of emotional labor. It's going above and be on 321 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,159 Speaker 1: so customer service might be answering the phone, uh to 322 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: make sure your customer has what she needs. But then 323 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,160 Speaker 1: the emotional labor part of it comes in when it's 324 00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:09,239 Speaker 1: like you gotta make sure to smile, you gotta make 325 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,479 Speaker 1: sure to look pretty, you gotta make sure to be pleasant. 326 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: Stuff that's not really easily quantifiable, but that could make 327 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: or break how successful you are at your job. And 328 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,400 Speaker 1: so obviously this ties into a lot of what we're 329 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,960 Speaker 1: talking about today in terms of emotional labor tending to 330 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: be gendered. It tends to be a term that is 331 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: used to describe a lot of the lower wage work 332 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 1: done by women in the service sector. And so in 333 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: this regard, fashion blogging is absolutely about going above and 334 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: beyond just taking a picture, writing a blog post, writing 335 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:43,680 Speaker 1: an Instagram caption. It's absolutely taking time out of your life, 336 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: portraying yourself is so deliriously happy with this glass of 337 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,400 Speaker 1: wine you're sipping and your you know, your new boots 338 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,679 Speaker 1: or whatever. There is a degree of just having it 339 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: bleed into the rest of your life. And we actually 340 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: have two special guests on the podcast to talk more 341 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: about that concept. To A and we're going to hear 342 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:06,880 Speaker 1: from them right after a quick break. Well, why don't 343 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 1: we get to our conversation with Brooke and Emily so 344 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:11,920 Speaker 1: they can tell us a little bit more about the 345 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: hidden lives of fashion bloggers. I am Brooke Aaron Duffy. 346 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 1: I am an assistant professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. 347 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: I have a PhD in Communication from the University of 348 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania where we're at right now. UM and over the 349 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: past few years, I've been studying gender, social media, and 350 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: creative production and that's what led me into the topic 351 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: of fashion bloggers in the labor that gets performed there. UM. 352 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,879 Speaker 1: I am Emily Hunt. I'm a PhD student at the 353 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 1: Annamburg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, also 354 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, UM, and I do research on social media, 355 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: consumer culture, UM and creative work. And I'm particularly interested 356 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:01,920 Speaker 1: in the fashion industry and fashion media. So I am 357 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: interested in touching a little bit on how exactly you 358 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: guys did get interested in fashion, What specifically led you 359 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:13,439 Speaker 1: to that? UM? Sure, Well, for me, uh, fashion has 360 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:16,439 Speaker 1: always been like an important part of my life. Actually, 361 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:20,720 Speaker 1: I grew up UM making and designing clothes for myself 362 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 1: and I but I always thought of myself as a writer, 363 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: and I wanted to work at magazines UM. And so 364 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: after I graduated from college, I worked UM in magazines 365 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 1: for a few years, some fashion magazines and some health 366 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:42,159 Speaker 1: related publications, and I was working at a really interesting 367 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: time for the industry, probably the worst time for the 368 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 1: industry and its history. It was during the recession, sort 369 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,439 Speaker 1: of like the instability of these legacy publications, and then 370 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 1: UM the fashion bloggers that were really starting UM to 371 00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 1: explode at at the time, and UM seeing these young 372 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: women basically making careers for themselves, UM I'm blogging really 373 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: just became like the buzzword UM at that time. And 374 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:13,720 Speaker 1: I kind of thought to myself, like, I don't think 375 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 1: this is UM necessarily for me to do personally, but 376 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,920 Speaker 1: I'm but what's going on is really uh interesting and 377 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: UM wild. And so I decided to go back to 378 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:30,439 Speaker 1: school and kind of study these institutions UM and the 379 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: culture UM on a broader scale. So while Emily was 380 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:37,720 Speaker 1: studying it from the inside, I was kind of looking 381 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: at it from a holistic perspective on the outside. I 382 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: was doing my dissertation work around the same time, and 383 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:46,160 Speaker 1: I was really interested in how the women's magazine industry 384 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,360 Speaker 1: was shifting in this moment where we're moving to digital 385 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,880 Speaker 1: and increasingly social media platforms. And so I was doing 386 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: interviews with magazine producers, executives, and so forth, and the 387 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: topic of fashion blogging kept coming up. And you know, 388 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 1: the time, we were kind of seeing the end of 389 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: the debate fashion bloggers versus editors and so forth. But 390 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,680 Speaker 1: but it was really reconfiguring the industry industry, the ways 391 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: in which magazine professionals were thinking about their role in 392 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: the larger fashion sector and how this is changing and 393 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: adapting in response to these new entrants. And so that 394 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: for me was you know, kind of sparked an interest 395 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: in understanding what these new social media platforms meant, both 396 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: for people inside the industry as well as those hoping 397 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: to make a living through it. Now, before we get 398 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,360 Speaker 1: into the demographics of your study, that the broader group 399 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 1: of people that you looked at for your research, I'm 400 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,280 Speaker 1: curious if there were any fashion bloggers in particular kind 401 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,200 Speaker 1: of during this time that sort of casually piqued both 402 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: of your interests that you were especially drawn to or 403 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: compelled by. M hmm. That's a good question. I think 404 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:00,879 Speaker 1: UM the man repeller for me was UM, a blog 405 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: that I started reading really early on UM, right right 406 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: soon after she launched, because she was a blogger who 407 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: was able to get publicity extremely quickly. And I kind 408 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 1: of started reading that blog and I and I have 409 00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: really followed it pretty closely over the last few years, 410 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,880 Speaker 1: just because I think UM that blog is an excellent 411 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 1: case study UM for the changes that UM fashion blogging 412 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: more broadly speaking, has experienced over the last few years. 413 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: And UM that's probably the most interesting blog to me 414 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,360 Speaker 1: and has been for a while. And it's also interesting 415 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 1: to think about kind of waves. You know, we talked 416 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:46,120 Speaker 1: about fashion blogging is this singular entity, but it's it's 417 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:48,639 Speaker 1: really interesting to think about in terms of the generations 418 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: we've gone through. UM. So, the first generation, like CIRCU 419 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 1: two thousand six or so, we saw kind of this 420 00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,399 Speaker 1: rise of grassroots indie voices. We we saw the Brian 421 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: Boys and and the Amy Songs and and Tabby and 422 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: everyone was talking about this little, you know, twelve year 423 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: old girl who's sitting next to Anna Wintour and UM. 424 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:09,880 Speaker 1: I think since then, it's it's just exploded so much 425 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:14,359 Speaker 1: that we've seen the rise of various niches and fashion blogs, 426 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:18,639 Speaker 1: but also we see a lot more similarity just because 427 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: of the oversaturation in the marketplace. So, for the purposes 428 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: and of your study, can you just tell our audience 429 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 1: a little bit about who you looked at? Who who 430 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 1: are your study participants? Sure? So we UM decided to 431 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:37,480 Speaker 1: look at the fashion blogs who are UM top ranked 432 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: by the industry, and that basically means they tend to 433 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: be ranked by their engagement, by the level of engagement 434 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: that their audience has. So that basically means that UM, 435 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,159 Speaker 1: the audience is clicking on what they post UM and 436 00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 1: there's this sort of like measurable UM a way to 437 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: measure their success basically. And so that we pulled the 438 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: top thirty eight fashion blogs and it was going to 439 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: be forty, but it ended up being thirty eight because 440 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,159 Speaker 1: we wanted to keep it to UM. The blogs that 441 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: remained independent and two of the blogs that were in 442 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:17,879 Speaker 1: that top ranking had since spent purchased by UM like 443 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,440 Speaker 1: corporate blog networks UM, and so we removed them for 444 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:23,520 Speaker 1: from our sample. And so that's how we ended up 445 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,879 Speaker 1: with UM these top thirty eight blogs, and that was 446 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:29,399 Speaker 1: the you know, we we conducted a visual analysis of that. 447 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: So we were going on Instagram, we were going on 448 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,280 Speaker 1: the blogs themselves to get a sense of how they 449 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,359 Speaker 1: present themselves on these different media um. And what was 450 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 1: I think important for us was to understand both what 451 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:42,680 Speaker 1: bloggers were doing in terms of what they were posting, 452 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,639 Speaker 1: but also what they were saying in a sense of 453 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: what was going on behind the scenes. UM. So this 454 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,399 Speaker 1: study itself was based on I think eight interviews, but 455 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,199 Speaker 1: over the past few years, Emily and I have together 456 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: done more than fifty interviews with bloggers at various stages 457 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,639 Speaker 1: of their careers and and so forth. Well, so what 458 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 1: was the overall driving purpose behind this study? What were 459 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:11,880 Speaker 1: you guys really hoping to learn and convey to readers. Well, 460 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:16,560 Speaker 1: I think what first piqued our interest, um was we 461 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: were interested in what kind of messages these bloggers were 462 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: constructing via their social media presences and um on the 463 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:28,439 Speaker 1: blogs themselves. Messages about what it means to do the 464 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 1: kind of work that they do, UM, About what it 465 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 1: means to be and and related to that is what 466 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: it means to be like an entrepreneur, a female creative um. 467 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: All these kinds of messages. And so we had some 468 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: UM like hunches about what we might find UM, and 469 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:51,679 Speaker 1: so then we decided to just do UM, you know, 470 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:55,600 Speaker 1: a deep systematic analysis of the narratives that they were 471 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,400 Speaker 1: UM that they were constructing. So one of the things 472 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: that really jumped out to me in your study was 473 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,880 Speaker 1: talking about how this relates to what you describe as 474 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,800 Speaker 1: the long history of gendered emotional labor. And I had 475 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:14,760 Speaker 1: just never thought about fashion blogging and even beauty vlogging 476 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:18,359 Speaker 1: and d I y and crafting in that way before, 477 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:20,400 Speaker 1: So I was wondering if you could talk a little 478 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: bit more about what that means and how it relates 479 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 1: to fashion blogging. Sure. I mean, one of the things 480 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: that was so interesting and compelling about this project was 481 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: the disparity between this kind of image of artful perfection 482 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: that we see on the Instagram images, and I think 483 00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,240 Speaker 1: so many of us compare us to the disparity between 484 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: that and the work, the labor that goes into this. 485 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: So there's been a lot of discussions lately about the 486 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: labor that people do online and the labor that goes 487 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: into self presentation, but I think it's important to contextualize this. 488 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: And in the early eighties, Arlely Hawkschild, who is a sociologist, 489 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 1: did some more. She was studying flight attendants and other 490 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: service workers and drew attention to the concealed labor they perform, 491 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 1: you know, the the way we present ourselves and the 492 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,280 Speaker 1: work that gets involved in the the gendered notions of this. 493 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:14,840 Speaker 1: And you know, it's really interesting to see similar things 494 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 1: among our serve among the people we were talking to 495 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: during interviews, that there's so much that gets obscured in 496 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: these images, the work of staging, the photos, of getting 497 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: ready and and I think most importantly the act of 498 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: promoting oneself, reaching out to one's networks, tweeting, Facebook, you know, 499 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: actually responding to comments and so forth. And I don't 500 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,280 Speaker 1: think there's been given enough attention to the extent to 501 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: which these various codes, you know, drive the production and 502 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: drive the labor of the Instagram posting and blogging a general. Yeah, 503 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: and I think another thing about emotional labor as um. 504 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,760 Speaker 1: Arley hawks Child to Finance, and she's a she's an 505 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:58,400 Speaker 1: amazing sociologist and people might know her UM more like 506 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: from her work about the second shift. She's also the 507 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: sociologist who gave us that idea that UM women go 508 00:30:05,120 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: to work, and then there's a second shift at home 509 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 1: doing that kind of care work. But I think an 510 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 1: important part about the emotional labor um that she theorizes 511 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 1: is the also the imperative to create a certain emotional 512 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: reaction in the people that you are facing. So, for example, 513 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 1: a server at a restaurant has to manage UM because 514 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: or her own emotions, but they also have to try 515 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 1: to create an emotional feeling in the people that they're facing, 516 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: like you know, feeling comfortable, having fun, whatever that might be. 517 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,719 Speaker 1: And we saw a lot of similarities with UM what 518 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: the bloggers were doing, UM having to sort of interact 519 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 1: with their audiences and UM cultivate UM an emotional feeling 520 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 1: of fun or inclusiveness or community or stylishness or whatever 521 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: that may be UM with their with our audiences. Now, 522 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,320 Speaker 1: one of the big elements of your study and things 523 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,080 Speaker 1: that we've already been talking about is this whole idea 524 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:08,240 Speaker 1: of the work being obscured. And I mean that's such 525 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:10,080 Speaker 1: a big point because I know when I look at 526 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,960 Speaker 1: some fashion blogs, your lifestyle blogs, you're just looking at 527 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: these pictures like, oh my god, these people are so beautiful, 528 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: their homes and their clothes are also gorgeous. You're not 529 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: really thinking about, well, wait, how many times did they 530 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: have to take that picture? What went into it? Did 531 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,640 Speaker 1: they even get to enjoy their vacation with their families? 532 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: And so I would really love for you to talk 533 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,960 Speaker 1: a little bit about how much of that work actually 534 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: does go into this whole looking natural thing, and like 535 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:41,080 Speaker 1: these women and these bloggers have it all, like how 536 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 1: much is actually going on behind the scenes and what 537 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 1: toll is it taking. So that's again where you know, 538 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,480 Speaker 1: we we found it so important to interview these women because, 539 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,160 Speaker 1: as you're saying, you know, we we look at these 540 00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:57,400 Speaker 1: images on Instagram and you know, it's like the whole 541 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: fear of missing out culture. It just looks like such 542 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,480 Speaker 1: a glitz and glamorous life and you know, hob nobbing 543 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,800 Speaker 1: with celebrities and traveling all around the world. And when 544 00:32:05,800 --> 00:32:07,280 Speaker 1: we spoke with a lot of these women, I mean, 545 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:11,360 Speaker 1: they were grateful for their opportunities, but they also wanted 546 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: to call attention to the fact that these are their 547 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,920 Speaker 1: full time jobs. Their full time jobs is presenting a 548 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: certain image and so much of it is bound up 549 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 1: with their their personal brand. And so it was it 550 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:27,080 Speaker 1: was really compelling to hear how much the idea of 551 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,600 Speaker 1: maintaining the brand, crafting and maintaining the brand in all 552 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:34,239 Speaker 1: capacities guided so much of their lives. And you know, 553 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:38,320 Speaker 1: we we have this sense of their professional and personal 554 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:42,440 Speaker 1: lives blending together. I think in in in such a 555 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,480 Speaker 1: interesting and an all inclusive way that you know, as 556 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,760 Speaker 1: you mentioned, we one woman is saying, you know, she's 557 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: on her honeymoon and she feels like she has to 558 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 1: take images to put these ups that they can be 559 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: on Instagram. And another woman was saying, you know, like 560 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,120 Speaker 1: the rest of us, if I have my regular Cereo breakfast, 561 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,080 Speaker 1: this isn't going to go in aware. But if I 562 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,880 Speaker 1: have my eggs Benedict and my Mimosa, then I'm going 563 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:06,160 Speaker 1: to post this. And so so much about thinking how 564 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: we want to craft this persona in order to post 565 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: it online rather than you know, what we're actually enjoying 566 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,640 Speaker 1: in this particular moment. Yeah, and as far as how 567 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: much work it takes, I it's pretty much all encompassing, 568 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 1: is the answer that we got pretty much across the board. Um, 569 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 1: but there is there is no real break and UM, 570 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 1: and you know, even when you're on vacation or you're 571 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: getting ready for bed or you know, whatever it may be, 572 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: these times that for many other people would be considered 573 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 1: a private time. Um, you're never really off. I think 574 00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:47,280 Speaker 1: constantly being on is the is the main imperative of 575 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: the job. And this idea of always being on means 576 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: that aspects of not just your personal life but those 577 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: around you need to have a continual presence on your 578 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: various social media channels. And so that means you know, 579 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:05,400 Speaker 1: showing showing our families and and you know, showing our 580 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: pets and our homes and all these different spaces, and 581 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:12,279 Speaker 1: so it's really this kind of compulsion to maintain visibility 582 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: and all senses of the word. Well, you guys talk 583 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,560 Speaker 1: about the idea also of having it all, and that 584 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 1: maybe they're presenting sort of a new idea of the 585 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 1: woman who has it all. Did you get a sense 586 00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 1: from these women that they were trying to convey that 587 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:28,320 Speaker 1: but like, oh, look, I can have it all or 588 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: was that just sort of a side effect of like 589 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:36,640 Speaker 1: trying to capture every moment of their lives. I think 590 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:40,399 Speaker 1: there's a sense of having it all, but in kind 591 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,040 Speaker 1: of a different way than we're used him. We were 592 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,760 Speaker 1: thinking of the eighties and nineties, this more post feminist 593 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,560 Speaker 1: mode of having it all where it was really conflating 594 00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:51,160 Speaker 1: the family and the workspace. And so we're looking at 595 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 1: kind of a difference that we weren't looking at mommy bloggers. 596 00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:56,120 Speaker 1: But the having it all was was having this career 597 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,480 Speaker 1: where we're doing what we love and it's okay that 598 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:02,880 Speaker 1: our person and professional lives fleed together. Um. But what 599 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: makes it kind of interesting was this image of perfection 600 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: also had these moments of seeming candor so presenting oneself 601 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: is real or authentic or relatable with something that that 602 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:18,799 Speaker 1: kept coming up, But that too is constructed in a 603 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:23,680 Speaker 1: way that has an image. It's always constructed against something. 604 00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:26,840 Speaker 1: So it's you know, having a sense of presenting what 605 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:31,120 Speaker 1: self is authentic in a way that it becomes bound 606 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 1: up in the image itself. Do you think that audiences 607 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:40,439 Speaker 1: are becoming wise to that level of artifice? I mean, 608 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,879 Speaker 1: as I'm listening to you talking, it's making me think 609 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:49,520 Speaker 1: of the Instagram account, Soclity, Barbie Viral, and I mean, 610 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,239 Speaker 1: I think a lot of us know that there is 611 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,240 Speaker 1: a level of artifice presented in a lot of these 612 00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:01,759 Speaker 1: fashion blogs and instagrams that we're seeing, But but do 613 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,040 Speaker 1: we really embrace that? I don't know, I'm wondering, like, 614 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 1: what effect is this having on us? It's just the 615 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:13,719 Speaker 1: average average Christians in Caroline. UM. I guess that's kind 616 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:17,880 Speaker 1: of a hard question to answer because we didn't um 617 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,719 Speaker 1: study the audience in in this research. But that's definitely 618 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: something that would be a great project going forward. I 619 00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:28,839 Speaker 1: think that I don't know. My my sense is that, 620 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,800 Speaker 1: like you said, uh, people are more aware of and 621 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:36,400 Speaker 1: they uh maybe once we're I thought there is a 622 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:40,360 Speaker 1: lot of work and artifice and posing and things like 623 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:43,040 Speaker 1: that that go on behind the singings. And also I 624 00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:45,040 Speaker 1: get the sense that people are more aware of the 625 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:50,160 Speaker 1: of the money required to be successful in fashion blogging. 626 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:55,200 Speaker 1: But that being said, because of this rhetoric um that 627 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:59,920 Speaker 1: persists that bloggers are just like us, they're regular women, 628 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: and um, that kind of thing, you know, I think 629 00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:07,280 Speaker 1: I think that still um kind of blurs blurs the 630 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:11,879 Speaker 1: boundaries a little bit, and it doesn't make it clear. Yeah, 631 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:14,680 Speaker 1: and it faminely said, you know that this whole notion 632 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:18,840 Speaker 1: of presenting themselves as real or relatable. I mean, that's 633 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: that's part of the image too. And so one of 634 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:25,360 Speaker 1: the things was kind of interesting was how these bloggers 635 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,440 Speaker 1: sought to kind of conceal markers of class or privilege. 636 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:31,319 Speaker 1: And so one of I don't know if this was 637 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,239 Speaker 1: in the study or just our separate project, um, but 638 00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:35,759 Speaker 1: one of the women we interviewed said, you know, I 639 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:37,840 Speaker 1: have a lot of more expensive things. You know, I 640 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: have my Tory Birch brand, but I like to combine 641 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 1: this with something from Old Navy because my audience will 642 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,359 Speaker 1: find this real or relatable. And so there was really 643 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: the sense of against staying within one's crafted persona, which 644 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 1: meant including these moments of candor and realness, but also 645 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:59,440 Speaker 1: being very very careful to make sure the audience doesn't 646 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:01,720 Speaker 1: call one out. So, you know that the sense of 647 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: thinking about your audience much the same way that you know, 648 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,200 Speaker 1: media professionals have always thought about their audience. We see 649 00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:12,080 Speaker 1: this same kind of attention to the readers, to the viewers, 650 00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:14,960 Speaker 1: and of course to metrics that we've seen from mainstream 651 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: media for for decades. Were the people you talk to 652 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:23,719 Speaker 1: very tired because I'm listening to your talk about, you know, 653 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,160 Speaker 1: having to make sure they pair the designer bag with 654 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:30,880 Speaker 1: the Old Navy shirt. Maybe UM and and keeping an 655 00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:34,720 Speaker 1: eye on metrics. But when you're trying to not only 656 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:39,040 Speaker 1: present yourself as creative and spontaneous but also genuinely be 657 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:43,239 Speaker 1: creative and spontaneous, but also just constantly be worried about 658 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,839 Speaker 1: numbers and things like that, were these people just very, 659 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:49,319 Speaker 1: very tired. What kind of sense did you get from 660 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:52,600 Speaker 1: the women you talked to of sort of the cost 661 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:56,799 Speaker 1: benefit analysis of this kind of work? M H Well, 662 00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:58,840 Speaker 1: I think there's a range, and we can probably both 663 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:02,280 Speaker 1: speak to the different kinds of women that we interviewed. UM. 664 00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:07,440 Speaker 1: I I've pretty much exclusively so far interviewed UM women 665 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:11,040 Speaker 1: who were doing this professionally. So they this was their blogging, 666 00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:15,200 Speaker 1: was their source of income, They didn't have other jobs. UM, 667 00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:18,360 Speaker 1: they were already kind of established in this in this field. 668 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,920 Speaker 1: And for them, I think they, I don't know if 669 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:25,719 Speaker 1: tired is the word. I think I think they work constantly, 670 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:31,160 Speaker 1: but they at the same time, they felt, UM, sort 671 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:33,960 Speaker 1: of exhilarated by the opportunity of the many opportunities that 672 00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,520 Speaker 1: they've been able to have, and they constantly said that 673 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:41,520 Speaker 1: they were so they felt very grateful and lucky UM 674 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:44,480 Speaker 1: that they were able to do this kind of work, 675 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: which that can be indicative of a whole other kind 676 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:55,600 Speaker 1: of um, emotional, uh labor, I guess. But um, but yeah, 677 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:58,040 Speaker 1: I mean I think the constant work is just a 678 00:39:58,120 --> 00:40:02,640 Speaker 1: fact of of life for them. Yeah. Absolutely, um, And 679 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:05,000 Speaker 1: Assembly said, you know, I've studied professional bloggers, but I've 680 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:09,400 Speaker 1: also been working on a project where I'm studying blogging aspirants, 681 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:11,560 Speaker 1: creative aspirants, and those who are hoping to turn this 682 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:15,279 Speaker 1: into a profession. And I got the sense that, you know, 683 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:18,400 Speaker 1: the professionals, like Emily said, did have a lot of gratitude. 684 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:22,360 Speaker 1: But I mean it was incredible the nature and extent 685 00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:25,279 Speaker 1: of work. I mean this, this is kind of all 686 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:29,000 Speaker 1: encompassing these various aspects of one's lives. And I think 687 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:33,520 Speaker 1: we as readers of these blogs have a sense that, 688 00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:36,840 Speaker 1: you know, this myth of overnight success. And the ones 689 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,680 Speaker 1: who had gone pro that I spoke with had been 690 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 1: working full time and doing this part time for four 691 00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:44,600 Speaker 1: and five years until they had enough income that they 692 00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:48,799 Speaker 1: were actually able to do this as a living. And 693 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:50,680 Speaker 1: so for me, it really helped to draw attention to 694 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:54,399 Speaker 1: the time, the commitment, the labor that goes into this. 695 00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: Before you know, someone can quote unquote do what they 696 00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:01,080 Speaker 1: love and get paid. Now, this wasn't something directly addressed 697 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,040 Speaker 1: in the study, but as I was reading it and 698 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:05,720 Speaker 1: listening to you all talk right now, UM, I'm really 699 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:10,200 Speaker 1: curious to get your sense of whether there is some 700 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:14,280 Speaker 1: kind of male digital creative analog to this whole fashion 701 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:19,440 Speaker 1: blogging space, because when I hear about this unpaid labor 702 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:25,200 Speaker 1: that's going on, the blending of professional and personal, the gratitude, 703 00:41:25,239 --> 00:41:27,480 Speaker 1: the sense of feeling so lucky to have the job 704 00:41:27,520 --> 00:41:30,080 Speaker 1: that you do, that we that we do read about 705 00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:34,840 Speaker 1: very often when we think about, you know, women and work, 706 00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,000 Speaker 1: And I'm just wondering if there's a space where guys 707 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: are doing a lot of this too, in the digital 708 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,840 Speaker 1: entrepreneurial space. So um, you know, I think one of 709 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,120 Speaker 1: the obvious comparisons that I've heard is is sports blogs 710 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:51,480 Speaker 1: and my colleagues TC core again and Kathleen Coon have 711 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:54,960 Speaker 1: done some really interesting work on the hope labor of 712 00:41:55,000 --> 00:41:59,880 Speaker 1: sports blogs and drawing attention to the the unpaid labor 713 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,360 Speaker 1: that these individuals do, and I think there are definitely 714 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 1: some overlaps. But what I think it's so interesting about 715 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,520 Speaker 1: the fashion blogger set is the feminized nature the fact 716 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:11,319 Speaker 1: that this does drawn kind of this gendered history of 717 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,080 Speaker 1: emotional labor, and you know, you think about what fashion 718 00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:17,120 Speaker 1: and beauty bloggers are doing, it's very much about the body, 719 00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:20,760 Speaker 1: it's about the physique, it's it's about these very gendered 720 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:24,799 Speaker 1: components about you know, how to be a female. And so, 721 00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:27,520 Speaker 1: in one sense, um, that's kind of what compelled us 722 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:31,200 Speaker 1: to do this because when we think of when we 723 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,000 Speaker 1: think of entrepreneurialism or I mean, I guess discourse is 724 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:37,600 Speaker 1: about entrepreneurialism really much focused on this kind of masculine set. 725 00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:42,000 Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's a very very difficult culture for 726 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:44,759 Speaker 1: women to break into because of kind of the institutional 727 00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:49,000 Speaker 1: sexism that's pretty rampant in the text scene. Um, so 728 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:52,200 Speaker 1: we have this masculine notion of entrepreneurialism, and then we 729 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:57,399 Speaker 1: have these women who are succeeding in careers that capitalize 730 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:01,240 Speaker 1: on these notions of femininity, whether it's beauty, there it's motherhood, 731 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:05,160 Speaker 1: whether it's domesticity. And so what's interesting about the women 732 00:43:05,239 --> 00:43:07,200 Speaker 1: that we were focusing on is they kind of combine 733 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,279 Speaker 1: these these two realms and some really interesting ways that 734 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:12,480 Speaker 1: I think in a lot of ways it is it 735 00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:16,200 Speaker 1: remains still very gendered, and I think what we see 736 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:20,279 Speaker 1: with fashion bloggers may kind of presage larger trends in 737 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: this whole social media environment. So I think there's definitely 738 00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:26,520 Speaker 1: comparisons between something masculine like sports blogging, but I don't 739 00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:29,439 Speaker 1: think you're gonna see the same enactments of emotional labor 740 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:33,759 Speaker 1: and so forth. Well, you guys mentioned diversity. What role 741 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,040 Speaker 1: does fashion blogger diversity or lack thereof, I guess play 742 00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:42,240 Speaker 1: in those broader conversations and trends around fashion and beauty. 743 00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 1: Would you say, well, it's interesting because fashion blogging, UM, 744 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,560 Speaker 1: it has always sort of been UM held up as 745 00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:57,360 Speaker 1: like this example of democratic participation in the fashion industry UM. 746 00:43:57,440 --> 00:44:01,279 Speaker 1: And and you know, any one, it's open to all 747 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:04,400 Speaker 1: that anyone with any Internet connection can participate that kind 748 00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:08,239 Speaker 1: of thing. And I wouldn't go so far as to 749 00:44:08,239 --> 00:44:11,880 Speaker 1: say that is totally false, because there are in some 750 00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:16,320 Speaker 1: ways fashion blogging has opened up the fashion industry UM. 751 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,080 Speaker 1: But it's no secret that the fashion industry UM has 752 00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:26,239 Speaker 1: uh major issues with UM with diversity and UM, you know, 753 00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:29,279 Speaker 1: especially in runway shows and magazine covers and these major 754 00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:33,839 Speaker 1: advertising campaigns and blogging. When we you know, when we 755 00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:38,160 Speaker 1: looked at the top most influential bloggers, they really weren't 756 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:43,160 Speaker 1: any different. And that was something that um, I think 757 00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:48,120 Speaker 1: surprises us a little bit. Um that you know, out 758 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,359 Speaker 1: of our thirty eight women and our sample, I think 759 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:56,040 Speaker 1: only three of them were non white. And there were 760 00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:59,680 Speaker 1: also a lot of markers of cultural and economic you know, 761 00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:03,919 Speaker 1: pre existing cultural and especially economic capital that that these 762 00:45:03,960 --> 00:45:07,160 Speaker 1: women had prior to blogging. So the people who are 763 00:45:07,239 --> 00:45:14,560 Speaker 1: at the top um aren't as diverse as um as 764 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:19,759 Speaker 1: you might think, judging from the rhetoric that surrounds fashion blogging. Well, 765 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:22,279 Speaker 1: speaking of you know, the top versus the bottom, what 766 00:45:22,320 --> 00:45:24,279 Speaker 1: does what does that income look like? I see you've 767 00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:28,439 Speaker 1: got your top fashion bloggers and people on Instagram. How 768 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:31,799 Speaker 1: much can they typically expect to bring in and over 769 00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:34,239 Speaker 1: the course of a year versus somebody who's maybe more 770 00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:39,320 Speaker 1: of a grassroots level blogger. M hm um. So I remember, 771 00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:41,319 Speaker 1: I think it was about a year ago of a 772 00:45:41,320 --> 00:45:44,399 Speaker 1: woman from Italy. Her name is Carre Rainy and she 773 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,920 Speaker 1: is the blonde salad um and it came out I 774 00:45:47,960 --> 00:45:49,880 Speaker 1: think Harvard Business School did a case study with her 775 00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:52,600 Speaker 1: and found that she's making a staggering eight million dollars 776 00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:55,480 Speaker 1: this year, and within a day I had a bunch 777 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:59,040 Speaker 1: of people sending me emails and sharing the story because 778 00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:00,719 Speaker 1: you know, look at this, this shi Vug kind of 779 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,520 Speaker 1: rose to the top and it's making eight million. But 780 00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:05,319 Speaker 1: you know, I think it's so important to stress that 781 00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:07,720 Speaker 1: that is that it's an exception. It's such an exception, 782 00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:10,480 Speaker 1: because I mean, this is a woman, she's she's strikingly beautiful, 783 00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:15,720 Speaker 1: she has background in fashion, she went to an Italian 784 00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:19,120 Speaker 1: fashion school, she's been doing it for years, and so 785 00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:22,840 Speaker 1: you know, you see someone like that versus the annual 786 00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:25,759 Speaker 1: salaries of the women were we spoke with, and you know, 787 00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:27,239 Speaker 1: it's hard to get a sense of how much people 788 00:46:27,239 --> 00:46:29,400 Speaker 1: are making. It was it was not something that that 789 00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:31,000 Speaker 1: people want to share. But like I said, a lot 790 00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:33,480 Speaker 1: of people said they hadn't been doing this for four 791 00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:36,239 Speaker 1: or five years before they were actually able to make 792 00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:38,560 Speaker 1: the jump to full time. And so I think in 793 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:40,759 Speaker 1: a lot of cases, um, you know, one woman said 794 00:46:40,960 --> 00:46:43,840 Speaker 1: I'm making next to nothing from her affiliate links and 795 00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:48,080 Speaker 1: so forth, So it's it's such a huge disparity. Um. 796 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:50,600 Speaker 1: Side note, I wish you two could have seen the 797 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:53,200 Speaker 1: look on Caroline Space when you said eight million dollar. 798 00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:56,880 Speaker 1: I can imagine, I said, I mentioned that in class 799 00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:00,520 Speaker 1: yesterday and had the same response, UM, yeah, and that 800 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:06,000 Speaker 1: it's interesting because I've interviewed, Like Brooks said, bloggers are 801 00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:08,560 Speaker 1: really reluctant to give, you know, exact numbers, so it's 802 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:13,760 Speaker 1: hard for us to get an exact sense. But um, 803 00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:17,439 Speaker 1: from the talking around the issue that we've done, UM, 804 00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:20,359 Speaker 1: there are people, there are bloggers out there who maybe 805 00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,880 Speaker 1: you wouldn't even expect would be making huge sums of 806 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:26,799 Speaker 1: money and they're actually bringing in, you know, hundreds of 807 00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:32,840 Speaker 1: thousands of dollars every year. UM. So it's really arranged, 808 00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:36,239 Speaker 1: and it's really wholly dependent on the audience that you're 809 00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:39,120 Speaker 1: able to cultivate for yourself. Are you able to get 810 00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:42,800 Speaker 1: your numbers up? Um, both in numbers of followers and 811 00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:47,920 Speaker 1: in those engagement metrics, which are pretty much the lifeblood 812 00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:51,080 Speaker 1: of the industry. It's pretty much that's how you get 813 00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:54,840 Speaker 1: your branding deals and um, you know, that's how you 814 00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:57,680 Speaker 1: make money from affiliate links and all of that. You know, 815 00:47:57,719 --> 00:48:00,200 Speaker 1: And so we're thinking, how much does the blogger can 816 00:48:00,239 --> 00:48:03,399 Speaker 1: I give it this this story of someone making eight 817 00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:05,680 Speaker 1: million But but what's also really important to point out 818 00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:09,919 Speaker 1: is blogging is only a portion and sometimes a small 819 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:13,720 Speaker 1: portion of their actual income. And one young woman I interviewed, 820 00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:15,120 Speaker 1: the name was Jesse, and she was telling me that, 821 00:48:15,160 --> 00:48:17,600 Speaker 1: you know, blogger as a title is a bit of 822 00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:19,959 Speaker 1: a misnomer. She said, I'm more like a full time 823 00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:25,760 Speaker 1: freelancer because she does speaking events, she goes on TV 824 00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:29,799 Speaker 1: for various promotions, she's doing different initiatives. She still does 825 00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:33,759 Speaker 1: freelancing for mainstream publications that she had a connection with 826 00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:37,200 Speaker 1: UM and her earlier career. So even when we say, okay, 827 00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:40,120 Speaker 1: well these people are making you know, whatever salary it 828 00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:42,319 Speaker 1: is from their blogging career, I mean that's that's a 829 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:47,280 Speaker 1: small portion of this really kind of complicated career field 830 00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:51,080 Speaker 1: where they are holding several jobs. I mean, you know, 831 00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:52,880 Speaker 1: it's kind of indicative of I guess what it was 832 00:48:52,920 --> 00:48:55,400 Speaker 1: called a few years ago, the slash economy where everyone 833 00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:58,719 Speaker 1: has you know, two or more positions where they're kind 834 00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:03,920 Speaker 1: of doing fun and everyone has a side hustle hustle exactly. Yeah, 835 00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:07,040 Speaker 1: I think that. Yeah, the title of entrepreneur is really 836 00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:09,360 Speaker 1: something that a lot of the boggers that we interviewed 837 00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:14,440 Speaker 1: hold onto UM. They don't necessarily and they don't necessarily 838 00:49:14,480 --> 00:49:17,759 Speaker 1: think of themselves. UM, not everybody, but many of them 839 00:49:17,800 --> 00:49:20,200 Speaker 1: don't necessarily think of themselves as bloggers. They think of 840 00:49:20,239 --> 00:49:23,400 Speaker 1: themselves as entrepreneurs. They have they have a blog, and 841 00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:26,360 Speaker 1: then they also do a bunch of other things related 842 00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:29,960 Speaker 1: to that blog. So how is that particular type of 843 00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:34,120 Speaker 1: entrepreneurship shaped by what you refer to as sort of 844 00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:37,960 Speaker 1: oversaturation earlier in the episode, um, in terms of more 845 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:41,200 Speaker 1: and more people getting into the game. So, I think 846 00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:44,800 Speaker 1: we're at a point where it's really really hard to 847 00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:48,200 Speaker 1: break into this. I mean, it's it's been difficult for 848 00:49:48,239 --> 00:49:51,000 Speaker 1: some time, and I think because of the shift from 849 00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:52,759 Speaker 1: kind of the first wave to the second wave or 850 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,160 Speaker 1: the third wave or wherever we want to say we're 851 00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:57,799 Speaker 1: at in the in the blog sphere, there are so 852 00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:02,560 Speaker 1: many people who are kind of following this pipe dream 853 00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:04,560 Speaker 1: of making a living doing what I love and what 854 00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:07,360 Speaker 1: it means is not just as a difficult to break in, 855 00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:09,200 Speaker 1: but it's even harder for people who have been doing 856 00:50:09,200 --> 00:50:12,239 Speaker 1: this for years and years to generate the same kind 857 00:50:12,239 --> 00:50:15,400 Speaker 1: of income they once did. Um. One young woman I 858 00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:17,360 Speaker 1: spoke with so that she had been doing this for 859 00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:20,160 Speaker 1: I think about six or seven years, and she said 860 00:50:20,200 --> 00:50:22,520 Speaker 1: December was a really hard month for her, and you know, 861 00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:24,080 Speaker 1: I asked what was going on, and she said, you know, 862 00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:25,480 Speaker 1: I think a lot of it is because there are 863 00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:28,839 Speaker 1: so many bloggers out there who are willing to work 864 00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:30,800 Speaker 1: for free. And she said, you know, I think I 865 00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:34,160 Speaker 1: get a sense that they already have existing income so 866 00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:36,680 Speaker 1: they can purchase their own clothes rather than have them 867 00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:39,239 Speaker 1: gifted to them, and so forth, and and so we 868 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:42,000 Speaker 1: see that this oversaturated market is not just making it 869 00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,960 Speaker 1: difficult for new entrants, but it's it's really crowding out 870 00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,120 Speaker 1: of a lot of people, especially when we have those 871 00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,440 Speaker 1: that can actually afford to work for free. I mean, 872 00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:54,320 Speaker 1: this isn't your everyday person who can who can sustain 873 00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:58,280 Speaker 1: this lifestyle without some kind of existing form of capital 874 00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:02,320 Speaker 1: or something to someone someone to bankroll them. So, knowing 875 00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:04,880 Speaker 1: what you know, now, what would you say would be 876 00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:09,279 Speaker 1: the best case version of fashion blogging an empire with 877 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:12,279 Speaker 1: a staff, just doing it on the side and being 878 00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:15,880 Speaker 1: a legitimate passion project that you do when you have time. 879 00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:19,320 Speaker 1: I think for me, I mean this is something that 880 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:22,440 Speaker 1: I talk about with some of my undergraduates as well. 881 00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:26,879 Speaker 1: I think it's it's both important but difficult to make 882 00:51:26,920 --> 00:51:29,480 Speaker 1: sure they are fairly compensated. I mean, that's one of 883 00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:31,799 Speaker 1: the things that I find so problematic is because the 884 00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:36,439 Speaker 1: market is so oversaturated, brands essentially expect people to work 885 00:51:36,440 --> 00:51:38,040 Speaker 1: for free. And I've had so many women say, you know, 886 00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:40,719 Speaker 1: brands will send me things for for free and say, okay, well, 887 00:51:40,719 --> 00:51:43,320 Speaker 1: you know, just do us a solid and do free promotion. 888 00:51:43,400 --> 00:51:46,200 Speaker 1: But to draw attention to the fact that what they're 889 00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:48,239 Speaker 1: doing does involve an incredible amount of work and it 890 00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:50,800 Speaker 1: should be compensated like like any other form of work. 891 00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:54,360 Speaker 1: And so I think realizing that and finding places to 892 00:51:55,320 --> 00:51:59,839 Speaker 1: UM join networks and affiliate themselves with more institutional forms 893 00:51:59,880 --> 00:52:02,000 Speaker 1: of support to ensure there is a way to get 894 00:52:02,040 --> 00:52:04,840 Speaker 1: fairly compensated and not just be doing the same, you know, 895 00:52:04,920 --> 00:52:08,480 Speaker 1: buying into this work for exposure narrative that seems to 896 00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:13,640 Speaker 1: sustain so much of the contemporary work economy. Yeah, I 897 00:52:13,680 --> 00:52:17,960 Speaker 1: would say that blogging UM seems to be it's kind 898 00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:20,840 Speaker 1: of starting to be thought of as you know, the 899 00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:25,240 Speaker 1: new way into the industry where you know, the fashion 900 00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,880 Speaker 1: industry and UM, the magazine industry and things like that. 901 00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:32,120 Speaker 1: They've kind of they've trafficked in unpaid internships for a 902 00:52:32,239 --> 00:52:37,040 Speaker 1: very long time, and UM and unpaid internships have gotten 903 00:52:37,040 --> 00:52:40,240 Speaker 1: a lot more attention over the last few years about 904 00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:43,160 Speaker 1: how they can be unfair, they can be expletive all 905 00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:48,800 Speaker 1: these things. UM and blogging has the potential to also 906 00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:51,200 Speaker 1: go down that route, and so I think, yeah, like 907 00:52:51,239 --> 00:52:53,480 Speaker 1: Brooks said, the important thing is to ensure that you're 908 00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:56,920 Speaker 1: being fairly compensated for the work that you do. And 909 00:52:56,960 --> 00:53:00,319 Speaker 1: that's tough. That's hard for you know, people, especially women 910 00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:03,759 Speaker 1: who are maybe late teens, early twenties, mid twenties, they're 911 00:53:03,760 --> 00:53:07,359 Speaker 1: trying to get um, you know, build their career as 912 00:53:07,400 --> 00:53:09,239 Speaker 1: it can be hard to kind of stand up and 913 00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:11,440 Speaker 1: say no, I deserve to be paid. But that would 914 00:53:11,560 --> 00:53:14,239 Speaker 1: that would be the ideal. Well, what other types of 915 00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:18,120 Speaker 1: advice do you have for for young women or girls, 916 00:53:18,200 --> 00:53:20,960 Speaker 1: or or even more established women who are interested in 917 00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:24,160 Speaker 1: getting into this line of work Now that we're past 918 00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:27,400 Speaker 1: the recession and we're into a point where it's there's 919 00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:31,120 Speaker 1: questions about over saturation, do you have any other advice 920 00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:36,440 Speaker 1: for people like this? I think just important to kind 921 00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:39,640 Speaker 1: of dispel the myth that this is this very easy 922 00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:41,520 Speaker 1: career and also to dispel the myth that this is 923 00:53:42,280 --> 00:53:45,400 Speaker 1: this job that that can you know, it's kind of 924 00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:47,879 Speaker 1: an overnight success. I think that's one of the things 925 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:52,800 Speaker 1: that's that's that I've discovered by speaking with these women 926 00:53:53,000 --> 00:53:55,880 Speaker 1: is it's an incredible amount of work. Is we've been discussing, 927 00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:58,279 Speaker 1: you know, for the past half hour or so, um, 928 00:53:58,320 --> 00:54:01,360 Speaker 1: but it's not just the work we see on the screen, 929 00:54:01,360 --> 00:54:03,040 Speaker 1: it's the work we see behind the screens, and kind 930 00:54:03,040 --> 00:54:05,480 Speaker 1: of how that takes a toll in terms of this 931 00:54:05,480 --> 00:54:07,960 Speaker 1: this blurring of personal and professional lives, which I think 932 00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:11,400 Speaker 1: can be difficult for for women in general. And so 933 00:54:11,440 --> 00:54:14,839 Speaker 1: I think to kind of be aware of what this 934 00:54:15,320 --> 00:54:18,200 Speaker 1: career field involved, because I mean that's that's something that 935 00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:21,759 Speaker 1: Emily and I have talked about more broadly, is you know, 936 00:54:21,800 --> 00:54:24,799 Speaker 1: the creative industries, whether it's fashion, whether it's art, whether 937 00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:27,879 Speaker 1: it's magazine journalism, and of course fashion blogging are kind 938 00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:31,560 Speaker 1: of idealizes these wonderful careers because of the flexibility and 939 00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:34,080 Speaker 1: freedom and so forth. But there's a lot of downsides 940 00:54:34,120 --> 00:54:37,760 Speaker 1: to this careers, um, you know, beyond just the labor involved, 941 00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:42,400 Speaker 1: but independent work essentially means you don't have the institutional structure, 942 00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:44,719 Speaker 1: so you don't have the benefits. You don't have the 943 00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:47,680 Speaker 1: pay training, and so it's a huge train off, a 944 00:54:47,760 --> 00:54:51,799 Speaker 1: huge trade off to to pursue these kind of individualized 945 00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:55,920 Speaker 1: things because the so called freedom you're getting is is 946 00:54:55,960 --> 00:55:00,520 Speaker 1: really giving up any sense of long term stability. Yeah, 947 00:55:00,560 --> 00:55:05,480 Speaker 1: and and then no, it's the the fact that you said, like, 948 00:55:05,520 --> 00:55:07,440 Speaker 1: you know, we're passed a recession that kind of like 949 00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:10,919 Speaker 1: ring struck a chord with me, I guess because while 950 00:55:10,960 --> 00:55:15,040 Speaker 1: we aren't in the depths of it um anymore, of course, 951 00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:20,840 Speaker 1: the after effects are still still very much exists. And um, 952 00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:25,160 Speaker 1: I think that is important for UM, young people who 953 00:55:25,239 --> 00:55:27,520 Speaker 1: are looking to enter the industry to know which is 954 00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:35,640 Speaker 1: UM that those um, you know, institutionalized support systems that 955 00:55:35,719 --> 00:55:41,240 Speaker 1: Brooke mentioned are UM disappearing have disappeared to a large 956 00:55:41,239 --> 00:55:46,400 Speaker 1: extent UM and UM yeah that having that sort of 957 00:55:46,640 --> 00:55:54,719 Speaker 1: entrepreneurial um mentality is is a requirement, I think, UM yeah, 958 00:55:54,760 --> 00:56:07,120 Speaker 1: So just just knowing that as important. So thank you 959 00:56:07,280 --> 00:56:09,719 Speaker 1: so much to Brook, Aaron Deffie, and Emily Hunt for 960 00:56:09,800 --> 00:56:14,600 Speaker 1: speaking with us today about this kind of unexpectedly deep 961 00:56:14,719 --> 00:56:18,000 Speaker 1: and super academic topic that is fashion blogging. I had 962 00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:22,120 Speaker 1: no idea until really diving into their study and diving 963 00:56:22,120 --> 00:56:25,480 Speaker 1: into this conversation with them, all of the different aspects 964 00:56:25,520 --> 00:56:31,360 Speaker 1: about this very specific type of online labor basically, and 965 00:56:31,400 --> 00:56:34,320 Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see how the whole thing evolves 966 00:56:34,440 --> 00:56:38,680 Speaker 1: in real time as we're interacting with our Instagram feeds 967 00:56:38,719 --> 00:56:43,240 Speaker 1: that we may or may not hate follow um because 968 00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:46,520 Speaker 1: you do have outlets like Refinery twenty nine that are 969 00:56:46,560 --> 00:56:50,799 Speaker 1: already reporting on the death of the Golden age of 970 00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:54,359 Speaker 1: fashion blogging UM. And it'll be interesting to see how 971 00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:58,319 Speaker 1: as those brands continue to be more selective about how 972 00:56:58,400 --> 00:57:01,560 Speaker 1: much you're going to give influence, answers and the kind 973 00:57:01,560 --> 00:57:05,120 Speaker 1: of relationships they're willing to forge because you have so 974 00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:07,799 Speaker 1: many up and comers who might be willing to do 975 00:57:07,960 --> 00:57:11,160 Speaker 1: more for less, Like what's going to happen to these 976 00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:15,120 Speaker 1: man Repellor esque empires which I'm sure Leandra is going 977 00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:18,280 Speaker 1: to be fined, same with Blonde Salad, etcetera. Yeah, and 978 00:57:18,280 --> 00:57:20,640 Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see too how many of maybe 979 00:57:20,760 --> 00:57:24,600 Speaker 1: the middle tier or lower tier fashion blogs just essentially 980 00:57:24,640 --> 00:57:29,800 Speaker 1: become advertisements purely advertisements. I mean, yes, obviously the top 981 00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:33,680 Speaker 1: tier people are wearing designer goods, wearing labels that you 982 00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:36,000 Speaker 1: know and that you would go out and buy if 983 00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:38,720 Speaker 1: you had, you know, a million dollars for a person 984 00:57:38,800 --> 00:57:41,720 Speaker 1: a pair of shoes. But they aren't the ones who 985 00:57:41,760 --> 00:57:44,840 Speaker 1: are doing things like featuring co Tex products or whatever 986 00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:49,160 Speaker 1: other name brand uh drug store items in their posts. 987 00:57:49,160 --> 00:57:53,120 Speaker 1: So I do wonder if those sort of bottom of 988 00:57:53,160 --> 00:57:55,600 Speaker 1: the heap fashion bloggers are just going to become nothing 989 00:57:55,640 --> 00:57:58,360 Speaker 1: but the new advertising. Well, now, we've really love to 990 00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:01,000 Speaker 1: hear from you listeners about all your thoughts on the 991 00:58:01,040 --> 00:58:04,400 Speaker 1: whole fashion blogging world. Perhaps you are a fashion or 992 00:58:04,480 --> 00:58:09,200 Speaker 1: lifestyle blogger, or photographer, or simply enjoy following all of 993 00:58:09,240 --> 00:58:13,720 Speaker 1: these aspirational instagrams. Let us know all of your thoughts. 994 00:58:13,760 --> 00:58:16,200 Speaker 1: Mom Stuff at how stuff works dot com is our 995 00:58:16,280 --> 00:58:19,280 Speaker 1: email address. You can also tweet us at Mom's Stuff 996 00:58:19,320 --> 00:58:22,560 Speaker 1: podcast or messages on Facebook. And we've got a couple 997 00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:24,920 Speaker 1: of messages to share with you. And we come right 998 00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:28,640 Speaker 1: back from a quick break with the holidays almost here. 999 00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:31,080 Speaker 1: I don't even have time to go to the post office, 1000 00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:34,400 Speaker 1: especially dealing with all the traffic headaches the parking. I 1001 00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:37,360 Speaker 1: might run over someone if I fly into a rage, 1002 00:58:37,400 --> 00:58:39,560 Speaker 1: and I just feel like I can prevent all that 1003 00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:43,400 Speaker 1: by using stamps dot com. Because using stamps dot com 1004 00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:46,800 Speaker 1: you get to avoid all of that road rage, post 1005 00:58:46,840 --> 00:58:50,680 Speaker 1: office hassle during the busy holiday season, and everything that 1006 00:58:50,720 --> 00:58:54,280 Speaker 1: you would do at the post office minus all that frustration, 1007 00:58:54,720 --> 00:58:57,360 Speaker 1: you can do right from your desk by buying and 1008 00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:01,640 Speaker 1: printing official US postage using your own computer and printer. 1009 00:59:01,840 --> 00:59:04,640 Speaker 1: It's so easy and convenient, which are two big things 1010 00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:08,320 Speaker 1: that you'll need to survive the holiday season. So right 1011 00:59:08,320 --> 00:59:10,400 Speaker 1: now you can sign up for stamps dot com and 1012 00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:14,400 Speaker 1: use our promo code stuff to access a special offer. 1013 00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:17,720 Speaker 1: It's a four week trial with a one dollar bonus 1014 00:59:17,760 --> 00:59:22,200 Speaker 1: offer that includes postage and a digital scale. So don't wait. 1015 00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:24,840 Speaker 1: Go to stamps dot com before you do anything else. 1016 00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:27,320 Speaker 1: Click on the microphone at the top of the homepage 1017 00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:31,440 Speaker 1: and type in stuff that's stamps dot com. Enter stuff, 1018 00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:39,280 Speaker 1: and now back to the show. Well, I have a 1019 00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:43,160 Speaker 1: letter here from Courtney. She says, I'm a relatively recent 1020 00:59:43,280 --> 00:59:46,760 Speaker 1: college grad from a video production program. I specialized in 1021 00:59:46,760 --> 00:59:51,040 Speaker 1: post production, specifically editing in VFX. Your last episode had 1022 00:59:51,120 --> 00:59:53,320 Speaker 1: me getting all sorts of emotional on my drive home 1023 00:59:53,360 --> 00:59:56,120 Speaker 1: from work. I realized VFX might seem like an odd 1024 00:59:56,160 --> 00:59:58,680 Speaker 1: thing to get emotional over, but it was so reassuring 1025 00:59:58,720 --> 01:00:00,560 Speaker 1: to hear that all the things I felt while studying 1026 01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:03,920 Speaker 1: in my program weren't ridiculous, considering I only had one 1027 01:00:03,960 --> 01:00:05,840 Speaker 1: other girl in most of my classes with me and 1028 01:00:05,840 --> 01:00:08,760 Speaker 1: we didn't really talk much. In my program as a whole, 1029 01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:10,760 Speaker 1: there were maybe four women, and in most of my 1030 01:00:10,840 --> 01:00:14,200 Speaker 1: three D animation, compositing, et cetera classes, there was really 1031 01:00:14,200 --> 01:00:17,040 Speaker 1: only the previously mentioned one other girl. I feel like 1032 01:00:17,080 --> 01:00:19,880 Speaker 1: I was lucky because one of my primary male professors 1033 01:00:19,880 --> 01:00:22,840 Speaker 1: was incredibly encouraging to us ladies and very much wanted 1034 01:00:22,880 --> 01:00:25,240 Speaker 1: me to move on into the industry, but I knew 1035 01:00:25,240 --> 01:00:27,080 Speaker 1: it wasn't going to happen. Around the start of my 1036 01:00:27,120 --> 01:00:30,160 Speaker 1: third year, most of the professors made it very clear 1037 01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:32,640 Speaker 1: that unless we, as professionals in the film industry were 1038 01:00:32,640 --> 01:00:35,400 Speaker 1: willing to dedicate insane amounts of time to our careers, 1039 01:00:35,440 --> 01:00:38,800 Speaker 1: we would absolutely not make it. And he wasn't being dramatic, 1040 01:00:38,840 --> 01:00:41,040 Speaker 1: It's true. I felt like the least I could do 1041 01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:43,200 Speaker 1: by the time I was having doubts was to complete 1042 01:00:43,240 --> 01:00:46,360 Speaker 1: my program, and I graduated summa cum laude in my class. 1043 01:00:46,880 --> 01:00:49,400 Speaker 1: I then proceeded to drop my dreams of getting into 1044 01:00:49,440 --> 01:00:52,120 Speaker 1: film and VFX professionally and get a steady job in 1045 01:00:52,120 --> 01:00:55,840 Speaker 1: a completely unrelated field that paid my bills and crazy 1046 01:00:55,840 --> 01:00:58,440 Speaker 1: amounts of student debt. I knew that one day I 1047 01:00:58,480 --> 01:01:00,400 Speaker 1: wanted to start a family, and that it just wasn't 1048 01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:03,600 Speaker 1: going to happen considering mine and my fiancy's financial status. 1049 01:01:04,080 --> 01:01:06,760 Speaker 1: It's a huge bummer because honestly, most of the guys 1050 01:01:06,800 --> 01:01:08,560 Speaker 1: I went to school with were pretty cool, but there 1051 01:01:08,640 --> 01:01:11,400 Speaker 1: was just this constant feeling of not belonging, like I'd 1052 01:01:11,400 --> 01:01:13,720 Speaker 1: barged into a frat party and the guys they were 1053 01:01:13,720 --> 01:01:17,400 Speaker 1: totally digging the female company, but not in a professional way. 1054 01:01:17,960 --> 01:01:20,720 Speaker 1: That feeling for four plus years, plus the doubts that 1055 01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:22,920 Speaker 1: I could juggle a family life and insane amounts of 1056 01:01:22,960 --> 01:01:25,600 Speaker 1: time at work just made me drop it. After graduating, 1057 01:01:25,920 --> 01:01:28,120 Speaker 1: I've always felt badly about this, like I just gave 1058 01:01:28,200 --> 01:01:30,120 Speaker 1: up because no doubt I could have made a career 1059 01:01:30,120 --> 01:01:32,439 Speaker 1: out of it. I guess mental health and a want 1060 01:01:32,480 --> 01:01:34,960 Speaker 1: for a family trumps those dreams, which is a really 1061 01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:37,640 Speaker 1: crummy situation for a lady to be put in. That's 1062 01:01:37,640 --> 01:01:40,880 Speaker 1: definitely the case for women in many fields of work. Anyway, 1063 01:01:40,880 --> 01:01:42,640 Speaker 1: thank you for shining some light on an issue a 1064 01:01:42,680 --> 01:01:45,120 Speaker 1: lot of people don't really think much of and also 1065 01:01:45,240 --> 01:01:48,600 Speaker 1: for tuting the SFX VFX horn. So many people don't 1066 01:01:48,600 --> 01:01:50,680 Speaker 1: realize the crazy amounts of work and skill would go 1067 01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:52,960 Speaker 1: into it and how widely used it is in most 1068 01:01:53,040 --> 01:01:56,080 Speaker 1: visual media. You guys rock and your podcast gives me 1069 01:01:56,200 --> 01:01:58,840 Speaker 1: life on my super dull, super long commute to and 1070 01:01:58,880 --> 01:02:01,760 Speaker 1: from work. Well, thank you, Courtney. Well, I've got a 1071 01:02:01,800 --> 01:02:04,880 Speaker 1: letter here from Tricia, and she writes, I listened to 1072 01:02:04,880 --> 01:02:07,560 Speaker 1: your episode on the visual effects gender gap and was 1073 01:02:07,640 --> 01:02:10,960 Speaker 1: so pleased you covered it. I'm in a different field, however, 1074 01:02:11,040 --> 01:02:13,520 Speaker 1: I could relate strongly with many of the points made. 1075 01:02:14,000 --> 01:02:16,600 Speaker 1: I work as a designer in the advertising industry and 1076 01:02:16,600 --> 01:02:18,280 Speaker 1: I'm going to school for my m f A and 1077 01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:21,920 Speaker 1: game development. Both are fields that are mainly male centric. 1078 01:02:22,360 --> 01:02:24,920 Speaker 1: In fact, in regard to my video game classes, it's 1079 01:02:24,920 --> 01:02:28,439 Speaker 1: not unusual if I'm one of the few or only girl. 1080 01:02:28,520 --> 01:02:32,320 Speaker 1: There are sometimes gaps between straight males and everyone else. 1081 01:02:32,360 --> 01:02:35,560 Speaker 1: Seems to be predominant in every creative field. Men are 1082 01:02:35,600 --> 01:02:38,600 Speaker 1: creative because they possess some sort of other worldly inspiration 1083 01:02:38,600 --> 01:02:43,000 Speaker 1: and intelligence. Meanwhile, women are creative because their emotional and 1084 01:02:43,080 --> 01:02:47,720 Speaker 1: touchy feeling. The gap of how society views creativity among genders. 1085 01:02:47,720 --> 01:02:50,080 Speaker 1: Probably goes back to the age of fine art, where 1086 01:02:50,200 --> 01:02:52,680 Speaker 1: male artists take the center stage because it was viewed 1087 01:02:52,680 --> 01:02:55,240 Speaker 1: as a trade craft and women, for the most part, 1088 01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:58,000 Speaker 1: couldn't work in those times. I think it's always important 1089 01:02:58,000 --> 01:03:01,080 Speaker 1: to talk about inequality struggles among creative fields because we 1090 01:03:01,120 --> 01:03:03,640 Speaker 1: play a much more direct role in the entertainment industry 1091 01:03:03,840 --> 01:03:06,680 Speaker 1: and have a responsibility at changing the messages we put 1092 01:03:06,720 --> 01:03:10,200 Speaker 1: out into the masses. Anyway, I enjoy listening to the 1093 01:03:10,200 --> 01:03:12,200 Speaker 1: both of you and look forward to the next one. 1094 01:03:12,880 --> 01:03:16,040 Speaker 1: So thanks Tricia, and thanks to everybody who's written into us. 1095 01:03:16,440 --> 01:03:18,720 Speaker 1: Mom Stuff at how stuff works dot Com is our 1096 01:03:18,760 --> 01:03:21,360 Speaker 1: email address and for links to all of our social 1097 01:03:21,360 --> 01:03:25,000 Speaker 1: media as well as all of our videos, blogs and podcasts, 1098 01:03:25,000 --> 01:03:28,880 Speaker 1: including this one. With links. To learn more about Brooke 1099 01:03:28,960 --> 01:03:32,680 Speaker 1: and Emily's research, head on over to stuff Mom Never 1100 01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:39,160 Speaker 1: Told You dot com for moral thiss and thousands of 1101 01:03:39,160 --> 01:03:49,200 Speaker 1: other topics. Is it how stuff Works dot com.