IVN YEAR TWO, THE TERRIBLE TWOS
IVN YEAR TWO, THE TERRIBLE TWOS
What’s life without a little click-bait?! Now that I have your attention I’m thrilled to announce IVN is officially two years old!!! That’s right we’re officially in year two of our journey to fashion icon domination…lol. The last two years have been nothing short of amazing, far from terrible. It hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns that’s for sure. If I’m being completely honest I seriously considered abandoning the blog, especially when the pandemic hit. Earlier in the year I felt like I wasn’t growing fast enough, by all standards (standards I created in my head) I was creating meaningful and visually stunning content, right?! So why am I still in the same place, seemingly. I wasn’t where I wanted to be and that is an army of followers on IG and too many subscribers to count.
But I heard my dad’s voice in my head saying ‘Bonehead’ nothing worth it, comes easy. Don’t misunderstand me I don’t want the easy way in, I thrive on progress. If the needle doesn’t move fast enough, I’m low-key freaking out. The fact is people have access to massive amounts of content, printed and digital and I’m just getting started. While most people see the pretty pictures, the business of influencing is an ACTUAL business. There’s still so much to learn. This isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon and patience is key. I also had to realize there are so many variables that I can’t control, conversely there are so many I can.
However as soon as I came to that realization the pandemic hits!
I said to myself, whelp there goes my big influencer dream. Honestly, who cares about fashion, travel, and beauty when they just want to keep their families healthy and safe, right?! But I realized a life worth living isn’t merely surviving, it’s thriving. The world can always use a little pretty. I hit the pause button at the beginning of the pandemic but I’ve re-evaluated my WHY- if your WHY doesn’t make you cry, it’s not big enough. The little humans you see in the pictures below are my WHY. I want them to know anything’s possible if you do the work and stay focused.
And I also had to remind myself why I started this journey. I wanted to help people feel confident in their own skin through fashion. Ultimately I wanted to be a trusted resource to as many people as possible. Those may not seem like very lofty goals to some folks, but it’s my WHY. Every time someone DM’s me on Instagram, asking for advice, i.e. can I really trust that brand, how did this work out for you, it makes me so happy! There’s nothing like that “YES I NAILED IT” feeling, it’s so gratifying. It makes all the hard work worth it. And that’s happening a lot these days, like I said, worth it.
Essentially I had to remember who I was and the God I serve.
As long as I put HIM first everything else will fall into place or it won’t. Listening to a little (or a lot) of Beyoncé, the queen of women empowerment, didn’t hurt either. My favorite Bey line, “Imma keep running cause a WINNER don’t quit on themselves” -Freedom, Lemonade the album, do yourselves a favor, give it a listen. And I’m a WINNER BABE!!!