Behind the Scenes at Awesomeness TV with Emily Hecht

My look for the conference! 

Saturday August 11, the Simply LA conference took place at the Americana at brand mall in Glendale, The digital marketing focused conference was filled with experts from the fashion and beauty industries. I got an exclusive interview with Emily Hecht the Head of Fashion and Beauty programming atAwesomeness TV. Before going onto her panel she shared some insight into the current trends in the industry as well as what it's really like to work at the digital media brand geared towards Gen Z!

First we talked about what it was like working with influencers since she interacts with them a lot in her job. She shared some of her top tips for influencers and how to keep content fresh and popular!

She recommended, "Always be organic and true to yourself. I think the reliability factor that influencers bring is so important especially now I just think that really being real with your audience and staying true to who you are is so valuable."

This was a theme echoed throughout the Simply conference and is such an important message for content creators!

Next we talked about what it looks like to take your influencer brand to the next level from her perspective working in the media and reporting on new brands and product laucnhes. For influencers who want to start their own brands or launch products Emily says it's important to be relateable to your audience.
She told me, "It's really the relatability factor of your brand and really building your brand based off of your vibe and your aesthetic, and building everything around who you really are so you can keep up. Because if you have a fake persona its harder for you to keep posting and keep being that person. Really just relating to yourself and hoping that your audience is going to appreciate that is the best way to build a brand."
Finally we talked about what's next for this growing space and Emily shared some of the top trends she's been seeing in her work in the entertainment world right now saying, "Raw content, like the more raw the better. It's really crazy. We see that a lot like on insta-stories. Like its this part of their life that we're not really seeing on their Insta feed because that's a lot more polished. And then on YouTube we see a lot of vlog content which is also not very polished just kind of like a day in the life type thing. I think that's just again, so relateable that people wanna watch that. Teenagers see themselves in that influencer or feel like that person is their best friend which is so cool."
Speaking of Insta stories you can find my Simply experience in my highlights section on Instagram @cerisesdumatin. Plus check out more of my Simply coverage on the blog as well as my article over at Hollywood Glam magazine!

How Your Favorite Bachelor Stars Turned Their Fame into a Business

Lauren Bushnell of season 20 and Becca Tilley of season 19 speak at Simply LA about what they’ve been up to since The Bachelor! Going on the Bachelor can have many different outcomes besides a dream wedding and giant diamond ring nowadays. Even if you don’t end up getting chosen for Happily Ever After, or in Lauren Bushnell’s case the fairytale ends before you make it down the aisle you can still create your own life fit for a queen. Taking advantage of being in the spotlight isn’t as easy as it looks but these women managed to turn one season on reality TV into business empires. Lauren Bushnell, co-founder of Dear Rose wines spoke about her life since the bachelor saying, “I just with experience learned what I like what I don’t like and just also like growing up too. I gained my platform from going on the bachelor the TV show and I was 25 years old and now I’m 28 so I think that naturally with time too I’ve matured and grown I’ve been through situations and I’ve learned and I’ve lived…Now I’m a little bit more sure of who I am and a little bit more sure of what I like what I don’t like and that goes for all things. Whether its work business personal life clothing fashion all those things I think it just kind of evolved with me.” Becca Tilley another Bachelor contestant turned media maven also shared how her experience on the show has influenced her career now. She said, “Digital marketing is my life, my job…it’s fun to talk about it from my perspective of having been on the bachelor and it transforming into this…I was just kind of floating around like I have all these followers on Instagram but what do I do with that you know?”

Becca was speaking on a panel later in the day about being an expert influencer and what it all means. Before going onto the panel She said, “It’s just something that I think a lot of people have questions about as it becomes more normal for this to be a career. I have questions all the time like how is this a job? how are you living? How are you making money? So I think it’s just something people are super curious about.” Becca’s career is all about her lifestyle and sharing her favorite brands, inspirations, and travels with her audience online. She is constantly coming up with new ways to be innovative on social media making her an expert on the latest trends.

Lauren is more focused on the business side of things and she said, “My focus today is about launching a product. Being an influencer but then launching a product and not just putting your name behind it but actually like launching. I’ve been a part of every step of launching this business and so my biggest tip is that you have to be passionate about it because you’re going to be working on this every day into late hours and on the weekend so you have to be passionate about what you’re doing and that will translate. So for me using my social media platform I think there’s a difference between promoting a product that you love or a sponsorship that you love versus something that you have ownership over. I think people can tell the difference so if you can share that passion about your brand your product I think it will translate. Obviously not shoving it down people’s throats but just being open and honest about the process” When asked what their biggest business tips were, both Becca and Lauren said that networking was a huge part of building their brand and such an important piece of the process. Lauren said, “Networking! Always be asking questions! I think this is such a great event because last night we did a dinner for the panelists and I learned so much from the men and women here and a lot of them have their own businesses. Just like picking their brains and learning what works and what doesn’t work.” Becca said, “The biggest thing I did was I got my manager Ally. She has a PR company and she’s speaking on the panel with me today. She just kind of helped me figure out my lane and the direction I wanted to go with this. So that was the biggest thing because she helped guide me and sat me down and helped me figure out what I wanted to do…I have just been really lucky to be around people to help me and inspire me and really drive me. Everyone has their own unique take on this (digital marketing) and its really cool. I go on these trips with these influencers and the way that they blog or do pictures or get their content up everything is different so its really fun to be a part of it and learn from them.” On her panel Lauren talked about how much she’s learned about the wine industry since starting her business saying, “Rose is something that you really want to have right away it’s not like other wines where you want to let it age too much so it’s always a process figuring out shipping and ordering ahead of time.” She also talked about how her own life experiences have helped her with her new business saying, “Living a public life, and having a public relationship and then going through a very public break-up has really helped me to grow I think.” Both of these girl boss influencers decided to take charge and turn their Bachelor days into their dream jobs regardless of whether or not they walked away with a ring. These inspiring women have are making waves in the industry and giving us all kinds of motivation. Becca said, “There’s so

many people around doing this and there’s so much room for everyone even though
it seems like a lot of people are doing it.“ So who knows what the latest season of bachelor stars will

be up to once they’re off the show!