- By Sarah Smerko, Features Editor -
For senior Anna Haddock, blogging started as just a creative outlet but quickly turned into a passion. Haddock was inspired by watching YouTube videos of girls her age doing clothing hauls and makeup tutorials and wanted to do something similar, but did not want to film herself. In December, she took a leap of faith and decided to start her own blog. Haddock explains how she came up with the name of her blog, The Coffee Table. She said, “When brainstorming what to call the blog, I was thinking about all the things I enjoyed. I kept coming back to coffee. I didn’t want to limit my brand; I wanted to be able to write about all aspects of life, not just caffeine. At a coffee table, you can drink, eat, and have conversation. The table’s versatility is what I wanted my blog to represent.”
Haddock has grown her readership and social media presence by joining different organizations in the Triangle to network and make personal connections with people in different areas and professions. She says that TriFabb (Triangle Area Bloggers) has been particularly beneficial to her growth as a blogger. Haddock said, “Meeting other bloggers has inspired, motivated, and taught me a lot.”
One noticeable aspect of Haddock’s blog is that she has had the opportunity to be sponsored by several local vendors. The Wake Forest bakery Kindred Cake Co. recently reached out to Haddock to sponsor a post, and she planned a picnic photoshoot featuring one of their cakes. (See Haddock’s blog post, “My Big Fat Kindred Cake Picnic”). Haddock explained the process of getting sponsors as a blogger: “Getting vendors to sponsor me is tricky. I am still fairly new and a lot of work I have done has been through local businesses that reach out to me. Sometimes it’s as simple as trading my exposure for some of their goods and services, because small businesses don’t always have the largest marketing budgets. With larger businesses, I have rates included in a media kit, but I am always flexible depending on the size of the business or the job required. I’m always open to new partnerships and opportunities.”
Haddock’s favorite part of blogging is the process of a photoshoot. She said, “From scouting shoot locations and styling outfits to staging products and developing images, I just really enjoy the amount of creativity I get to pour into it. Also, seeing the final product of these shoots is extremely gratifying. Being able to see myself through the lens of someone else has also really helped my self-image. I always leave a photoshoot feeling beautiful and empowered.”
While she is not quite sure what she wants to do career-wise, Haddock is open to the possibility of blogging as a full-time career in the future. She said, “I am still not one hundred percent sure what I want to be doing for the rest of my life, but I would definitely enjoy blogging as a career. Whatever I am doing, wherever I am, I will still be blogging.”
Check out Anna’s blog at www.thecoffeetableblog.com
Photo courtesy of Anna Haddock
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