Spotlight
Blogging 101: Why Become A Blogger?
Starting a blog is a rewarding experience. Blogs are not only a creative outlet but a place where you can teach and communicate with others about your ideas. Starting a blog while in college also has many benefits.
Blogging helps you learn important technical and marketing skills and helps build your resume.
Yet, the college years are such a stressful and time-consuming period in our lives. It’s difficult to balance the time needed for college and for maintaining a blog.
Katherine Tinsley is a model, content curator, and a college student. She also runs the fashion and lifestyle blog, “Keeping up with Kat”. From lookbooks to discussing veganism and diversity in the fashion industry, her blog is an essential aspect of our modern world, where anyone can start a blog, release their inner creativity and talk about issues that matter.
Katherine told us why she started a blog and why it is important.
“I started my blog because I am a model. And I wanted to find a way beyond Instagram to show that I’m more than a pretty face.
It’s a skill that I think is important to attach to the brand I am creating for myself.”
In the fashion and media industry, there is oftentimes a lack of diversity and representation. Racism is essentially ingrained in these industries.
Katherine recognizes this and is fighting against it.
“I am Afro Latina and from the south side of Chicago, an identity that has been completely erased from fashion and media, and I wanted to create that space for myself because it wasn’t present while I was coming up.
I’m not ashamed of who I am and where I come from and it’s important I show that and disprove stereotypes.”
Blogging takes a lot of time and dedication. Many prospective bloggers worry about how to balance the time between their other responsibilities and their blog.
College students don’t have that much time on their hands. With classes, studying, and assignments needing to be done, the time needed to maintain a blog seems nonexistent. The important thing is the balance.
“I think with balance comes priorities obviously my faith comes first, college comes second, modeling comes third, and my blog comes fourth,” Katherine explained.
“So, I dedicate time to each thing separately and I make sacrifices in regards to my social life because my faith, my career, and my education is significantly more important than having a normal social life.”
Katherine’s advice on starting a blog is simple:
“Know what you want [and] what makes you special. Anyone can be a blogger but what makes you special?”
“With social media, everyone truly believes they are a blogger, that they are a model, photographer. Really think, with 0 followers and 0 dollars available, would you enjoy doing this?
If the answer is no, then don’t do it. If it’s yes, then make it happen.”