Top 5 Fashion Bloggers in San Diego You Must Follow Now

You Voted: Here are Your Favorite Fashion Bloggers in San Diego

Written By: Hannah Wojtowicz  Fashion Bloggers in San Diego

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a digital influencer? I chatted with a few of San Diego’s top fashion bloggers to find out a little more about who they are, how they get inspired and what their advice would be to those who want to start blogging! Check out what these ladies had to say below!

 

Vanessa Balli

Fun Fact: “I don’t think anyone would expect this from me, but I joined the wrestling team when I was in high school. I was so bad I quit after my first match,” Balli laughs. “Imagine a limp noodle being tossed around a mat. Yeah, that was me!”

Q: What made you want to start your blog?

Vanessa Balli: Four years ago I remember being at work and just thinking, where am I going? I actually called my boyfriend and cried on the phone. Life was becoming repetitive. My [husband] and I were doing long distance at the time and I needed something to occupy my time and help me move forward as a person. I needed a creative outlet to share my passion and I got asked daily where I got a specific item of clothing, or my friends would ask for help putting outfits together so I thought I’d start a blog and share it with my friends and family. Little did I know other people would actually read it as well! I called my blog ‘Outfit Of The Day’ because I would send my [husband] an [OOTD] picture every day.

Q: How does it feel to be voted as one of the top bloggers in San Diego?

VB: I’m so happy and grateful to be included as San Diego’s Favorite Style Blogger. It’s such a wonderful feeling to be recognized for doing something you love. Seeing your hard work pay off and to be able to share that with the world is pretty cool! Thank you so much to everyone who took the time out to support me and vote for San Diego’s Favorite Style Blogger. What a great feeling to have so much love and encouragement from family, friends and followers!

Q: What makes the San Diego fashion community unique?

VB: San Diego has such a large community of fashion bloggers and I think we are unique in that we are always trying to get together to support one another. There is so much competition in this market that it’s nice to find girls who are encouraging and supportive. I believe in surrounding yourself with people who will encourage you and push you to be a better person.

Q: Sum up your style in five words.

VB: I’m the girl next door!

Q: Do you have any advice for new fashion bloggers?

VB: I love talking to new bloggers and sharing my experiences, hits and misses. [laughs] The best advice I can share is to be yourself, be consistent and tell a story!

Kali Passiglia, In Spades

Fun Fact: “My best celebrity encounter was seeing Bill Cunningham at New York Fashion Week. Witnessing a master in his element left me speechless.”

Q: How was your blog “In Spades” born? What inspires you?

Kali Passiglia: I started reading fashion blogs back in 2009 and was fascinated by the ‘real world’ conversations women were having about personal style. I really wanted to throw my hat into the ring and join the conversation. I finally did so in late 2013 by launching In Spades.

I think every person has one artistic medium that they respond most strongly to—mine has always been fashion. The way it transforms a person and can inspire different emotions proves it’s so much more than mere necessity. Everyone deserves to feel amazing; I love helping people realize that through personal style, those positive feelings can be achieved.

Q: When you can’t think of anything to wear, what’s your go-to outfit?

KP: It goes one of two ways. I’ll either cloak myself in as much fabric as possible—think Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen—dark colors, voluminous silhouettes and multiple textures, or go with sturdy denim, a leather jacket, statement shoes and at least one cocktail ring.

Q: How does it feel to be voted as one of the top bloggers in San Diego?

KP: It’s incredibly flattering. I’m among fantastic company. Anytime you are recognized for something you put your heart and creativity into, it’s an honor. A big thank you to everyone who supported me and to LOCALE for hosting.

Q: If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self?

KP: For anyone pursuing a creative passion, there is always a gap between what you conceive in your head versus what you actually produce. I would tell my younger self that this gap is natural, not to get too frustrated by it because it gets easier and that in the blogging world, getting your ideas out there sooner and not totally perfect is much better than later and absolutely perfect.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in running a fashion blog?

KP: By far and away, juggling it with a corporate career, time with family and friends and my other creative pursuits. There is so much content I’d like to get out there on a daily basis, but I’m not there yet. In any industry you have the one percenters—the people lucky enough to pursue only their passion and get paid for it—but the reality is most of us are balancing a day job, family and a blog. It’s good to face these challenges because that’s how you grow and move closer to your goals. My goal is to produce high quality content on a daily basis.

Jennifer Grech, Sprinkles on Sunday

Fun Fact: According to her blog, Jen says, “Some of my favorite things include the color pink, champagne, sparkles, Italian food, and traveling.”

Q: How does it feel to be voted as one of the top bloggers in San Diego?

Jennifer Grech: I am honored and flattered to be voted one of the top bloggers in beautiful San Diego! A year and a half ago, I moved here from San Francisco, excited and anxious to see my blog evolve. I am so lucky that returning to my Southern California roots allowed myself and my blog to reach a new level. I am so thankful to have support from my followers as I share my passion with them on Sprinkles on Sunday!

Q: What is the story behind Sprinkles on Sunday?

JG: I started Sprinkles on a Sunday in 2014 as a way to document things that inspire me. The feedback that I got from friends and family when I shared my love for fashion, travel and home decor, inspired me even more and made me feel like I had a mission to share my tips and tricks with others. Sprinkles on Sunday signifies some of my favorite things—the color pink, champagne and, of course, sprinkles! Also, Sunday is the best day of the week because it’s when I get organized and pick out all my outfits for the upcoming week. Starting the week in an awesome outfit makes Monday, (no one’s favorite day of the week) much more fun!

Q: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

JG: The best piece of advice I have received is to just be me! It’s easy to get caught up in what other people might think, especially with social media. I try not to compare myself to others in a negative way and work hard to bring people up and hope they do the same for me. I’ve learned that if I focus on what I love, everything just seems to magically fall into place.

Q: Who was your first style icon?

JG: My favorite style icon at the moment is Olivia Palermo. She has a classic, feminine style like Audrey Hepburn (my first and longest lasting style crush), but mixes trends into her simplicity so flawlessly. If only someone could snag me a key to her closet!

Cynthia Kuehn, The Siren Confidential

Fun Fact: Cynthia defines Siren as, “a woman who is considered to be alluring or fascinating, but also dangerous in some way.”

Q: What’s one of the most common misconceptions about running a fashion blog?

Cynthia Kuehn: Oh gosh… That I am glamourous all the time! I can be more frequently seen running around in my yoga pants between work and on the weekends! My blog forces me to stay on top of the fashion trends though, so it’s been a lot of fun so far!

Q: What inspires you to share your fashion with San Diego?

CK: All of my readers’ feedback is always so inspiring, I have met so many cool people only doing this a short time and hope to turn this into a platform I can leverage to give back to my local community. I’m passionate about animals and giving back to the less fortunate.

Q: What is your advice for new fashion bloggers?

CK: Just start. You can overthink starting and get hung up on minutia. I think the most important thing is to just start and go from there. Focus on doing one small piece a day.

Q: How do you feel to be voted as one of the top bloggers in San Diego?

CK: It was absolutely amazing to be voted for amongst ladies like Annie Lawless and Lauryn Evarts. Those girls are true #girlbosses. Thanks to all who voted!

Q: What’s the one wardrobe essential you can’t live without?

CK: A white t-shirt, jeans (my go tos!) and of course… My yoga pants. I’m pretty simplistic.

 

Paulina Mo, Little Bits of Chic

Fun Fact: “I was supposed to study in Italy in my senior year of college, even went so far to receive an acceptance letter from an Italian university and paid my first month’s rent when I had to make a decision between studying abroad or keeping my job (that eventually became my career). I chose my job, but the ‘what if’ was erased when I met my husband here in the US, so no regrets!”

Q: Who are your favorite style inspirations?

Paulina Mo: My all-time style inspirations are Jackie O’ and Audrey Hepburn because of their timeless and effortlessly chic style. My current style inspirations are Olivia Palermo, Jennifer Lopez and fellow fashion bloggers’ street style.

Q: How does it feel to be voted as one of the top bloggers in San Diego?

PM: It was a great feeling to have received such amazing support from family, friends, readers and even strangers who voted on a daily basis and expressed that they loved my blog. Since my blog is a one-woman show (from styling to the photography to the web design, etc.) this experience has been gratifying, reassuring and has served as motivation to keep making it better. I also am a firm believer that there are a lot of top bloggers in San Diego and I’m so lucky to call most of them my friends. When I started San Diego Style Bloggers in 2012, I would always get the jitters before hosting meetups, but once I met fellow bloggers and saw that we all shared the same love for blogging, I developed great friendships and it started becoming a growing, beautiful supportive community. I share this honor with all of them!

Q: Tell us about your blog.

PM: My blog lilbitsofchic.com is primarily about fashion with bits of beauty, lifestyle, wedding and my hometown of San Diego—hence the name ‘lil bits of chic.’ I share affordable outfit ideas, trend reports, beauty reviews, brands that I love and anything I think could be helpful to my readers. Some of my outfits have landed on the pages of People Stylewatch, Lucky Magazine, Redbook and most recently Latina Magazine. All of my posts have an end-goal of making my readers feel good and inspired and I always have them top of mind when putting content together.

Q: What’s the biggest difference in your life post-blogging?

PM: Before starting a blog, I had graduated from UCSD, embarked in the career I had worked so hard for and then hit a rut. As a financial analyst, I work with numbers all day so I felt a huge creative void in my life to the point that I felt unfulfilled. Oddly enough, I started my blog as a platform to share my paintings, and then my passion for fashion started trickling in. Within a month, I realized that the void I had carried was not there anymore because I was so passionate about all of the aspects of blogging—photography, fashion, writing and even the entrepreneurial side of blogging. I still am a full time career woman, however when I get home I love to exercise my creative juices on the blog! I haven’t felt that creative void since!

Stay Stylish, San Diego. Here are Your Fave Fashion Bloggers

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