What motivated you and inspired you to create your brand Brooklyn Mavens?

Lauren: We wanted to highlight different parts of Brooklyn that people may not know about and just highlight other entrepreneurs and local businesses.

People always have one idea of an area to visit but that’s just one idea so we’re trying to help people expand their horizons.

Do you feel like your brand is separate or cohesive with your personal brand?

Merlyn: I don’t think it’s too far away from our personal brand because we do live in Brooklyn and there are some stuff that we would do in the city. I think it’s because of the way people perceive bloggers as trying to be fake but we try to stay real, stay upbeat and hype.

Lauren: I don’t know I feel like I focus more on the blog brand then my personal brand and I guess my life is kind of on the blog. However, I agree with what Merlyn said.

Merlyn: It’s like we have more to give but that’s the main thing about having a brand. When you have a brand, you have to stay on brand and you can’t be too far fetched. Blogging is a part of our lives and we try to be personable and real. We do have our personal pages and other things that we do and it’s just a part of our life that we decide to share.

How do you manage your time?

Lauren: It’s definitely hard but you just try to hold yourself accountable. Merlyn is not my official accountability partner but with working together I try to make sure that I am doing as much as she might be doing. I don’t want to let her down. So, when I get home I try to work on some things and it’s all about time management which is easier said then done. Sometimes, I will be up a little later than I want to be but I just have to get things done.

I know what helps me is I have a book where I list out everything I need to do so I can keep track. It will be a list of blog stuff and personal stuff that I need to get done. However, you’ll have to get in the habit of updating the list and looking at the list everyday.

Merlyn: Time management is key and I feel like when things get a little hectic it’s all about making sure we are on the right page. We’ll also have a high priority list, try to stay organized and have really good communication. We’ll make a list and delegate so one person can focus one one thing while the other person works on another task.

Over time what do you think was the catalyst for your growth and when do you think everything started to click?

Lauren: I think quality content and collaboration are two major things. Also, being mindful of the types of posts that we are posting. A lot of people take well to quality pictures. We’ve also had a few collaborations with tastemakers which has definitely helped. Even collaborations with smaller brands definitely help as well. Also, just being personable. I think that the people who actually really like our brand like it because we show that we are real and authentic.

What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self or someone interested in starting their own brand?

Merlyn: I would say to my younger self to know the point of your brand. Some people just create brands just to do it but they don’t have a reason for starting. The main way that you can really make an impact on someone is if you know why you are doing it and sticking with your reason for starting. Everything is easier when you know that because you can build your content around that and collaborate around that as well. If you stick to that, you will have an idea of your end goal and your followers will understand your end goal.

Lauren: People always ask the question of why we started and if you can’t answer that question then you really don’t know why either. You are just doing it to do it. People are more inspired when you can explain why you do what you do with your brand.

Do you have any collaborations or projects coming up that you would like to highlight?

Lauren: We have one that hasn’t really been announced but we are collaborating with Hotel RL. We’ve had events for them but we are doing blog posts as well for them and that should be posted within the year.

Merlyn: We also have small collaborations with local businesses like Awoke Vintage where we are doing a winter to spring lookbook. We just did a collaboration for Valentine’s Day with The Underthing Shop.

We also have a collab coming up with FabLuxe which goes in hand with our fitness series. However, even though we work with other people we also just like to have our specific content that drives people to our page. Right now, we have our fitness series and then we also have Brooklyn Maven of the week that we do every week to keep the brand going and we make sure to have something new that drives people to our specific branded content.

How do you guys organize your content?

Merlyn: We are definitely trying to get more into it because before we used to just write about anything in Brooklyn. Now, we are trying to just stay attuned to what is going on like Black History Month in February and highlighting black-owned businesses in Brooklyn. As for content, we started a new thing where we’ll actually post the Brooklyn Maven of the week the same day as our time line and we get more views. If we have a collaboration and we have a due date then we make sure that we post on that specific day. We also make sure that we are always curating content and making sure we have content. We are always researching what’s coming up in Brooklyn and we try to always share that with our audience.

Where do you guys shop?

Merlyn: We love Rent The Runway for shoots. It helps us save money because we’re always shooting for content. How we organize shoots depends on what content we have going and sometimes we’ll try to feature neighborhoods that we haven’t featured on our page. We’ll look at the aesthetic and try to match it with our look. We will also work with what we have in our closet and build a look.

Lauren: I don’t always shop at thrift stores but Awoke Vintage has really nice things.

I want to thrift more but I don’t always have the time to shop. I think my go-to place more than Rent The Runway is ASOS.

Merlyn: There is also Indigo Style Vintage in Peace and Riot as well as Shop The Break. They have really interesting pieces.

Lauren: I’ve gone into L Train Vintage and a lot of people love their pieces. Brooklyn has a lot of vintage stores and a lot of boutique stores. It kind of gets a bit pricey to be honest and I like to stick within my budget but I think this year I want to buy more pieces that have more meaning instead of shopping at brands where everything is mass produced. It’s definitely one of my goals.

Comment down below if you relate with Merlyn and Lauren’s story!

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