Today we’d like to introduce you to Briana Mueller.
Briana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It is January 2017 and I have just moved back to my hometown from being away at college. As I am sitting at my desk at my dead end job I am just bored with life work wise. There is something missing. I had lost my fire. I did not see myself living a mediocre, boring life and that is exactly what it felt like. I had toyed around with starting a blog but honestly had no idea where to start? Do I use Word Press, Squarespace or another website? What the heck does self-hosting vs hosted mean? If I decide to self-host who do I use for my hosting service? All of these questions seemed very foreign to me so what did I do? I researched, read forums, read blog posts about how to start a blog. I was determined to launch my blog. Behind it all was my drive to share my voice, to spread positivity into the world and to let every single woman (and man if they are interested in my girly stuff haha) know that they are worthy and valuable and their confidence should shine like a city on a hill. Fashion has been a hobby/passion of mine so starting a fashion and lifestyle blog was the perfect genre. I love sharing affordable fashion looks and beauty content with the overarching message to live boldly. My vision for Bri Bold is to inspire, influence and infuse fashion tips, style tricks and sprinkles of uplifting words to women of all ages. You are never too old to let your spunk fade and your voice in needed in this world. Whatever realm or season of life you are in I challenge you to live boldly. Be Bold. Bri Bold.
As I look back to the beginning I had to fake it until I made it. Haha. I trail blazed the entire process and I had absolutely no clue how much I would enjoy it! My flame was lit again. The simple act of creating made me light up inside. Whether it was picking the layout for my blog or writing my first blog post my heart felt alive again. I believe you should never settle for anything; relationships, your career or your health etc. Always strive to be better. I celebrate all the small victories along the way and use them to catapult me forward and to keep the motivation to continue pursuing my passion. My long term goal is to grow my following and to continue to bring valuable content to my Bri Bold Team! There is so much growth to be had but as I take a moment to look back to where I started I feel very grateful and proud.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Anything worth having is never easy…but it is worth it! I would say that time is of the essence and there never seems to be enough hours in the day. Balancing a full time job and putting time and effort towards Bri Bold definitely takes some boss babe strength but I am always up for a challenge! I would say that has been the hardest struggle up to this point but I would not trade it for the world. This season of life has been very busy especially because I am planning a wedding on top of it all but I am constantly trying to soak it all up and make a point to slow down and enjoy this busy season. The only other challenging obstacle was getting started and not knowing where/how to start but I would not necessarily call it a struggle. After I was post grad from UTSA I genuinely loved learning about WordPress, self-hosting and domains. I loved brainstorming about my brand. To the girl who is not sure if she should start a blog I would say to jump in with two feet! Do not postpone any longer. There is always more to learn but published is better than perfect. Get your voice out into the world. You never know who you will impact and your story is unique and needs to be heard.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Bri Bold story. Tell us more about the business.
I created Bri Bold to have a vessel to reach others and share with them fashion tips as well as lifestyle tricks. To connect with women across the world and encourage them to live confidently and boldly in every area of life. I have a passion for brining quality products to my followers and love connecting and collaborating with brands that fit my audience. When collaborating the number one thing on my mind is always my followers/audience and whether or not the products I am trying will fit their preferences. Of course you cannot always speak to everyone’s preferences and that is why I like to focus on 20 and 30 something year old women who are in similar walks of life to myself. The girl who is focusing on growing and bettering herself in her career, as a mother, and/or in her relationships. I am most proud of the women Bri Bold has impacted. I receive direct messages every now and then from women who reach out and let me know that they love a product I have shared or that they were impacted from a blog post I published or a fired up Instagram story I shared. Creating the vessel and hub aspect of Bri Bold makes me proud as well because women are able to network and learn from each other which is invaluable to me. I feel so humble and blessed to be able to create this network/online presence.
Bri Bold is set apart because I believe true value is in connecting with other women and shedding light on the raw and real moments of life regardless of what everyone else is doing. It is easy to put up a front or shed your highlight reel but talking about the struggles and obstacles of life is where the vulnerability comes in. It takes courage to trail blaze through life and lead with the possibility of being alone with no one following but standing true to what you believe in. I have always said quality over quantity and if just one person is impacted positively from Bri Bold then it is all worth it.
Looking back on your childhood, what experiences do you feel played an important role in shaping the person you grew up to be?
As I get older I truly cherish my childhood. I grew up with the most precious love story playing out in front of me. My mom and dad are a true power couple. My mom was constantly instilling in me that I was never alone because God is always with me and to always be as pretty on the inside as she thought I was on the outside. Being raised hearing these positive things spoken over me made for a very confident woman. I owe all the credit to my momma and Jesus. Growing up I realized, unfortunately how difficult some of my peers had it. I have always felt that because I had lack of difficult situations that I was able to shine the light to others. Any time I have the opportunity to say a kind word, encourage a stranger or sit and listen to a venting friend I make sure and take the opportunity to leave that person in better shape than when we started talking. Now I am not saying I have a life with lack of stress, worries, pressure or fear (I definitely do!) but because I had a very solid childhood I feel that my foundation is sturdy enough to always own the truth and return to it when times are tough. So in regards to Bri Bold, the stability of my childhood has instilled in me the confidence to believe I will succeed and the drive to pursue my passion of spreading confidence to all women. I want women everywhere to be confidence in themselves and live a bold life in whatever realm they choose. Be Bold. Bri Bold.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.BriBold.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bri.bold
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bri.Bold/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mueller_briana
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE2MOXqyRknCsJL0gJpgn5A
Image Credit:
Inspired Images by Lauren
Alfredo H Photography
Anghelov
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
