What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word Blogger? Branding? Style? Beauty? Fashion? Well, Ashlie is all of these things. She is well recognized within the blogger community for her carefree attitude and maintaining a recognizable branding aesthetic. Ashlie is originally from a small town in Western PA where there was a lack of opportunity and growth, therefore it only made sense that moving to a city was the next step. Originally, Ashlie wanted to get into Broadcast Journalism, but found her niche in Public Relations. After receiving her Bachelor’s Degree, Ashlie was still very interested in beauty and skincare. She decided to go to beauty school, which then opened up many doors for her as a blogger.
I first asked Ashlie what initially interested her in starting a blog. She responded by saying, “I have always been interested in beauty, skincare and fashion. I already had a decent following, but I wanted to wait until I had credibility to start my first blog. Beauty school gave me that credibility and knowledge about beauty and skincare that would allow me to recommend different products while having those credentials to back me up. I wanted to wait until about 5,000 Instagram followers to launch my blog, but I grew impatient and ended up launching my blog at only 3,500 followers." Her blog posts are easily accessible through her Instagram page, which is one of the reasons she enjoys Instagram so much. It is easy to connect and inspire followers on this particular social media platform.
Ashlie shared with me that when Instagram first launched she was not a fan. She actually refused to download the app. Now looking back it seems crazy to her that she even thought that. Her knowledge on the algorithm of Instagram is amazing. Just chatting with her briefly about how she prepares for a daily post gave me so much more insight as to what I need to be doing to reach more people on that platform. Although Ashlie is building a brand for herself, she is always there to lend a helping hand to seasoned and inexperienced bloggers. She recently had a workshop for new bloggers, where she gave them tips and knowledge about starting and running a successful blog. The blogging community is an important component to her, but she never loses sight of the fact that blogging is always a competition.
Not only is Ashlie successfully running her own blog, but she and a few other Pittsburgh bloggers decided to come together and create “The Pittsburgh Blogger Babes”. Each month The Pittsburgh Blogger Babes come together and host an event that allows bloggers, models, photographers, make up artists, and more to connect and create new and exciting content. Ashlie described it as a great way to connect with other artists and bloggers in the city. She said she made some of her best friends from this workshop. She encourages anyone out there in the community looking to spruce up their content and connect with others in the industry, to check out the Pittsburgh Blogger Babes Instagram (@pghbloggerbabes) for more details on events, workshops, and meet ups.
I asked Ashlie where she finds her inspiration as far as blog posts and style go. She expressed to me that a majority of her inspiration is from Hollywood style icons and Pinterest. Her style queens are Hailey Baldwin, Halsey, Kendall Jenner, and Gigi Hadid. She likes to refer to her style as an “off duty supermodel.” Ashlie is into the very relaxed glam. Her style definitely reflects those she is inspired by, and I think she could easily be a member of that squad. As far as being inspired on a blogging level, Ashlie is more influenced and inspired from her close friends. Just talking with them about their ideas and what they are working on helps her to step up her game and create branding opportunities and blogging material for herself.
Ashlie discussed with me some of her goals and plans for the future. One of her goals is to continue to grow her blog and brand. She would love to get back into skincare and beauty a bit more. Another thing she is looking to do in the future is to help Pittsburgh sign onto Social Media. There is a void when it comes to big businesses signing onto the use of social media. It is a great way to reach multitudes of people and expand business. She hopes that her and other local bloggers will get big businesses to see how important social media branding is. That is the direction the world is moving in, and those large companies are beginning to miss out. Ashlie mentioned to me how on-board small businesses have been with lending out products and really trying to build up their businesses with the use of social media and having brand ambassadors. She hopes that these big businesses will take notes from these smaller local businesses, which will then create more jobs, and also more business for them.
Ashlie Hipp is a force to be reckoned with. She has not only created so much opportunity for herself, but also those around her. Her blog is very informational and entertaining.
Check out her Instagram for more fashion, beauty, and lifestyle tips (@ashliehipp). Also, be sure to click the link in her bio to her blog.
The photographer for her photos is: Amy Hvostal