My 12 memos from 2020
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Other than the you-know-what that made all of our year 2020 a unique and memorable one, as I was writing in my daily journal yesterday and thinking back, several happenings and moments stood out. Some good, some not so fabulous, but nevertheless, they collectively made up an unforgettable year.
In this post, I’d like to share my 12 things" from the last 12 months with you.
Being featured on QuickTake by Bloomberg — Before the pandemic “arrived” in the U.S., one of the most memorable moments early this year was receiving an invitation from QuickTake by Bloomberg. Along with 2 other content creators, we were invited to take part in a segment that QuickTake was doing on the topic of The Business of Influence. The panel was moderated by Kim Bhasin and it was one of the best conversations I’ve had concerning the industry — it was such a pleasure meeting like-minded influencers and overall, a great experience!
Having real conversations with people about the Black Lives Matter movement — Although I was always aware of the issue of racism in our country and have heard of the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve never talked to friends and family members so in-depth on this topic before until this year. The conversations with my African American friends taught me to see things from their perspectives; the chats with my friends got us recognizing the need to take action in order to make even a slight bit of difference; the many questions I got from my parents gave me an opportunity to help them understand.
Shifting further away from fast fashion, and embracing more of slow fashion — Since last year, I started making a conscious effort to avoid purchasing anything from fast fashion brands like Zara and Mango. I focused on discovering and supporting sustainable brands that offer environmentally friendly options and ethically made garments. When I shared a few videos on TikTok, I received an immense amount of views on some of them, and then I realized I wasn’t the only one learning about the importance of cutting out fast fashion brands from our lives.
My grandma figuring out how to use Line to video chat with me — This may not sound like much but I was so happy when I learned that my grandma, who’s 80, figured out how to receive video calls and look at photos via the Line app. She was determined to remember how to use those functions because none of us — my brother, my cousins, and me — were able to visit her this year. I felt really proud of her.
Being inspired by my clients who did everything they could to keep their businesses going — For those who may not know, I own a boutique influencer marketing agency called Once Upon. We specialize in supporting small brands and independent designers in the fashion and beauty industry, offering marketing strategies that would establish brand presence and grow an audience on social media. Running a small business is not easy, and COVID only made things more challenging for many of our clients. However, it has been so inspiring to witness how resilient they all are; every one of them survived because of quick-thinking, creativity, and open minds.
Learning that a close Brazilian friend’s father passed away 5 days after getting COVID — This sad news made everything “real” for both my husband and me. We never doubted the existence of the virus and understood the danger. But when we learned that COVID took our friend’s father’s life, it was no longer happening to “other people.” We mourned with our friend who didn’t even get to properly say goodbye to his father.
Exploring nearby areas by car — Since we weren’t able to fly and travel overseas, we went on a few road trips over the summer. This gave us the opportunity to check out beautiful places upstate that we’ve never been to. We also went on a “camping” trip and stayed at a Getaway House for the very first time — something we’ve always talked about but never had the chance to do.
Trying out new recipes and changing my “relationship” with cooking — Unlike my husband who’s really into cooking, I have never really liked cooking. It has always been something that I just “gotta do.” But with the need to cook at home a lot more this year, my mindset toward it has changed. Once I started trying out more and more recipes, knowing what I’m doing has changed how I feel about it. Now I can sometimes find myself actually enjoying a bit of it, too!
Testing out way more makeup looks than I’ve ever had — A huge part of me really enjoy doing something creative and with so much more time to kill I played around with a lot more makeup looks than I’ve ever had the time to. And since we had nowhere to go, even if something turns out terrible, no one would have to see it other than my husband, anyway. At one point, I realized putting on makeup was sometimes therapeutic, too.
Being on TikTok — Surprisingly, making videos on TikTok has been one of the highlights for me in 2020 because I was able to challenge myself as a content creator to try something new and different — and all by myself, too. The learning process has been rewarding and although I only have about 4,400 followers on TikTok right now, I’ve been getting collaboration opportunities from brands that have not reached out to me before.
Launching my Etsy store with iron-on patches — In May, I designed and created iron-on patches using the most popular quote post that I’ve shared on my Instagram. This was my first ever product retail experience and it has been so much fun! I’ve also been donating 15% of net proceeds to No Kid Hungry every month since June.
Reaching 10K+ unique visitors per month on my blog — One of my goals for 2020 is to reach over 10,000 unique visitors per month and I was really happy to achieve this goal a while ago. Every single page visit means so much to me, and I really appreciate all of your love and support!
I stayed at a Getaway House for the first time this year.
Not being able to travel abroad has given me the opportunity to explore nearby areas like New Paltz in upstate New York.
What are some moments from 2020 that have been extra memorable for you? Share them with me by leaving a comment below; I’d love to hear your stories, too.
As always, thank you for stopping by Happily Ever Style.
xoxo,
Tricia
And why I love traveling with them!