(sxswi) chicks, man

the first speaker that caught my eye was casey lewis of teenfashionista.com, who participated in sxswi in 2006 at the around age 18. she writes a blog that discusses all things fashion, from what's new in trends and styles, to commentary on designers and new lines, to her own personal fashion choices (complete with photos of her daily wardrobe). casey is a journalism student at the university of missouri, and is originally from a town of about 3,000 people. she began blogging at the age of 13, as an outlet to communicate from her "fashion-deprived" hometown. since creating teenfashionista.com, she has interned for teen vogue, and worked as an assistant editor for ypulse and editor for about.com's prom site. this speaker was interesting to me because it shows the power and opportunity of social media for everyone. a 13-year-old girl from a small midwest town has turned an interest in fashion into a successful blog, the chance to work for respected magazines and popular websites, and a coveted spot as a speaker at sxswi. not a bad life so far for a 22-year-old missouri college student.

the second speaker i researched was marcy hoen, founder of austinartstart.com. she spoke at sxswi in 2008 and 2009. the website features contemporary artists who live and work in austin and sell their art both nationally and internationally. along with running the website, she has worked as a platform artist, principle wig stylist for empty space theatre, assistant to the wig master at fifth avenue theater in seattle, and network educator for bumble and bumble (which might i add is only the best hair product line ever in the entire world. i swear by it). she currently works as a stylist at salon sovay in austin. hoen and austinartstart.com recently teamed with fusebox festival for an event that featured art, architecture and video. below is a graphic from the event.


i may seem like a feminist because i chose two women to highlight for this assignment...but it just worked out that way :) i searched the list for fashion and art, and voila! it was also neat that one of the topics i was interested in ended up coming out of austin.

it's too bad i am graduating in december. i desperately want to participate in sxtxste. maybe i'll just take cindy's class in the spring anyway...

on another note, my next website is going to highlight my travel to europe through the college where i received my bachelor's degree. it is a website for the international field study program in journalism through the mass comm department of texas a&m university - texarkana. i will have content about the history of the program, its founders, info on upcoming trips, contact info (how to apply, etc.), pictures, and pdf files of research papers written for the program.