At the SAG awards this year, Selena Gomez appeared slimmer than she’d been in years, looking radiant, styled to perfection… and yet, something about it felt familiar in a way that made my stomach sink. BIG TIME.

I had so much fun chatting with Emily Blumenthal (yes, THE FIT Professor & fashion powerhouse!) on her podcast, diving deep into branding and storytelling.

Emily has dedicated her life to the fashion industry and pushes her students to think critically, creatively, and strategically (aka, my kind of woman). And because she teaches Entrepreneurship, I couldn’t pass up the chance to ask her: What are the TOP 10 homework assignments every aspiring entrepreneur should do?

Okay fam, I’m gonna lay something a bit thick here. I know this may cause some sort of SubStack controversy, but YOLO, let’s do it.

I love my free subscribers. Seriously, I do. Every time you read, engage, and share my work, it means the world to me.

But here’s where I lay it thick : If you’re not a paid subscriber, you’re only getting half the experience.

Boy do I have something for you, my digital warriors!

If you’re sick of watching your content get buried by the Mark-Machine (ahem, Instagram), my live workshop is your battle cry, and I’m giving it to you for less than 85CENTS a day.

We’ve officially entered the era of the slow and steady demise of the “Instagram Influencer”… you know, the ones who survived off street style photos of them in a Fendi bag they probably couldn’t even afford… the ones who survived off viral TikTok dance trends… the ones who survived in showing you a fake life where everything is perfect all the time.

Okay fam, I just got off my quarterly call with META, and the updates they’ve rolled out are kinda bonkers… think a Kourtney Kardashian pre & post Travis barker 180* kinda flip. Like everything META’s been telling us for YEARS we have to do, are now obsolete.

Let the social controversy begin, ‘cause I gotta be honest… I can see this being really brilliant, anddddddd I can see this being a sh*t storm of negativity and anxiety-inducing icon-warfare.

I remember back in 2012 when I was working at a talent agency, we couldn’t get the smallest of brands to invite our biggest influencer at the time, Chiara Ferragni, to their runway show during Fashion Week. It was pulling teeth. But by educating brands about the importance of influencers (ahem, bloggers as we knew them then), the tides began to shift. And then that tide became a tsunami…

I was out to dinner with a good friend of mine last Sunday and she was giving me an update about an on-again-off-again boyfriend/lover/f*ckboy she’s been seeing for over 20 years. Don’t know why I even ask for an update at this point because it’s been the same rhetoric since before smartphones existed. No joke.

Man.

Oh.

Man.

With all the changes happening in Instagram this year, I think you’ve gotten the major hint that social media isn’t just about pretty pictures anymore.

Imagine waking up to find your name trending. Oh and not because something you did went fabulously viral and now you’re the second coming of Sabrina Carpenter, but because of a post, video, or action that’s gone viral for all the wrong reasons. In today’s age of woke-ness, the digital mob has become ruthless, often demanding apologies, boycotts, or the total dismantling of a person’s career.

I’ve been listening, and I know so many of you are eager for real, no-fluff strategies to break through as a content creator.

So for the first time everrrrrrr, I’m hosting a LIVE SubStack workshop dedicated to personal branding. Why this as the subject of my first live?

Well, because personal branding is what essentially sets you apart in an ever-growing, competitive social media landscape. I mean think about it, whether you have 100 or 1mill followers, your personal brand is the foundation of how you connect with your audience, communicate your mission, and establish trust (no less with strangers).

Back in October 2024 I thought the fashion goddesses had sent Hailey Bieber to deliver their newest epiphany : The bob is back.

I thought: Okay, I want the bob. The bob will give me the change I need now that I turned 40.

Girllllll, if you’ve opened this article up is because you know and feel the pain of wanting to get somewhere in your business (or life) and having that dream come to a sudden halt because Karen on the other end of the email (and who apparently has the power to shift some dynamic of your dream) has decided to ghost you.

Now almost a decade later, Idalia INC has helped countless entrepreneurs, brands, and companies achieve their dreams. We’ve been named one of the top agencies in the USA, and have been featured in top publications like Vogue Business, Business Insider, and Forbes. Along the way we’ve also become a multi-million dollar company.

Let’s take a time machine back to 2014, shall we?

Oh yes, that prehistoric time where just having a pretty feed and a large follower count meant something. Actually, it meant everything. Brands would throw money at influencers like Charlie Sheen at a strip joint. Aesthetic grids, viral dance trends, and engagement pods created overnight stars, and man did they BANK because of it. I know, I’m the one that made them gazillions of dollars because of it.

I wanted to do the coolest thing on SubStack and invite y’all to participate. Then life happened, and life has a clever way of pulling us in a thousand different directions.

I’m the gal that color-coordinates my various calendars (one for business, one for personal, one for my clients), that creates detailed to-do lists (written out in one week, one month, quarterly, and yearly formats), that has a fierce determination to conquer it all (because yes, I do want to conquer it all).

For the first time EVER, I’m offering a LIVE Personal Branding Workshop exclusively for my SubStack community. And I want YOU to be a part of it!

Let’s get straight to the point.

I can’t standdddddddd “get rich quick” schemes. The entire darn internet is flooded with people who got lucky. Sure, maybe they went viral or happened to be in the right place at the right time. But now they’re selling you on their “secrets to success”?

For as long as I can remember, the fashion & beauty industries have been synonymous with the pursuit of perfection. I remember being 8yrs old looking at my mom’s Vogue magazines that were filled with airbrushed models and ads…. page after page of them.

If there’s one thing I continually tell my private clients is that in today's fast-paced influencer economy brands aren't looking for generic email pitching templates. The industry is way too saturated, and the chances of that one email catching the eye of the decision-maker is slim. (Yes, I tell it as it is. There’s too much sugar-coating going around in the industry and it’s so misleading.)