How many of you have certain things or hobbies that peak your interests or are your passions?
Have you thought of those things? Keep that in the back of your mind.
We are all gifted in different areas with certain talents. These talents are unique to each and every one of us.
Growing up I had two main passions:
First was a curiosity for how things worked! As a little girl sitting on my bunkbed watching my father turn off the lights before going to sleep, I was always curious as to how the light was able to turn on and off.
How the television was able to display a picture. How the refrigerator kept things cold. How donuts were made, etc etc.
Did you ever wonder that? No… ok well moving on.
My Second passion was style and fashion. This is because I saw the way that personal style could transform a person. When a person was wearing their favorite outfit, their attitude shifted and you could see positive confidence radiating from them!
Throughout adolescence and into early adulthood, I learned very much about how things worked especially through engineering school.
During those years however, I was still neglecting one side of me, and that was the fashion and style side. I would look it up on the weekends, study different body shapes and always put outfits together but still that portion was not being fulfilled.
2011-2012 was when I really started to see social media platforms transform lives. From @mankofit who had about 4k followers at the time, to @thepatriciabright and her YouTube videos, I saw them doing what they loved and turning them into their passions. This was also when blogs were fairly new and my sister had one
It honestly didn’t hit me until I graduated college and thought “that’s it, I need to hop on this fashion train!” So I Googled literally every fashion show/event in my area and made it a thing to reach out to as many people as possible to try to get into the industry.
As I did that my “fashion network” began to grow and my passions were being fulfilled and I was starting to combing engineering with fashion and fashion with engineering. I like to bring my “Fashionista” to the office and with an office full of engineers….. let’s just say it is easy to stand out.
But see that is where the true problem lies. I love both, so why can’t I be both? At all times. Society has its way of keeping things separate. You can be this or that, not both.
Well society, FORGET YOU! Cause I am defying all odds and combining my passions.
When we combine our passions, these passions are our ANDS, as told by my dear friend Liz. When we utilize and combine our AND’s that is when those societal norms and barriers are broken. This is when we learn that it is ok to be many things and that being many things and utilizing many things makes us stronger.
So to you! Remember you’re talented, you’ve got gifts! Utilize your AND’s to tear down the societal walls!
Outfit Details:
Top @chicwish
Skirt @chicwish
Shoes: Angels in Flat Irons Mall
Bag: Urban Southern Use code VANESSA15 for 15% off your order!
Jewelry: Nordstrom