The Samantha Parker Show

Insider Peek of a Successful YouTube Influencer with Heather Anderson

• Samantha Parker , Heather Anderson • Season 1 • Episode 29

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Fashion lovers and aspiring YouTube creators, get ready for an inside look with Heather Anderson! Heather shares her journey from being inspired by fashion influencers to building her YouTube community of over 100k subscribers.

She opens up about using fashion as a refuge through tough times, including divorce, and how her story resonated with viewers. We discuss her content creation process, the office makeover that keeps her organized, and her belief that loss often leads to something better.

We couldn’t resist chatting about our favorite ‘90s and early 2000s fashion trends and our shared opinion on those barrel pants (trust us, just put them back on the rack).

Heather’s tips for YouTube success? Stay simple, authentic, and consistent. She also shares insights on collaborations, brand partnerships, and why financial independence is key.

If you're passionate about fashion over 40, discovering your personal style, or diving into the world of YouTube influencing, this episode is for you!

Connect with Heather on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HeatherAndersonFashionOver40

Connect with Heather on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/soheatherblog/

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  I think though you are like proof that you can do anything whenever you want. No matter like your age, no matter the time, no matter if you feel like you missed the boat, like you can do it. 

 You don't have to be fancy. You just have to be consistent and you have to be real and authentic and have good energy. And I think your viewers can see that,  they can see your energy. They can see if you're being authentic or not. 

people that watch YouTube videos are like dedicated YouTube video watchers.

They're not really on Instagram. Okay. So a good thing about it is you're going to get a whole new audience, right?

And so once I started earning my own money on my YouTube channel, then I was able to leave the marriage. I mean, to be frank, it's like I had enough money to, to be on my own.
 

Hey guys, welcome to the Samantha Parker show. I'm really excited for today's episode.

And I feel like this episode is slightly selfish because I have so many questions I want to ask you, Heather. I  love that.  Here's my note card. Okay, good. That's awesome. I'm ready for them.  Yeah. Welcome to the show, Heather. So one of the things I really wanted to invite you on is to talk about just like the platform that you've created.

For you guys don't know, so Heather Anderson and your handle on Instagram is  SoHeatherBlog. And then on YouTube, like, because basically you're a super famous YouTuber, you have  Thank you.  Yeah. And I couldn't get so Heather on YouTube. It was this big ordeal. And so basically it's just Heather Anderson. 

That's what my YouTube name is, Heather Anderson.  Yeah. But I mean, you have more than a hundred thousand subscribers. I like you're a big deal.  Thank you. I appreciate that. And you're a really incredible fashion influencer. And what I think is so cool about you is you're kind of, your tagline is like fashion over 40.

And I think that's really cool because, a lot of what you see online is like these cute, I mean, we're super cute, but like these cute Instagram girls, you know, like in their early twenties and,   no wrinkles, like the perfect body, all that stuff. Exactly. Yeah. And I've met you in person. So I think it's fun because I've met you in person.

You're just genuinely super, super amazing. And I was like, this lady is cool as hell.  Thank you. I appreciate that. I feel the same way about you. I felt like we just kind of hit it off and we both have really. Positive energy too I feel like.  Yeah, so what kind of really inspired you, because you haven't been doing this for a really long time, like how long have you been on like this content creator journey? 

 About 12 years. So yeah, I've been an influencer for 12 years and then I started my YouTube channel five years ago.  Okay, so that's what's super interesting to me was when you told me that you started your YouTube show five years ago, because I was like, there's no way.  Because to me, in my head, I'm like, YouTube, I feel like you needed to start like in 2005.

Yeah, right, right. I mean, I wish I did, right? And I actually had heard that from several people, even, even 12 years ago when I first became an influencer, I heard it several times, like you really need to start a YouTube channel. And back then I just thought like, oh, it's too, it's too hard. Like, I think I created one video and And it, , it wasn't even that good.

And it, it just seemed really difficult for me. And so I didn't do it until,  seven years later, which was five years ago, and I'm so grateful that I did it five years ago, but part of me is like kicking myself that I didn't do it.  12 years ago because who know where who knows where i'd be today if I did that But you know what?

That's just a waste of energy to do that. I'm not going to look back like that Think about no and I mean You know If you would have started 12 years ago It probably wouldn't worked out like I feel like timing is everything and we can't like beat ourselves up and be like Oh, I wish I would have done this.

I wish I would have done that I think though you are like proof that you can do anything whenever you want. No matter like your age, no matter the time, no matter if you feel like you missed the boat, like you can do it. Yeah exactly because I'm 50 years old and so I was 45 years old when I started my YouTube channel so yeah it's never too late.

Oh, and I know you said that you were like a fashion influencer before that, but what were you doing prior to starting your YouTube show?  So prior to being a fashion influencer, I was a stay at home mom and to that I was in corporate sales. And so I was a sales executive selling recruiting services to fortune 500 companies and I was really successful in sales.

So I feel like I can sell anything. including clothes and things like that. Cause essentially, you know, I'm really trying to, you know, not just sell clothes, but you know, find, find clothes that I think are beautiful for women over 40 and tell them why I love them, which is basically,  you know, sales in a nutshell.

Right.  I mean, it really is.  What were you just like inspired by clothes or like what made you kind of pull the plug or did you have like a slow transition from corporate to what you do now?  Well, so, you know, after I,  left corporate, I, well, actually I was married, you know, I,  , initially out of college, I was in the business world as a human resources manager.

And then I became a state home. Mom had two kids.  Then I got divorced 12 years after being married for 12 years and I had two young children. So I had to go back to the workforce without, you know, work. I hadn't worked in say eight years or so. And, so that's when I started selling recruiting and then I got remarried three years later.

And then I was able to stay at home again and, and continue to raise my kids, my two kids plus his three kids. So we were a blended family.  all under the age of like 12. I had five kids I was taking care of after school. And so  then I thought, well, you know what? I really want to kind of start my own business.

And I don't know if you've ever seen, of course, I'm sure you know who Rachel Zoe is. Well, she had a show back then about being a stylist and being like a celebrity stylist. And so I was like, wait, that's a thing. You can actually like tell people what to wear and like earn money. Like, wow, that's crazy.

And so I've always loved fashion since I was a little girl, I've had like a passion for it. I've always really been just naturally good at dressing well and putting cute outfits together, like for me and my girlfriends and things like that. And so I was like, Oh, I think I'll do this. So I started my business initially as a stylist, 12 years ago, I had a website built.

Then I just basically sent out a blast email to every single person that I knew, just basically saying like, I'm now a stylist and I'm booking appointments and all you need to do to book an appointment is email me and. And people did it. So then I got like, you know, five new clients in week one and I was meeting one on one with women.

But then that takes such a long time because I was like, you know, clean, helping them clean out their closets, setting up their dressing rooms. Like just that took a lot of my time. And so then that was like just in the beginning of when blogging started becoming, becoming a thing and not really, no one, honestly, not many people knew what it was.

There was maybe like two bloggers that I knew of Atlantic Pacific, which she's obviously like has millions of followers now. And then this other girl's sea of shoes. And I was like, wait, I think I can do that. So I just basically started posting my outfits on my website and with the links to my outfits.

And then maybe say six months later, like to know it or what was back then called reward style was created. I applied because back then you had to apply and be approved and I was approved. And then I was like, Oh, cool. Yeah, you still have to apply.  Because I've applied to like to know it several times and I always get denied. 

Really? Oh my gosh. Well, you know what? I will email my rep for you. So.  And I will, because I've gotten several people in for sure. Yeah. So yeah. And so, yeah, once I realized like, Oh my gosh, I can make money at this. So then it became not just a hobby, but then all of a sudden it became a real business when I realized I could actually monetize it. 

That's incredible.  It takes a lot of bravery to step out and show yourself the way that you are. What kind of, like, really has been your driving factor?

Because people are watching you. And I know a little bit of your story and you shared just like a smidge with me, but maybe you could just share it with all of us listening.  Sure.  Yeah. So, you know, my story is that I  have done a really horrible job at picking men to marry and men to be with in my life because of my childhood.

And so I've been in two toxic marriages,  you know, for most, for most of my adult life.  And  that's it for anybody else. And, any other woman out there who's been in an, in a toxic, unhealthy relationship, how trying and difficult that is. And so really fat, I used fashion as a way to sort of escape from all of that.

Was kind of my thing that I could do and I could have and no one could take it from me and it made me feel good about myself. So even on the mornings that I would wake up and I would feel terrible and miserable because of my unhealthy,  relationship that I, but I used fashion as a way to sort of help me escape that.

So.  You know, I just really started doing that and it started to pay off and I was able to help women and everything. But, and people really love the vulnerability because let's say within the last two years or say year and a half, I've been starting to share more about my toxic relationship and how I got out of it and, and what it was all about.

And the women really sort of came forward and were like, Oh my gosh, me too. Like, thank you for being vulnerable. Thank you for sharing this with us because now we know you're not just. Some fashion influencer who wants to wear pretty clothes, like you're actually a real human being. And that's what I want to be for women is like, I want to be vulnerable and real and authentic because life isn't easy.

And maybe it might look easy on social media when you're wearing a pretty outfit, but what's behind that, like I want people to see what's behind that.  Like I've struggled really, really hard in  marriage and it was really difficult to leave, you know, it was like the hardest thing I've ever done.

And,  it was like, basically I took a big grenade and blew my life up at age 49 and here I am 50 years old and never thought in a million years, I'd be single, having to move out of my dream home, you know, living in a beautiful condo, which I'm so grateful for. But. Dating again at 50, like that's crazy.

And I've been sharing a lot of my dating stories and women seem to really love that because again, I'm just trying to be more vulnerable and real.  Well, I think that, you know, clothes are kind of a manifestation of your life and like, you can tell what's going on with someone based on like their clothes.

And I'm not trying to sound superficial, it's just, it's true. You know? Yeah. There's been studies on it. Yeah. And so I'm not saying like, I, I don't own any designer bags or, you know what I mean? That's not where I'm going with this, but you can tell when someone feels really good. It radiates from the inside and the outside.

And I think you sharing your story, though, it helps a lot of people. They're like, hey, I went through that. And, you know, you're getting up, you're putting on, like, the cute clothes. You're feeling it's a confidence thing. It's like you're almost putting on the confidence. You're like, hey, I deserve this because I'm a freaking badass.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And yeah, clothes are definitely a way to kind of tell the world who you are without even having to speak. That's like one of the, one of Rachel's those famous quotes, like fashion is a way to say who you are without having to speak. And sometimes even when you don't feel good in the morning, if you wake up and  you're feeling down or whatever, if you just make yourself put on something that's halfway cute, You'll feel better because the clothes you put on your body, they're going to do one of two things.

They're going to make you feel better or they're going to make you feel worse. So why not put something on that makes you feel better?  You know, I worked at home while I've been working for myself for 10 years.  But this last, I think it was like April when I moved into this physical office. And at that time I was like, Hey, you're going out into the world.

Like, you know, not that I hadn't been doing big business out in the world but I just I hated every time I would go somewhere and I was just in like The leggings the black leggings And like a t shirt or something and I might have looked cute had on some nikes, you know But I was like, why am I dressing like this?

And it was like this spring when I made a pact to myself I was like unless you're going to the gym do not put on the damn gym clothes and it wasn't You  Again, it wasn't a superficial thing. It was just the way I wanted to feel. Yeah, because they change the way you feel. They have the power to change the way you feel.

That's awesome. I love that you just said that. And I'm like, why are we wearing gym clothes all the time?  Yeah. And again, studies like people that show up to work in gym clothes versus like a nice work, you know, casual business, casual outfit, and your productivity is better. People perceive you as making more money when you're wearing nice clothes.

People perceive you as being more confident. People perceive you as having like more friends, like they did all these studies. People perceive you as being more attractive. All those things, like it's scientifically proven that all those things happen when you start to dress better. Well, and I think a lot of it is how I perceive myself, you know?

Yeah, and all that affects how you perceive yourself, exactly. Which is obviously the most important thing. Yes, and I actually have a lot of fun clothes. And that was a big thing for me was so there was one side of my closet, which, I took the whole closet. Sorry to my husband. He has coats in the guest room. 

I love that. Yeah. But one side of my closet was like the stuff I would wear. And then the side behind me was like all my fun outfits. And I started realizing like how stupid that was. And a lot of it was, was just a confidence thing. Right. So I was like, I was trying to tone down my appearance to like fit in because I didn't want to like bother people.

And even subconsciously, like people do get triggered by women showing up and looking good. They'll make little comments and little digs. And it can be even easy as like, Oh, I didn't know we were dressing up today, or even like backhanded comments towards you.  And I just.  Yeah. And I think, , so I'm 39, so I'm not quite 40, but I think as I really approached that like 40 zone, I'm like, why don't I just wear what I want to wear?

Yeah, totally. It's like that, those negative comments, because obviously I've had to deal with a lot of negative comments as well. You know, just being an influencer and putting yourself out there. And one of the best things I've ever heard, like in terms of how to handle negative comments is number one, it's like, okay.

That negative comment is more about that other person than it is about you.  They're just hiding behind their computer. They probably have their own insecurities and they're just putting you down to make themselves feel better, you know? And so, You know what I'm really finding, especially over on my Tik TOK is like, I can scroll and there'll be like a couple hundred comments and they're all super, super amazing.

And then there'll be two completely psychotic comments. Yeah. Yeah. So it's good. Yeah. Obviously they're, they're mostly positive, but you can't help it. Kind of feel the little, the little rejection, you know,  Whenever somebody makes a mean comment, or at least I can't, like, I feel that like people say like, Oh, and on my YouTube, sometimes you wear too much makeup.

You're you're too old to have hair that long. I get that a lot. You're too old to wear that tight dress. But then people will stick up for me and be like, Oh my gosh. Her hair is beautiful. Oh my gosh. She has an amazing body. So she should wear that dress Like so I love and I just leave them up because i'm like i'm not going to take it down Like in fact what you're doing is you're giving my videos more attention.

So thank you for that,  you know I know and I just posted like a clip on my instagram and it was like drew barrymore I can't remember who she was interviewing, but the lady was like I leave it up because you have to live with your Okay. No, I saw that you posted that on your feed and I loved it and I actually shared it in my stories You Because I thought it was so awesome that you posted that and I loved what she said.

Exactly. Like that person needs to sit in their shame of being mean to people. That's just like unnecessary. Yeah. She's like, everyone can see it. Yeah. Okay. So as a fashion influencer, this is like a little bit of a question I have. I would love to talk to you about logistics if you're open to it.

Okay. So I've always wondered like, how much are these girls spending  Just to like do these clothing hauls, set up these outfits. Like, do you have like a spreadsheet? Do you have a return room? Like how is this going down?  So I will be honest. So some collaborations gift you the clothing items. Plus, obviously they, they give you compensation as well  and, but some retailers,  only pay you and then you have to buy the clothes yourself.

Now I will say that I would,  I would venture to say that 90 percent of the clothes that I share and show I return. Because there's no way I could keep all of it. I wouldn't, there's no possible way. I wouldn't, I wouldn't have room. I'm ordering probably anywhere from five to 10 pieces of clothing a week, because just every single week from all my big sellers that I sell mostly from like Nordstrom, Revolve, you know, Shopbop, things like that.

So, yeah, so I returned 90 percent of it.  And then I also do a closet clean out every quarter and give clothes away to give them to charity. Goodwill. I also donate. to Linda's closet, you know, so, I do that. And,  yeah, so, you know, it is a lot. And I do have a section in my closet of items that I still need to shoot and show and do reels on.

And then I have another section in my closet of returns, like, okay, I need to return all these items at some point. So yeah, and I probably do returns once a week and shoot reels a couple of times a week. I shoot my YouTube videos twice a week.  So how do you kind of keep it organized? Do you just like, okay, so let's say like upcoming content, like how do you know what upcoming content you're going to shoot?

And then like, how do you do all this? I'm just fascinated by this. So about,  let's see, probably four years ago I hired a manager. So I have a manager who takes 20 percent of my collaboration fees. And so she keeps me very organized because she has a calendar that's online that she posts all of my. Upcoming collaborations in.

So like submit your, quince video on Monday, you're posting your quince video on Wednesday. You're, submitting this reel on Thursday, you're posting it next Monday. You know what I mean? So she has all that for me and my online.  And then I just have a system where every single week, like every Monday and Wednesday is my recording days where I record my videos for YouTube.

And so I, and so I know that on the days I'm doing that, I'm also trying on clothes. And so I'll make reels in between there while I'm in the middle of trying on the clothes or whatever. And I kind of repurpose that footage. So some of it goes on my YouTube and then the same outfits will obviously go on to Instagram and my reels and things like that.

And then Tuesdays and Thursdays are for me to edit my YouTube videos cause I edit my own YouTube videos. I used to outsource that, but by the time It takes me about an hour to send all the mini videos that go within the big video to the editor And it's like that took about an hour And so I might as well just take an hour and edit the video myself instead of paying someone else to do it You know, so I edit my own videos on tuesdays and thursdays  And then I also have an assistant and she does my blog posts for me and helps me on Instagram.

So I guess after doing it for so long, I just kind of have like set days of the week that I like to do everything so that I can be very consistent. And get everything done.  And so it sounds like you kind of just have like set up a system like with a content calendar. I need to do this, this, and this. But I was going through your YouTube videos, I mean, I've been watching quite a few of them since we met, but I was looking at them and I was like, but how do you decide?

You're like, am I going to do a fall shoe video? Do you just, is it like stuff that you're inspired by?  So yeah, I, I look, what I'll do is I'll get on YouTube and I will search like fashion over 40 or fashion over 50 or fall trends. And then I see, I look and see what some of the top performing videos are and I'll, I'll create titles similar to that and subjects similar to that.

And then I also can go into my YouTube analytics and see what other videos are doing really well of the women, like the top five other women that my subscribers are watching. And so then I'm like, Oh, wait, I haven't done a video on that. I'll do that. You know? and so that's kind of how I decide what my video topics are.

And then I can also look at my analytics and see like which videos for me do the best. And typically it's like what not to wear. Those always do really well, you know, trends. People love to know what's on trend and in style. People also love to know what's out of style. So those always do really well for me too.

Okay. So I have some questions about trends, but we're going to, we're going to save those for a minute.  I had like trend questions for you. But  do you have a piece of content that you feel like has like performed the very best for you that you're like, this video just popped off and it's  Yeah, for sure.

So usually my denim videos do really well. So two recently that have gone viral, like over a hundred thousand views. One of them is how to style wide leg denim because wide leg jeans are such a big denim trend right now. And a lot of people.  I feel like, or maybe a little bit afraid of them because they are kind of baggy and it's like, you know, you might end up looking frumpy or sloppy if you don't know how to style them.

And so I did that.  And then I think, I think my other one was like,, five denim trends out of style. So, you know, a lot of women are like, Oh, our skinny jeans still in style. And it's like, you know, the modern, yeah, yeah. Modern skinny jeans are still in style, which basically that is defined as like a high waisted, right?

not like a jegging, so it's still slim fitting, but it's not like super tight like a jegging. So I would say like the low waisted jeggings, like completely out of style,  but the, but like the higher waisted modern skinny jeans are still in style. Because if you think about it, you need those for the winter time in the fall, because if you want to wear knee high boots. 

You can't wear knee high boots with baggy or straight legged jeans. And also, this is true, but I have to tell you, I have been so flipping excited. In fact, fucking is the right term because I have been so fucking excited to see skinny jeans go.  Yeah. Cause they, you know, frankly, they're not really that flattering on a lot of people, you know?

So I, I agree. I think the low waisted skinny jeans were just awful.  I mean, I wore them. It was like what I thought we were all wearing. And now that they're gone and then like this nineties, early two thousands is coming back. I am like in heaven.  So much better. I know if I put a photo of myself, like with the low rise skinnies versus like the higher waisted, it's like my legs look twice as long with the high rise, like back, you know, slightly back here.

So that was my big question was, , cause I was like, Oh, we should ask you about denim trends. I literally wrote it on my thing here. Yeah, I love that. Because I'm so fascinated by this. The only trend I'm not really loving is I don't love the barrel pants. Like, why would I wear those?  Yeah, I ordered some and I wore them and shot them and, and, you know, they were by mother and, you know, they're okay.

But actually that was the negative comment I got about when I showed myself wearing barrel jeans, a couple of women were like, Oh my gosh, those are the most unflattering jeans. You look terrible. And I'm like, you know what? I agree with you. Like, they're not the most flattering. I agree. You know, And so I, I will not wear the barrel jeans.

And I don't like them either. I'm with you. No, I saw someone wearing them the other day and she was walking and I was like, what is wrong with that? Like my brain was like, like I thought something was like, she was shaped like that, you know what I'm like, my brain was trying to make it make sense. And I was like, Oh, she's just wearing those stupid pants.

Yeah. It's the most unflattering pants silhouette that designers have ever made. I think for sure.  I, I think a lot of  what is it? Gen Z? Is that, or am I, I'm like, I don't know how it goes anymore. I feel like a lot of like, you know, young 20 is super into this barrel pant. Yeah, totally. Just because Halle Bieber wears them and all in, or,  what's the other girl that they all want to dress like?

It's like if Halle Bieber wears it or some, the other girl that they all love. Bella Hadid and they're going to wear it. Like that's what they do. They're just like, you know, we're going to dress like them. So  why not? Yeah. Why not? You know, Hey,  they're young. I can pull off anything probably.  When you kind of first got started and you're on this whole journey, well, you said you had like a management person, but do people and brands come to you and they're like, Hey, we want to sponsor where you want to work with you.

Like, how did that all start Kidding.  I can't talk at all, Heather.  It's pretty, it's pretty amazing because when I was working in corporate sales,  and selling to , fortune 500 companies, I would have to make cold calls every Monday and Friday from 8am to noon. So I was basically like having to make about 25 calls per hour.

So a hundred calls. So basically 200  phone calls every single week when I was in sales and it burnt me out. I would leave my office on Fridays and tears and thinking I can't do this anymore. This is not fun. I don't like it. Like the only thing I loved about sales was getting in front of the person.

That's where my main strength lies is actually being in front of the person and selling face to face. Right? So luckily with this business, There is no cold calling at all that you're, my email is just inundated with people wanting to work with me and people wanting to do partnerships with me. So it's amazing.

So I get the emails and I forward them to my manager and she takes care of the negotiating and decides on a, on a flat fee and then that's it. And she takes care of all of the accounting behind it, you know, the invoicing and all of that. And so that's pretty amazing about that. They just come to me.  I think it's cool.

I feel like we're getting a little insider peek at like influencers, like how it really works, you know, because I'm super curious. I've had some brands before that were like, Hey, share your link and you'll get a little commission. And I was getting like little commissions, you know, but I've never gotten full in on influencing.

And I've wanted to for a while because. Okay. Well, just like 30 minutes ago, I was sending links to people in my DMS because they're like, what's your skincare? And they always want to know where I bought my fun clothes. You know,  I'm not even talking about it, but I've wanted to. But then when I was like, I have my Amazon storefront, but that's like very limited, you know, but yeah.

Was that hard to set up? I need to set up.  No, it was super easy. I can't tell you how I did it, but I just did it one night, like a few weeks ago. Okay.  And play around with it and then you figure it out. Yeah. So you, you use your Amazon account and then, you know, it said it had to approve me and I was approved.

You'll be approved. You know, I do see people that are like, you have to have this many followers or whatnot, but. Um, you'll, you'll get there. I was fine. Um, and then I just remember I Googled it and then I just like followed the steps and Perfect. I'll do it. I need to do that. I thought it was fun because you can have little sections So I have like my running stuff and um, even like an hour ago someone messaged me and they said hey kid Like what are you using for your podcast?

And i'm like, oh it's in my amazon storefront. You know what I mean? I love that. Okay, very cool. And do you have a link to your amazon storefront in your instagram bio? You Yeah, but I thought it would be really awesome to add in the like to know it. I'm not sure how it works, but I applied and they were like, no, and I think it's because they don't share like outfits and things like that.

And I'm like, well, I haven't, but I've wanted to, you know? Well, just start, maybe just start and link it and right now link it to your Amazon storefront.  And then once you do that a little, a few times, you know, for like a month or two, then, then apply back to LTK. Plus I'll send my girl an email as well. 

Yeah. Cause I think it would be fun. How does it work though? Do you know, like, is there only certain brands on there? I'm sure you can't link any shirt you bought anywhere, right? Right. There are certain brands on LTK,  but there's a ton. I mean, most everything you're going to buy is going to be linkable to LTK.

The only thing that's not linkable to LTK that I'm just off the top of my head is Zara.  And, I mean, seriously, they have almost every single brand, but if you get on the LTK app, do you have the LTK app just for to look at other influencers, you can just literally, you know, click on a couple things and you'll see like so many brands. 

That's awesome. So one thing that I love about the internet right now is like, you can find a girl online or a woman online who like has the same body type as you and same style as you. And I just follow them and I'm like, I get outfit ideas all the time and I'm obsessed with it. I love that. That's the perfect way to do it.

That's really cool. And I bet there's like a lot of women who find you and they're like, okay, we have similar like style or like a style desire, you know? And they're like, Oh my gosh, she does it. I can do it. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Like if she can wear it, she's, she's 50 years old. If she can wear it, then I can wear it.

I hope, I hope that's what I inspire women to do is step out of their comfort zone a little bit. Exactly. I, and even,  there was a girl, Bonnie, I don't know what her last, she's like a big, big influencer I'm trying to think of what her actual handle is, but her name is Bonnie, but she also like runs now.

And I was like, if this girl can run, I can run. Yeah, I love it. See, and then they always say like share as many sides of you that you  so that you kind of seem like,  you're not just about fashion, you're also, you know, you're also this or that  okay. So where are you at right now? Because this is like the setup. I see in all your videos, is this like a special room in your house? Like what do you guys want? Yeah, this is my office. Yeah, this is my office.

And so when I, I, I bought this condo after my divorce about four or five months ago.  I redid the office because this room was like dark gray. The shelves you see in the background were like yet like a dingy yellow. The countertops were like Navy blue. Like it was terrible. And so I basically just repainted the whole thing.

you know, added a different light fixture and painted the shelves. And now it's my beautiful office and it's even prettier than my office was and my dream home. And so that I had to get, you know, that I had to move out of when I got divorced. And so I always say like  God, sometimes you, you leave things and it's, I always love to think like if it's not this and it's something better, cause it's like, I feel like God always has. 

Or the universe, whatever you believe, like if you lose something, well, then you're always going to get something better after you, you know, lose something in your life. That's what I believe anyway. I know. I feel like if you can just be patient enough, like God is always setting you up like to succeed, but it's kind of like you have to fail sometimes, you know, quite a bit.

And then you're like, Oh my God, I get it now. Yeah. I learned some lessons. I feel like you got to learn some lessons along the way. And that's why we fail. Like you got to learn the lessons like. For sure in my dating life, I've felt that with like, I feel like, okay, it's either love or a lesson. And so far it's been all lessons.

So I'm like, okay, I'm kind of ready for the left part now.  , do you watch , Sister Wives? Oh, you haven't followed that show? Well, I've been following it for like 19 years. , and basically like all the wives have left him, like Cody or whatever. And the one wife, , they're all just like, , the one wife, Christine, like she's like gonna get married again and she's like in love.

And I'm like, this is just so cool. That's awesome. She never got to have a wedding and she's, I think, 50 or 60. And so I'm like, it's so fun to watch. Yeah, I love that. Maybe I need to start watching it. Well, there's 19 seasons. So buckle up Okay  I feel like i've been following it my entire life Yeah, wow.

Wait, what's it called again? Sister Wives. It's on hbo, but it's um, It's like a reality tv show about like a polygamist Family, they were here in utah. Then they moved to vegas and they've been in arizona. That's super intriguing to me Yeah, that's cool. , so what I loved when we were talking, cause we like, we were at a mastermind together and then I accidentally ran into a breakfast and I was like, Hey, come sit with us. Yeah, which I love which was a total synchronicity by the way I feel like I feel like things don't happen just by accident,  I think that was totally meant to be No, exactly and you were showing me your youtube channel and I was looking at it and I was like This is so I know it's not easy but it's so much easier than I had it pictured in my head because i'm like Oh in order to be a successful youtuber, you have to be like psychotic like mr Beast and I feel like you don't overcomplicate it and you have a lot of success You Yeah, exactly.

I think a lot of things it's like,  yeah, I don't, you know, I could get my videos professionally edited and they could be a lot fancier, but like, why, why can't I, why don't I just keep it simple and just edit my own videos and iMovie and they're good enough. People love them, people kind of almost like that better than the fancy, fancy things, you know, you don't.

You don't have to be fancy. You just have to be consistent and you have to be real and authentic and have good energy. And I think your viewers can see that,  they can see your energy. They can see if you're being authentic or not. 

And I like, I don't put anything on my channel that I wouldn't personally wear in real life.

I have people,  occasionally will spot me on the street and like, Oh my gosh, I watch you on YouTube. And a lot of times what they say is like, wow, you're so much shorter in real life than we thought,  like, yeah, I'm pretty short and like, but I know how, you know, I, I know how to dress so that I look taller and, you know, I wear heels and all that.

So  it's kind of, you know, everyone always says to me, you're so much taller than I thought you were. I'm like,  yeah,  that's so funny. I'm like, I'm only 5'9  Yeah.  But a lot of times I am like, tall. Yeah. People are like, I didn't know you were so tall. So that's funny. Well, and it's also a learning curve. You know, it's as, 

as anything is in life, in the beginning, it's going to be a little bit harder.

Right? So in the very beginning, when I started my channel, I was like, okay, I need to hire somebody to teach me to edit videos. And so my photographer and I tried to watch videos on YouTube on how to edit videos. But that didn't work for me because I need someone to sit next to me while I do it and tell me how to do it.

And so since I was aware of my learning style, I was like, okay, I'm going to hire somebody to come sit next to me. 

So my photographer was like, Oh, I know how to use iMovie. I'm like, okay, well, I want you to come over. So I think I paid her like 800.  for, you know, a couple of hours, she sat down with me and taught me the skill of using iMovie, which that's the best 800 I've ever invested.

Cause you know, the money I've made back from it is tenfold. And so, yeah, in the beginning it was really hard and, and, you know, But once you do something just as anything in life, once you do it a couple of times you get good at it And now i'm a pro and so will you be you'll be a pro too, you know But in the beginning, of course, it will be hard but anything worth doing in the long run Yeah, it's hard in the beginning, but it gets easy because you become an expert at  yeah So I was like, okay i'm gonna start youtube and then  last week I had a couple days where I was like Okay, i'm gonna film these things and it's funny because we have like these blocks that we put on her I think it's like subconscious like a visibility, right?

Like I'm really comfortable with what I do on Instagram. I am getting better and better every day over on TikTok. But like doing YouTube to me was just like so outside of my comfort bubble. I was like, well, I don't know who watches those. And like, what's the point, you know? So the, it was so freaking funny.

So I filmed a bunch of stuff when we were in like Havasu. And then I got at home and I had filmed everything in the wrong frame rate, which is such a rookie mistake. And so like, it's just all, you have to trash it, you know?  And then, I came down last week in the morning cause I had a whole day of stuff I was doing and I wanted to film some content while I was running and some different things.

I come down and like the lock was broke on the gate to our office. And so then I couldn't get my cameras out and I'm like, how bad do I want this? Yeah. Now here, here's, and here's another thing that I wish I would have done in the very beginning. So when I started my YouTube channel five years ago,  The only thing I knew to do was ask the only other YouTuber that I knew because here's, here's really why I started my, my YouTube.

And I mean, obviously I started it because I wanted to get more exposure. I wanted to help more women. And so YouTube is a completely different audience than Instagram. It's not like, I mean, I probably have some overlapping, but it's basically people that watch YouTube videos are like dedicated YouTube video watchers.

They're not really on Instagram. Okay. So this, so a good thing about it is you're going to get a whole new audience, right? So the only other person I knew it was another over 40 fashion influencer and she was one of the top 10 earners at LTK.  Which is insane, by the way. Like, we're talking, earning a million, you know, over a million dollars a year.

And so I thought, what makes her different than me? And I'm like, oh, she has a YouTube channel and I don't. And so I'm like, okay, that's what, I'm doing it. I'm starting a YouTube channel. Because I also knew five years ago in my gut, deep down, that I needed to leave my marriage. And I will also say that a big reason I wasn't leaving my marriage is because of money.

Because I wasn't financially independent  and like it or not, money is power and money allows you to have freedom. And so once I started earning my own money on my YouTube channel, then I was able, then I was able to leave the marriage. I mean, to be frank, it's like I had enough money to, to be on my own.

And you know, cause he  ended up shutting down bank accounts the day I filed for divorce. Like the very next day, like our joint checking account was shut down. It's like, and if I didn't have my own money with my own, account like I would have been screwed, you know, and because we didn't have kids where he had to give me money.

Like my first husband had to give me money because we had kids together. This person, we didn't have kids together. So he didn't owe me anything other than, yeah, we were married. But anyways, I say that to say. You know, that's, that's really what led me to start my YouTube channel. And I did, so I asked her some tips.

She gave me some tips, but not, not, I mean, not a ton. And then maybe two years ago, I heard of this girl, which you, this is what you need to do in order to start your YouTube channel, her name, and I'll send you her info, but her name is Erica. And her last name is like V I E R A, I don't know, Vieira or something. 

I'll also send you her Instagram, but her business is teaching people how to launch a YouTube channel So you can buy her online class And you take her class. It's, it's like a, a YouTube bootcamp. And it was the best thing because it teaches you every single thing you could possibly need to know about how to start a YouTube channel.

So I wish I would have done that, but I didn't know about it five years ago. So that's, if I were you, I would 1000 percent do that. Okay. I'll check it out. Thank you. You're welcome.  And I love to one on one with her as well. She helped me grow my YouTube channel a lot. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah,   it's kind of goes back to like, stop trying to do it all yourself, you know?

Yeah, exactly. Uh, okay. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. Thank you for letting me like, ask you so many questions and seriously, like, thank you for being like, so brave and putting yourself out there because it helps like, the rest of us too.  Well, you're so welcome. I was honored to be here. Thank you for asking me.

It was so, so fun. I enjoyed it. Well, we'll catch up soon. Sounds good. Bye bye.