Name: Morgan Grace Gutierrez
Blog: Morgan Grace à la Mode
1. Year, major, major you’d have in an alternate universe?
I’m a second year Graphic Communication major! But I’d totally love to be an Aerospace Engineer in an alternate universe.
2. What’s your position on the HCCP team?
I’m the secret behind HCCP’s Twitter!
3. How did you got involved with HCCP?
A friend recommended that I join the team after she saw the articles I made during the internship with CollegeFashionista.
4. Give us some more details on your blog. How often do you blog? What are your favorite topics? Who is your audience?
The best thing about blogs is that you get to update them whenever you want. But I do try to post at least once a week. And as much as I love writing about fashion and beauty, the posts that I make that are basically my thoughts poured into WordPress, yeah, those are my FAVE.
5. How would you describe your sense of style? What are your favorite outfits?
My sense of style? Inconsistent. It really depends on my mood, even the type of music I listen to in the morning. For example, I’ll dress more femme fatale/edgy after listening to Beyoncé or Marina and the Diamonds, florals after One Direction and Ed Sheeran, and street style after Kanye and IamSu. Fall/Winter is when I like to dress edgy/street the most. Lots and lots of thigh-highs.
6. What’s the purpose of your blog?
I use it as an outlet, mainly. I love writing about fashion and beauty, but my internship with CollegeFashionista kept my subjects very limited. I wanted a place to write about those things but also include issues about race and gender amongst a whole bunch of other things that cross my mind.
7. What do you do when you need writing inspiration?
I don’t do anything specific to garner inspiration, it’s everywhere around me in my daily life. All I have to do is look. Taking some time to think to myself helps a whole bunch, too.
8. Where are your fave places in SLO to write and/or photograph?
I’m most definitely comfortable in my own apartment. But also Starbucks can be considered my second home. ~dat gold member life~
9. What are some of your all-time fave posts from your blog?
1. “A Conversation of Self-Confidence,” which is just my journey to building self-esteem.
2. “The Story of Madame Mallory,” based on the character from The Hundred-Foot Journey (aka a WONDERFUL movie) and how sexism still exists in the Hollywood industry.
3. “Dressing Professionally is Dressing Like You Care,” one of my more recent posts, sparked from conversations about dressing professionally for the Career Fair.
10. What are some of the cool things that have happened to you because of blogging?
The cool thing about having an online presence is that you run into so many more people that share the same interests and values as you. Just because you’ve never physically met them doesn’t mean they’re incapable of becoming your friends. There are people who comment on my posts and videos and I love reaching out to chat with them!
11. Are there any down-sides to blogging? Anything you didn’t expect?
Well, nothing I didn’t expect. It’s only obvious that when you write something remotely feminist, some is going to come out to get you. It was actually laughable because mere minutes after I posted my vlog about “Menimist Twitter,” someone commented “STFU you feminazi.” All I could think at the moment was, “Damn, that was fast. They really must not be doing much with their lives.”
This is the sort of mentality you need when you present yourself online. Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.
12. Where do you see your blog going?
Like everyone else, I hope to gain a much larger audience and more discussion revolving around what I post. I just strive to get my voice loud and out there. That’s the beauty of the internet. Though the downside is that so many people are trying to achieve the same thing, so I hope to find some ways to make myself stand out.
13. What other bloggers do you look up to or want to emulate?
Michelle Phan has been my idol from the very beginning. She started with her make-up tutorials and once she created her blog, she started writing more about living a happy and healthy lifestyle and just wrote about other things in general beside make-up. I’m also a very big fan of Laci Green who does wonderful vlogs about gender equality and sexuality.
14. What cool vlogs do you have planned?
I have a few Lookbooks, How-to-Style, and beauty videos planned, with morning/night routines.