Corey Golden currently lives in New York City. She works full-time as a digital producer for Time Inc., and when she’s not working, she loves to travel and is a fan of SoulCycle classes. Oh, and her side project? Running her successful fashion and lifestyle blog, See Golden Style. We spoke to her about how she manages having a job and a passion project, her love for social media and why she thinks New York is the place she needs to be right now.
She says, “The energy here is amazing. Every time you walk outside there are all of these creative people around and you thrive of off that. The lifestyle here is fast-paced but the energy is definitely the best part. Also, the opportunities that you have here particularly for entertainment and blogging are unlike anywhere else in the world. For me, this is the best place at this stage in my life.” It seems like the perfect city for Corey, who also talks about her ultimate goal – to create a lifestyle brand.
“One of the main things I’ve learnt is that if you push yourself out of your comfort zone, you achieve great things.” – Corey Golden
Taylor Magazine: How did you come up with See Golden Style and what was your main inspiration behind it?
Corey Golden: I work full-time so I was doing a lot of influencer outreach and then I thought to myself… “I think I can do this!” I was always a little hesitant and I had a lot of reservations. But one day, I just bit the bullet and created the account!
Taylor Magazine: When did you start your blog and what was the point you realised this was actually something you really wanted to invest your time into?
Corey Golden: I started my blog a year and a half ago. The first couple of months I was really figuring out what I wanted my content to look like and what I wanted my blog design to be like. I was ironing out all of the kinks. Then I remember there was this one vacation that I took a couple of months after I started and I was able to capture really great content there. After that I saw a huge spike in my following! It’s important to decide what you want your feed to look like and figure out how to do that. For me it was going on that vacation, not being at work or in the city and getting away from it all.
Taylor Magazine: What were the main struggles that you found when you were first starting out in terms of the blogging world and managing your time?
Corey Golden: My first big obstacle was coming up with a name. I wanted something that was going to be catchy and interesting but also represented me. That’s why I did a play on words with ‘Golden Style’ and obviously my name is Corey so I fell in love with that. That was my first big hurdle. I remember thinking to myself, “If I can just get to 100 followers then I’ll be good.” It was getting those first followers that was the biggest challenge but the way I overcame that was honestly just putting my time and energy into following people in my niche and being as active as I could. I was trying to get myself out there, being tagged by friends, anything I could do to get myself a little kick start.
Taylor Magazine: How would you describe See Golden Style to someone that hasn’t viewed it before or to someone who is just learning about the blog?
Corey Golden: I always say my style is city inspired street style with a feminine twist. I live in New York City and I’m super inspired by the fashion I see just walking down the street in my neighbourhood. I do love romantic, super feminine fabrics, patterns and colours but it’s a mix of the two. I definitely have a little bit of an edge just because of where I live and the people I see around me. It really inspires me but I try to keep a little bit of a girly twist.
Taylor Magazine: Run us through a typical day for you.
Corey Golden: I go to work which is my 9-5 and I absolutely love it. A lot of the time I travel for my job or I’m on set or I do a lot of writing for titles such as InStyle or People Magazine. Then, after work is when I get time to work on my blog. I create content usually before or after work during the week and a lot of my time on the weekends I’m shooting or blogging. A lot of my blogging happens at night! I usually light a candle, get into bed and get to work. It’s pretty busy!
Taylor Magazine: It sounds really hectic! But from looking at your blog you wouldn’t think that it’s not something you do full-time. It always has new content and is always on trend so it’s really cool how you manage everything.
Corey Golden: I appreciate it that! I really try to keep it up to date. I try to post every day on my Instagram! Even with my job, I tried to attend the majority of the fashion week shows that I could so I try to balance it all. I want to keep it fresh and keep new content coming. That’s one of the key things to building a following – keeping it fresh and making sure you put in the time. If you’re not going to put in the time, you’re not going to see results. The more time I dedicate to making my blog the best in can be, the better the outcome.
Taylor Magazine: What advice would you give to someone who is in a similar position to you? Someone who has a 9-5, but wants to start something on the side which is more of a passion project?
Corey Golden: I would say the worst that happens is that it fails but if you never do it, you’re never going to have any chance at success. It’s so important to have that thing on the side that really fills your heart, even if you love your job which I absolutely do. I put my heart and soul into See Golden Style and when I do create new content and when I’m blogging, it just feels very fulfilling. My advice is to stay as positive as possible. When you have a 9-5 job you feel so tired and you feel like you can’t fit anything else in. The truth is once you start fitting in stuff that you don’t think you can, you’ll see you actually are able to do a lot more than you think you can. My advice is to go for it, and embrace the dreams and all the creative outlets that you have.
Taylor Magazine: With your content are there certain things that people really like that you try to post more of? Or do you stick with your passions and things you personally enjoy posting about?
Corey Golden: I definitely realise what photos are doing the best. If I have a boomerang or I mix it up, people definitely take notice. But honestly, I do this for me as well as my followers. I really do try to stay true to what I love and hopefully my followers will love it to.
Taylor Magazine: What’s the best thing you’ve learnt from having your own project?
Corey Golden: I’ve always had my thing on the side. Growing up, I wanted to be a singer so through high school and college I was always pursuing that on top of school. See Golden Style came as a natural step because I’m so used to having something else on the side. Time management is definitely something I have become a lot better at over the years. One of the main things I’ve learnt is that if you push yourself out of your comfort zone, you achieve great things. I was terrified to start this or for my friends and family to see it fail. When it started becoming popular, it felt so satisfying. I’ve learnt to have a bit more confidence in myself and to take more risks, because they really can pay off.
“The ultimate goal is to create a lifestyle brand. A couple of years down the road that is what I envision for myself – to have this platform and use it to do a bunch of other things.”
Taylor Magazine: What should we be looking out for from you? What is the ultimate goal?
Corey Golden: To create a lifestyle brand a couple of years down the road. I don’t know exactly what that will be, whether that’s going back to singing and integrating that into my fashion or design. I have some work with brands where I’m acting as a guest designer, so I’m designing a piece for their collections which makes me super excited. There are definitely cool things coming up!
Taylor Magazine: It sounds like it’s going to be a productive year, which is always good! You mentioned your social media – how much of a part does that play in terms of your blog and connecting with people?
Corey Golden: Everything is rooted in social media now. As much as some people hate to say it, that’s the main traffic driver for your blog. That’s how you get the word out there because it’s a curated stream of your life and the content on your blog. Obviously Instagram is my platform of choice and it plays a huge role these days in connecting people. It gives people an insight into your life and the content you are creating.
Taylor Magazine: Did you find when you started to use social media that you found similar blogs and you needed to do something to stand out? Or did you find your presence was enough in itself?
Corey Golden: It’s a combination of both. Everyone knows that if you go on Instagram you can find 100 different bloggers. There are a lot of people doing it. It’s a really fun thing to be doing, so I totally understand. It is scary, because you obviously want to differentiate yourself and make yourself stand out in a crowd of so many people. One of the key things that makes me stand out is that I have this pretty awesome job on the side. I like to think of myself as not so much of a blogger but more an influencer because I have this job and I’m a real person. I’m super relatable but I also have this other part of my life on the side. I get to share with my followers my own content, but also content from behind the scenes at an InStyle shoot for example, or content of me interviewing someone from People Magazine. These are all things that are really exciting for people, so it’s a combination of those things that makes it do well.
Taylor Magazine: Tell us a bit about your love for travelling!
Corey Golden: Wanderlust is my middle name! If I could just travel for the rest of my life, I would. I really do try to do as much as I can and get out of the city. Whether that’s just getting in the car and driving somewhere or getting on a plane and going to the Bahamas, I really try because I enjoy it. The content you can get while travelling is just unparalleled. Obviously my blog isn’t a travel blog, but I do feature travel a lot.
Taylor Magazine: Where is your favourite place that you’ve visited recently?
Corey Golden: I have to say my favourite place that I’ve been to in the past couple of years is Croatia. It’s absolutely beautiful! I could live there. The water and everything, it was just unreal. My second favourite place is Italy. Of course, so many people love it. I went to Venice and it’s so romantic. I do a lot of travelling in the States and take a lot of trips to L.A. for myself and work – I absolutely love California, so I try to go out there as much as I can! I also go to Florida because I have some family down there. We go out to the Hamptons a lot during the summer time so those are my main three places. My family live in Maryland as well, so I go down there to see them too.
Taylor Magazine: What are 3 things you can’t live without?
Corey Golden: Travelling because it just gives me life, pizza because it’s my absolute favourite food and lip balm because I’m completely addicted and I always have it on me, no matter where I go.
Taylor Magazine: Do you have a favourite movie that you always go back to?
Corey Golden: Yes! My favourite movie of all time is the The Holiday. Cameron Diaz and Jude Law, oh my god. I could watch it 100 times and never get sick of it. People think that Love Actually is the better story, but I have to disagree. The Holiday wins every time.
Taylor Magazine: What would you do if you had a day off?
Corey Golden: I would definitely do a great workout, get some good food (brunch is my favourite!) and hang out with my friends and family. I love cuddling up with my friends, watching movies and just hanging out!
Taylor Magazine: What advice would you give your 12-year-old self?
Corey Golden: I actually have a little sister who is 10 years younger than me so that’s pretty interesting. I try to give her good advice! I would say don’t fret the small stuff because a lot of things feel so huge when you’re young. Then you get older and you realise that things really aren’t that big and they just fade and other things become so much more important. The second thing would be to always follow your dreams and dream big. I was always such a dreamer when I was younger and had so many aspirations for myself. I really think that’s so important for everyone when they’re young. I’d say to hold on to that for when you’re older and hopefully make some of those dreams come true.
3 comments
Loved this….
Absolutely Loved this…..
Great interview!