A Piece of the Pie | Michaela Brathwaite

A white crisp screen filled with dark grey script in the corner written in clean typography reads “Never Had a Vanity”.  This was just my first impression of Michaela Brathwaite’s blog that I would consider both a  piece of art and a platform for her self expression. On her blog Michaela discussions life, beauty, and fashion. Michaela took the time to talk to the us about how she got started, where she is now, and where she wishes to go. 

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What inspired to start your blog?

Well, this wasn't the first blog I created I actually created other blogs in the past. But, I have always had an interest in fashion and beauty and lifestyle and things of the nature. But,  Never Had a Vanity, started as a class project during my Senior year of college for one of my PR [public relations] classes we had to create a blog and market it and built it and actually present it to the class over the course of - three presentations to show how we have been moving along with it. So, that’s where Never Had a Vanity came from and it started off as just a beauty blog because we had to only choose one area to focus our blog on. So, I started off with beauty and then I ventured into fashion after I graduated. But after the class was over I was able to venture out and blog about whatever I wanted to blog about, no restrictions.  I was able to incorporate the fashion and lifestyle aspects of it as well. Which I was happy about that's where it started. It started in Fall 2013, and I just kept up with it because I fell in love with it. 

What's the best and worst thing about being your own boss and being in charge?

The best thing of course is flexibility and not having to 

report to anyone else's time. Unless it's someone else you choose to work with. You always have a boss. But, in the sense you can take on projects you want to take on. The hardest thing is time management is such a big deal. Because you don't have to report to anyone else at any time it is up to you to get out of bed. 

The Dinner Table is about multidimensional women of color, so how are multidimensional. How do you break the mold of a traditional black woman?

I feel like I am multidimensional because I'm a creative all around. And, as a Black creative and as a Black blogger I've been learning so many things along the way. And, in terms of being Black in comparison to our white counterparts in the blogging industry and the creative industry as a whole it’s not easy, some things just aren't as easy as it is for them as for us. It's a constant learning experience being a multidimensional woman of color, but I wouldn't trade it. We bring so much to the table and I love when we are able to acknowledge each other  for what we can bring to the table and that is what I love about the dinner table.

And in addition to blogging I freelance and I just recently launched another project bringing live seminars and workshops to people of the non millennial, older generation. So, that is called On Bluemore Street. I had the first seminar two weeks ago, I’m prepping for the next one next month, the end of April. So you can look out for that. And, basically we offer live in person workshop and seminar experience for those who are lost in today's digital age. We tend to forget about those who are before us and that is who  I am targeting for On Bloomer Street. Helping them build their business and their lives and all this technology going on around them, they are learning about websites and business management. Sometimes just the thought of a computer deters them and I want to show them that it is not as hard as it seems.
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Apart from that I also cast in a web series that will be airing this fall. And it is an all black cast called Alumni. So that is another project I am working on as well. And of course freelancing on the side in social media, web design, and consulting. So those are all the things I have going on. 

Any advice on how women can  succeed with a major in PR, Journalism, or Communication?

My degree is in Communications and I majored in PR / Journalism. The PR is heavily based on writing and so is journalism. My advice for people or any young girls pursuing Communications it is definitely a great field. It is a field to go into if you are good with writing and love to write that's a huge key .I started off as a marketing major, my second year I was not doing well, I will be honest, but my second year I met with the dean of the school. He was like from looking at your transcript here it seems like you are really strong in your English classes, which I always knew that I was better at writing but I wanted to go into something business based. So he was the one who swayed me to go towards Communications. By doing that my grades went up and everything is so much better. So pay attention to your writing skills. And, if you are stronger in the writing side of numerical or analytical side.
 
Also, definitely start doing your research. Look at what internship opportunities your school offers. This was a huge thing that I wish was explained more and catered to more. To stress the importance of internships and checking out where the local internships are and how you can get there. I was going to school in New Jersey and for me to get to any of the internships that were catered to my area of study  I would have needed a car or I would have had to take public transportation to get to NYC and it just wasn't possible. So I was only able to intern if I took a semester off from school so it just wasn't possible. So had I known that ahead of time that could have played a major factor in the school I chose to go to. Look at internships and the companies you would like to intern at. 

What are your goals for Never Had A Vanity in 2016?

Definitely to grow my audience and influence...reach out to more people, of course. I want to grow my channel as well. Right now I am balancing my blog and my channel and I am having a little struggle with the two. I love my blog my blog came first so definitely trying to grow both of them and balancing my time and working on my time management. And just collaborating with other dope minded women. 

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Written By: Micheala Sharp