Last night, matchmaker and entrepreneur, Paul Carrick Brunson, featured Natasha Eubanks, creator of the celebrity gossip blog theYBF, on his Mentor Monday Spreecast. Natasha shared lots of valuable information about building a blogging empire and excelling in entrepreneurship in general. It was her story about how she became a blogger that resonated with me. Her story about the ‘birth’ of theYBF caused me to sit back and think about my motivation for blogging. It was interesting to find that I blog for several of the same reasons that Natasha created theYBF.
Natasha Eubanks created her blog, theYBF, during a break from law school. She found that there were no gossip sites and very few media outlets overall that talked about black celebrities. To fill that void, she decided to launch a site dedicated to the lives of black celebrities. TheYBF was created at a time when blogging was more of a hobby than a business endeavor. As the popularity of TheYBF increased, businesses began to approach Natasha with offers for advertising. She sought the counsel of her law professors in negotiating contracts with these companies. Over the past ten years, theYBF has grown into a million dollar business. All of this is the result of Natasha Eubanks deciding to create what she felt was missing in media.
The main reason for starting Truly Charmed is that it has given me the opportunity to focus on my greatest passions: writing and encouraging women to live their dreams. I have always wanted to use my gift to help others. I know for certain that writing is my gift. It’s what I do as easily as breathing. Here are a few other reasons why I blog:
- Like Natasha, I blog to fill a void. Though blogging allows me to reach out to people all over the world, I felt that my story needed to be shared with my community. There weren’t many examples of people being transparent about their experiences in life and being willing to share their stories with others. Truly Charmed allows me to share my trials and triumphs with other women who may be going through similar experiences. My hope is that readers will realize that they are worthy of living their dreams, their charmed lives.
- Blogging is my sounding board. The great difference between blogging and writing for a media outlet is that my blog is my own point of view. This is my space to be as transparent and as creative as I want to be.
- I believe that I have a duty to use my voice to uplift others. As women, we have many of the same experiences, but we don’t talk about them enough. There is healing in sharing our stories. Truly Charmed is a platform for sharing our stories. It’s where we can come together, begin the healing process, and move on to experience all that’s in store for us beyond the scars and fear.
Truly Charmed will be a year old on November 22nd and I am so proud of all of the support and encouragement that I have received over this past year. It’s heartwarming to hear how my posts have inspired others. I look forward to many more years of encouraging women to claim their Charmed Lives. I pay homage to successful bloggers, such as Natasha Eubanks, who have helped the blogging industry to grow in the manner that it has over the past decade.
Here’s to our Charmed Lives!
Antoinette
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