A New Chapter
Wow! To be quite honest with you, I never thought I’d write another blog post, let alone create a new blog known as “The LF Journal”. Yes! You heard it here first folks- I mean you’re also on the blog so that’s rather redundant. Some of you may ask why I’m starting a blog or what’s to come on The LF Journal. I will be answering all of those questions; however, I want to take a trip down memory lane first.
Blogging was my first introduction to “social media” and creating an online presence. I started my first blog in 2009 called “Scrappy Happiness”, which encompassed my love for paper crafting. I also started to dabble in baking and fashion during this time period. Baking was not my strong suit; however, I wanted to get better at it. Blogging really opened my eyes to being creative and the idea of an online community. I loved being able visit my favorite blogs, reading the most recent posts on DIYs or a photo journal about a weekend trip. Blogging also started my love photography and using a camera. I purchased my first camera in 2010 to film videos and take photos for my blog. Keep in mind, I was only about 15 years old during this period. You can probably imagine the not so great photos and videos I was posting... but I LOVED it!
After a few years of posting once a week on Scrappy Happiness, I decided to start a YouTube channel under that same name. I posted almost every day on my YouTube channel. I taught myself how to edit on Windows Movie Maker and create/edit blog post images on Photoshop. My drive to create quality content was unreal! As a 16 year old kid, I dreamed of owning a DSLR camera and the authentic version of Photoshop.
Fast forward a few years, I started my men’s fashion channel where I created content 2-3 times a week alongside starting my college journey. I haven’t talked much about my schooling, so let me give you the run down. I went to FIDM in Los Angeles, CA. There I received my AA degree in apparel product development and my BS degree in business. LA slowly started to become home to me and my YouTube channel began to transition into my career. When I graduated college, my channel was producing just enough revenue to pay for my rent in a shared 600 square foot studio. I got a part time job at West Elm being a sales associate on the floor. Only a month after being hired I was placed into an in home stylist position where I went to customers homes and helped them choose pieces from our online catalog. Looking back, I know my boss at the time, (Rachel-who I still love!) saw something in me. Over the next year, my schedule consisted of working 30 hours a week at West Elm on Beverly, taking a full semester of classes, filming YouTube videos every night and editing through the morning to maintain my positing schedule.
I slowly started to post about interior design/DIYs on my fashion channel and the videos gained a lot of traction. I noticed the DIY videos were outperforming my fashion videos, by hundreds of thousands of views. It sparked something in me that the fashion videos didn’t, CREATIVITY. I’m not saying that styling clothing can’t be creative but when you think about men’s fashion, the creativity can only go so far. I never really loved sewing or creating clothing, so I was primarily just styling myself.
Lone Fox was created on March 7th of 2018. It was never my intention to grow this channel to where it is today. My plan was just to separate my occasional home/DIY content from my men’s fashion content (as you can imagine, the topics didn’t overlap).
2 years later, Lone Fox has grown to over 630,000 family members on YouTube and 135,000 on Instagram. I truly never ever imagined hundreds of thousands of viewers would tune in weekly to see what I craft, paint or redecorate. The LF Journal is an ode to nostalgia. Blogging was what got me started and I want to bring it back.
The LF Journal will essentially be my online journal, where I can chronicle new endeavors such as: baking + cooking, lifestyle and share more content you already know and love such as DIY, decorating tips and makeovers. This entry is the first post of many and I want to thank you for coming along for the ride!
P.S. Currently, I’ve been having an urge to bake something… so you may just see a baking post next in The LF Journal.
xx
Drew