When it comes to kicking ass and taking names, its female bloggers who have it nailed. We excel at building online platforms that bloom into communities that help us to be better: sassier, more focused, kinder, healthier. From fashion to attitude, self-marketing to self-love, here are my top 9 lady blogs that I think you should be reading, but probably aren't, yet.
Spoiler: these will change your life.
Nicole Antoinette has essentially grown up on the Internet. From an old-school wordpress blog chronicling her wild and drunken NYU antics, to her More is Better website that saw her, over the period of several years, set up a boutique design agency with a best friend she met through Twitter and backpack the United States to visit her readers, to her current full-time business Life Less Bullshit.
Nicole focuses on helping us all the build life we want over the life everybody else tells us we should have. She hands out weekly personal accounts of her own journey, as well as free resources, monthly emails, and some tip-top courses on everything from embracing your obsession to giving up sugar.
We could all do with less bullshit in our lives - and Nicole's website is where it starts.
Megan Gilger is North Carolina-based designer knows how to dream big, and isn't afraid to share it. The old adage "You have to be brave with your life so that other people can be brave with theirs" was probably said with her imagination in mind. Megan documents her journey - her innermost thoughts, feelings and musings - as she grows her design business with husband Mike. She is truth seeking personified, and the Internet is all the better for her thoughtful contributions and killer style. Want to know how to curate your own Pinterest-worthy life? Megan is the ultimate example.
Emma Gannon knows her digital, and chronicles the new media world in blogs that are guaranteed to put a different spin on what you thought you knew about the Internet. Whether she's dumping Facebook on Valentine's Day, admonishing that your ego is not your amigo, babes, or calling shenannigans on the people who think they know how to tell you How To Be Happy, Gannon should be on every Feed.ly favourites list as a reference point on what it is to be at the forefront of the digital game.
Meg Fee broke the web's heart this month when she declared a blogging sabbatical - her deliberate, considered words on how to drink lattes (full-fat and without restraint), loving graciously, and ever-so-slowly sussing out a life, are like medicine for the modern malady of Figuring It Out. Generous, kind, and understanding, Meg serves up slivers of well crafted words in posts that reassure you on a plethora of little things and Big Things that you maybe weren't smart enough to articulate yourself. Her images will make the soul swell, too. A blessing.
Creative, innovative, in-love-with-life: Bri Emery has carved out an online space so playful and colourful that inspiration is imminent. A lifestyle blog with "an eye for design in style, DIY, food, travel, entertaining and more," Bri's styled posts are particularly brilliant, with a curious child-like magic that makes you look at your own everyday with a little bit of "Bri".
Ash Ambrige is a marketing BOSS. Whether you're running your own empire or just trying to navigate owning yourself, The Middle Finger Project prides itself on uniting those who us "tired of being told the same old generic advice to 'differentiate yourself'". Her blogs are witty, insightful, and a slap around the face of "The Norm". Don't underestimate the courage it can take to be yourself - and don't underestimate what help TMP can be in helping you (and your business) in asserting it. Pro tip? Sign up for the newsletter. A welcome karate kick to your inbox.
Heartfelt, abstract musings on being kind, female friendship, on finding the extraordinary in the ordinary: Chelsea Latimer is your sassy yogi, Mother Earth, bumping and grinding fairy Godmother. Think hippy love served with cocktails and false eyelashes, and you're almost there. Special.
Megan Gilbride epitomises what it is to find - and build on - a world wide web community. She is obsessed with fashion and beauty, giving honest run-downs on her fave products, procedures and outfits with a down to earth and humble attitude that means you wanna be her friend. Plus, she has really great hair. Like, amazing. All the lovely.
This "Go-To Guide For Kicking Life in the Nards" is two parts internal soccer coach strategy, one part whisky - both of which are straight up. Jessica Manuszak is a rebel with a cause, and with a heavy use of the caps locks key and a lot of metaphors involving cheese, is committed to witty blog posts designed to help you carpe the motherlovin' diem out of your life - with time for happy hour left over.