Happy Friday yall! We have another great spotlight for you! As always, if you are or represent an upcoming artist, designer, producer, etc, and are interested in being featured on the blog, visit our Features/Submissions page for more information.
Today, we have blogger Sonia Grace! Originally from Alabama, Sonia got her start in blogging back in November 2013, as a hobby while she went back to school to study nursing. She realized it was something that she wanted to seriously pursue when she began doing celebrity interviews, starting back in 2014 with her first interview with actress Drew Sidora. “I was super nervous because I didn't want to ask her the wrong questions to offend her,” Sonia admitted. “But after that I did tons of other celeb interviews, and then I realized my calling was in broadcast journalism. This was my first time I was happy with a job I was doing.”
Inspired by other bloggers like Necole Bitchie, Karen Civil, and Claire Sulmers, Sonia recently launched her new site, The Voux, which offers a variety of topics for readers including beauty, celebrity news, fashion and fitness. “First I wanted the title “vous,” meaning you in french, but that name was taken, so I decided to put the x on the end,” the blogger said of the title of the site. Sonia said that The Voux is a website for the people, dealing with real issues, offering sections as well about life and love. “I even have [an] “Ask The Experts” section where you can [ask] relationship experts questions and they answer in [a] brutally honest manner,” she stated. “No sugarcoating answers like [other] websites will give you.The mission for my site is for the people (you) to give the readers what they want.” The Voux also has a “Beauty Pick of the Week” section, which showcases regular people as well as celebrities.
In addition to working on The Voux, Sonia is set to begin hosting her own radio show next month on Blog Talk Radioon the Royal Thieves Station. She will also be launching a fashion blog and boutique with her best friend later in the year.
Sonia’s advice to upcoming bloggers? “Stay consistent [and] build relationships,” she said. “Always have great people on your team if you trying to make your brand bigger, [and] do your research.” In terms of her own future, Sonia would like to see her site be one of the top websites of them all. She would also love to see celebs wearing her upcoming designs from her boutique, as well as styling celebs herself. “I would love to see those take off in the next year, and just for me to continue to be successful in my life and career in the entertainment industry,” the blogger said.
You can check out Sonia’s work on The Voux! You can also also follow her on Twitter and Instagram!
I consistently find myself hearing about or getting invited to a bunch of different industry events, and now I'm starting to actually go check some of them out. As I've stated before, it is my goal to get out there and learn and network with people, all in the hopes of growing professionally and personally, and having a good time too!
Today was the first annual Made in the DMV Conference, which featured music and media professionals in various workshops and panel discussions, giving their advice to mainly upcoming music artists but also bloggers as well. Some of the panelists included Tony Lewis, Jr. (DCorNothing), DJ Heat (WPGC 95.5), DJ Money (WKYS 93.9), Zechariah Wise (Depth Charge), Angela Byrd (IGotIt4Free), DJ Marauder (The Fader), Kayenecha Daughterty (Grammys DC Chapter), Rob Markman (MTV), and so many more! Topics included monetizing your movement, branding, submitting your music to media, and a ton of other great material that was absolutely FREE! The best way to really make it in this industry is to learn how it works and then take that information and hustle. It was great to see so many people out, and it wasn't just artists. I saw fashion designers, graphic designers, bloggers, and a bunch of others all there to learn, discuss, network, and grow. It was amazing.
There was also a concert/showcase for handpicked upcoming artists tonight as well, though I wasn't able to make that. I'm sure it was amazing though! Check out some of my pictures from the Made In The DMV conference below!
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The conference was a great experience, I'm sure, for upcoming artists that were present, especially from the DMV where it's a struggle to break into entertainment. They got to listen to seasoned vets in the industry who know what they should and shouldn't be doing from production, to licensing and publishing, to interfacing with the media. AND IT WAS FREE. Seriously, if you are an artist from here, and you didn't go, you missed out! It was also good for me because there were two blogger panels that gave me some insight on what I should be doing for Spotlight, reminder points on the basics and why I do what I do, and overall encouraged me to keep working towards my goals as an entertainment blogger. Every year, things get bigger and bigger, and, at the same token, harder and harder, but being surrounded by these talented professionals reminded me that I can do this.
Looking forward to next year's conference! Great job to all those involved!
