Alice Spake had been popping up on our Instagram feed for a while now, so we were mega excited to meet her in person at one of our networking events recently, luckily she's just as lovely in real life as she is in virtual life...phew!
Alice masters the Jill-of-All-Trades flawlessly; juggling a hectic home-life, lots of downtime with her equally glam friends, running a hugely popular blogging network and of course, her own successful blog and writing freelance. I mean...someone give that girl a spa weekend!
Oh hi Alice! So, for those who have been living under a rock and don’t know who you are, tell us a bit about yourself:
Hi! My name is Alice and I'm a full time blogger at Aliceanne.co.uk and a freelance writer; I also run a blogging network in Southampton called Southampton Bloggers. Southampton Bloggers started in May 2014 and connects bloggers across the south coast with other bloggers and brands. I'm from Southampton but grew up in Spain and moved back to the UK eight years ago where I started in pharmaceuticals. I left my job in pharmacy to take my blog full time while working in social media and marketing before having my son with my fiancé and I now blog and run Southampton Bloggers full time.
We love Southampton Bloggers! What inspired you to blog?
I've always enjoyed writing, I used to write silly news articles as a child and pretend I was a journalist before going on to short stories. In recent years I'd always relied on blogs to discover the latest makeup looks and trends (Aliceanne.co.uk started as beauty blog called Annie Writes Beauty) and so I thought, “I can do this” and the rest is history.
It sounds like you have A LOT going on, how do you manage your time between home-life, blogging and running Southampton Bloggers?
Serious organisation; lists and spreadsheets. I dedicate certain tasks to certain days each week or I'd be pulling my hair out! Family time comes first always and then the rest slots in. I'd always previously worked full time while blogging and running Southampton Bloggers so I'm a dab hand at it now.
Sounds like it’s all under control then. What have you learnt about yourself from blogging?
I'm incredibly driven, organised and apparently have a thirst to organise blogging and networking events. It has done wonders for my confidence over the years!
We can imagine. Blogging has really taken off; do you think there is space for new bloggers?
100%, it's a creative industry, each and every blogger can bring something different to the 'blogosphere' with their own ideas, experiences and life lessons. New, exciting and talented bloggers are breaking out every day and that's what I love about the job.
If you had a piece of advice to give to someone who was thinking of starting their own business, what would it be?
Research, research, research! From the name to the business idea, research as much as possible so you have a clear plan before you commit to anything and give it your all without falling at the first hurdle.
Who inspires you?
Lydia Millen, she's so incredibly driven, down to earth and relatable. Plus, she has a killer handbag collection.
Are there any decisions you've made in the last three years you wish you could change?
Not change, but there's some decisions I've learnt from such as collaborations that weren't great for me and I was taken advantage of, that I would've handled differently. Blogging is still such a relatively new career and there's no guidelines or rules so you're learning as you go.
That doesn’t sound good, but it’s great you’ve learnt not to allow that to happen again. That was the bad, but what’s the good? What has been the highlight of your professional life?
Oooo...there's a few! I was featured in Blogosphere Magazine two years ago discussing Southampton Bloggers and the events I organise and most recently I've taken part in my third beauty chat for Emma's Beautique for Capital South Coast. I've also worked with some of my favourite brands such as Clarins, Urban Decay, iCandy and Sophia Webster. I've had some incredible opportunities over the years that I'm very grateful for.
Urban Decay is a firm favourite here too! Last question, if you could have any super power, what would it be?
Um... probably stop time at the moment. I could definitely do with more of it now I'm a mum!
About Alice
You can follow Alice here:
Website: http://www.aliceanne.co.uk/
Instagram: @AliceSpake
Twitter: @Alice Spake
Southampton Bloggers:
Instagram: @SotonBloggers
Twitter: @SotonBloggers
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