Creative Corner: Blogger Erika Mané

Welcome back to my blog where I share my thoughts and ideas and occasionally get to know some amazing individuals through these fun interviews.

If you were looking for some great entertainment and a new blog to follow, then you’ve definitely come to the right place.

Today’s guest is a self-love advocate and artist, Erika Mané, who created the brand LOVESYAFACE.

Her blog is all about lifestyle, beauty and mindfulness and is a space to inspire you towards self-love.

Who doesn’t love a self-love advocate? I know I do.

Let’s give her a warm welcome…

What are you hoping to achieve with your blog – LOVESYAFACE?

At the moment my goal is to help women and non-binary people to advocate for themselves first and to be more confident about themselves.

What I write about in my blog has very much got to do with taking the steps to take care of yourself first before you take care of other people. I’m hoping to inspire those who are fed up with being taken advantage of, getting their boundaries crossed, or just you know, are giving so much of themselves to others and not getting anything in return.

I believe in selflessness of course, but there is a healthy way to be selfless, which includes recharging yourself, and not always being an energy ball for everyone else to drain.

What inspired your blog title?

I picked up this name from somewhere on Facebook, over 10 years ago! I think LOVESYAFACE was somebody’s middle name and I thought, ‘This is a really cool name’, it then became my social media handle from that point on.

I actually have a background in makeup artistry. If you go on my Instagram, you’ll actually still find my old makeup looks and videos. LOVESYAFACE just blends very well with my personality and my love for beauty and aesthetics.

I’ve always been the person who lifts others up and always tries to push my loved ones to greatness, so the ‘ya’ in the name reflects that.

LOVESYAFACE isn’t just about improving your physical appearance to feel more confident but also living and breathing a lifestyle that suits people to do their absolute best for themselves. And to encourage self-love in whichever way people choose to do so.

Is blogging just your hobby?

I’m not sure if the word ‘hobby’ describes what blogging feels like to me. I think it’s because I’m not just writing about my own life experiences and putting them out there. I’m also doing extensive research on topics and putting them in a concise manner so that I can reach more people, especially black women and non-binary people.

So I feel like calling blogging a hobby constrains it a little bit. Maybe one day it will be like a magazine or something, or somewhere where I’ll promote the book I’m writing at the moment.

Let’s just see how it goes.

Describe how you got into blogging?

It started out as something where I just was just like, ‘I wanna fight for my voice to be heard. And I’ve always been into astrology and mindfulness blogs, so it seemed like something I could give a try. Now here I am.

How did the lockdown affect you personally and how did you keep yourself busy?

So the lockdown pretty much just like with everyone else, has been very intense for me. I actually became unemployed, so I had a lot of time on my hands.

The only way I could keep myself busy is honestly through learning. I hate the idea of being left behind due to unwillingness to learn. So I’ve been learning how to code and learning about AR technologies.

I’ve also been diving more into spirituality and trying to be consistent with yoga.

But now blogging takes the majority of my time, and I enjoy it way more than I expected.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Honestly, I write about things that I ponder about a lot.

I believe there are people out there that ask the internet the same questions that I do.

Also like I’ll be scrolling on Instagram or something, and you know there is usually someone ranting about relationships, friendships, and family. So I get thinking and asking people I know, about what their opinions are and that inspires my topics.

Or even with new products that brands come out with, I get excited about trying them and letting others know what I think of them.

I draw inspiration from everywhere, basically. I think what helps me stay inspired is being willed and open to wanting to share what I know, and also expand on what I already know.

What’s your biggest challenge when it comes to blogging so far and how are you going about overcoming it?

At the moment, the most challenging thing about blogging is definitely consistency and not losing patience with myself. Sometimes I set myself unrealistic expectations about the amount of content I can produce in a given time. Then I become disappointed.

Life happens and can get in the way of plans.

So being realistic with my goals has been quite difficult. I’m a dreamer.

But what has really been helping me is honestly just talking to other bloggers on Twitter, and learning from them.

My goal at the moment is to be nicer to myself and to allow myself to be flexible so that I can produce good quality content. This is challenging, especially when passion is involved, but it is okay. We move forward.

Which resources and tools are you using to help grow your blog?

So I’m definitely using Twitter to connect with other bloggers that are not limited to my niche. It also helps me be ‘in the know’ of the blogging industry. But I mostly use it to promote my blog posts.

Also, Instagram sometimes, because you really get to see what products are all the rave at the moment, so that I can always write what people are interested in. Pinterest has been ‘meh’. I’m still unsure of how to make it work for me, but it seems promising.

Which one of your posts is a “must-read”?

I think the one that everyone should read is definitely, ‘six ways to comfort yourself now when you feel empty.

This post is meant to encourage respect, and honouring our current state of mind and how our body feels.

With everything that is currently happening around the world, I highly recommend this one for those of us who feel guilty when we are not performing in accordance with what society expects of us.

Lastly, why should we subscribe to your blog?

I write about things that not many people feel comfortable talking about, in my opinion. I get into the nitty-gritty of issues of relationships, friendships, and our place in society. And there is so much more content that I am excited to create in regards to this and being mindful. I’m excited about how my blog will grow this year.

Also if you are a beauty product junkie like me, then LOVESYAFACE is for you.

Overall if you want your version of self-care to include mind, body, and soul then you should join the LOVESYAFACE list.

What an awesome interview!

I hope you guys have enjoyed it as much as I have. A huge thank you to LOVESYAFACE’s Erika for being such a lovely guest.

Go on and subscribe to LOVESYAFACE to enjoy some dope content from this buzzing blogger. Follow the vibrant Erika on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Thanks for joining us here today and I hope you’ve had a blast reading this blog post and if you want more – click here!

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Until next time…