I’m Ashley Michèlle, and I am a Lifestyle and Fashion Blogger.

I began my first real blog in 2011, with the intent to spare my friends and family from hearing hours of rambling. At the time, I had no idea what a lifestyle (nor a fashion blogger, for that matter) was, and my main focus was on my obsession with high end beauty products.

I started out with little more than the camera on my Android phone, and some very basic photo editing via Adobe Photoshop. Building up a blog following was a long and slow process, but I didn’t have any expectations at the time, and I found the process of collecting my thoughts and presenting them in a format that other people could read and learn from to be extremely therapeutic.

Meanwhile, around 2012 I created my Instagram (@ohmybonbon) and began shifting my focus to ‘Lifestyle’ blogging. I loved how much more engaging the audience on Instagram was, and it was much easier for me to connect with my targeted audience, with use of the almighty hashtags.

In 2015, I made the biggest upgrade to date, and purchased a real camera for the job—a Canon 5D Mark III—and never looked back.

The right tools have made all the difference, in my case. There is more pressure now than ever in the blogging sphere, as camera phone pictures don’t quite cut it with the growing rise of celebrity-status bloggers with their photographer boyfriends and husbands are on the rise, and having carefully thought out photos is ultimately what counts.

I get asked a lot if I am worried about people seeing my social media, and how that has affected my day-to-day life. In truth, I find social media and blogging to be a very empowering creative outlet. Like most people who have struggled and continue to struggle with insecurities, it has helped push me outside of my comfort zone, and collaborating with various companies has challenged me in how I create concepts for my photos. In day-to-day situations, I have never personally experienced any negativity. For the most part, I’m anonymous in the city where I live, and honestly I prefer it that way. It’s easier to be creative when you’re not concerned with what your everyday peers are going to think when they see you out and about.

I think it’s important to be tasteful, but not to limit creative expression. 

At the end of the day, creative expression is what we are here to strive for, to create various forms of art to be enjoyed and appreciated by others, and to take pleasure in our day-to-day work.

It’s been surreal to me that this is what I get to call ‘work', as it has been the culmination of everything that I love, from travel, fashion, interior design, art, modeling, visual design, writing, and photography. But, with that said, this can also be a very fleeting path, because if you’re not already very well established, you can become irrelevant in an instant.

Anyone who is looking to getting into blogging or becoming an ‘influencer’ on social media, my only advice would be to make sure it’s something you’re passionate about, because that’s ultimately what will come through in the end.

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Photography and Article by Ashley Michèlle

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