Without having to think too much, I can easily say that this year was the best year of my life. There have been a lot of changes and a lot of more activity on Glam&Glitter than ever before, but besides anything else, it was the first year that I blogged on daily basis, with this being my 377th post, which means more than one post per day. I worked harder than ever to make sure Glam&Glitter is up to my standards and that I always put in a lot of creativity, energy, personality and thought into every post, while documenting my every day life, outfits, travels and projects that are now part of my life.
A lot of interesting things happened, and I am still happy that I was able to attend New York and London fashion weeks twice this year. It is something I always dreamed about and something that I would not believe was possible if you mentioned it last year this time. NYFW started the thought process in my head. That is when I realised how important blogging was to me and how much I enjoyed doing it, it was also my stepping stone into the world of fashion, as I made many contacts in bloggers, media and other industry members there. 2013 was a year of understanding. I understood (finally) that I wanted to be a full time fashion blogger, and decided to quit full time job as a pharmacist, in order to pursue my dreams. This was a huge risk as besides the fact that I love my profession, I also had to step into uncertainty not knowing what to expect from the blogging world. For all of you that are wondering I decided to keep few days a week in the pharmacy, just to stay in touch with that world too, and in order not to lose my knowledge.
As soon as I started putting more work into my posts, and had more time to do blogging, I started seeing results. In May my blog was nominated for the Best UK Fashion Blog and for The Best Personal Style Blog by Company Magazine, at the same time my outfits were featured by publications such as Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour, Look, Stylelist, Svet&Style, Huffington Post, Lepota i Zdravlje, Stillbook Magazine and many others…All of these achievements meant a lot to me and I was even more determined to increase the quality of content, posts, to make sure I reply to all the emails, comments and project proposals on time. I made a blogging schedule and editorial calendar that I started sticking to, which helped me out a lot. At this point I also started thinking about website improvements that I could carry out on Glam&Glitter.
In 2013 I was very lucky to travel to some breathtaking places, including New York, Barcelona, Cape Verde, Paris, Mallorca, to some of these multiple times. I spent most of my UK time in London as that is where all the events and blogging work was happening. In July I started working on my body care line, a project that was extremely hard to keep a secret, as I was very excited. It took me around 6 months to transform an idea to the product on the market and this was something that taught me a lot. I learned to be patient, to do my research, to listen more to your wishes and to always try and be the best possible version of myself. I am extremely happy with the result and with your interest. Some of you have already purchased several times, and I am entirely grateful for that. Besides all I am happy that you guys love it as much as I do!
Over 12 months of 2013 I worked with many brands, some of which are: Abercrombie&’Fitch, Marc Jacobs, Miss Selfridge, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Swarovski, ghd, Lavazza, Wildfox, Chanel, Kenzo Perfumes, Folli Follie, Clarks, Cadenzza, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins, Lipsy, BlackBerry, Jimmy Choo, Wolford, Asos, Styligion, Nike, M&S, John Lewis, French Connection, Bourjois, Westfield, Girissima, Very.co.uk, H&M#38; W Hotel, The Standard Hotel, Riu Touareg Hotel, and many others… By the end of the year my blog started receiving around 1 000 000 views monthly, which is a great progress to previous months and I could not believe how many milestones we reached. 100 000 followers on Facebook seemed like an impossible number, because my followers have more than doubled in the past year. My instagram has also grown, day by day, and I recorded more than 5 fold increase in the past year. Summer 2013 I met so many of you, on the streets, when travelling at the events, more and more of you approached me, and it became one of my favourite activities ever, catching up with my readers, meeting you at random places, hearing your feedback and listening to your wishes. I always have time to chat to you guys, and would like to say huge thank you, if you said hello to me in the street. September came faster than ever and I went to NY again, this time feeling more comfortable, as I had two lovely interns, and knew a lot more people. This is when I was named one of the Top20 Best Dressed People at NYFW, amongst all the celebrities and big names in the industry. Glam&Glitter received many views this month, and by statistics was 4th most influential blog for the season SS14 in the World. I was speechless. It is all thanks to you guys, and to say thank you I started doing more giveaways and organising contest for you, as I love giving back. London Fashion Week followed, and this was the time when I realised that I needed more help. My sister was responsible for taking care of projects and communicating with brands, but she also needed help. As soon as I got back, I started working on this. October time Rebecca joined Glam&Glitter team and is now helping us bring the blogging to another level, by hard working and determination.
Right now I can just say, thank you for all of your support, for following me on the blog and social media and for helping me make my dreams reality. I have a lot planned for 2014 but first The Glam and Glitter 2.0 is coming, in just few days, and it will be better than ever. I worked on it for months, and I am sure you guys will also love it. I have already set goals for the next year and I am going to work even harder to make them come true. I wish you all an amazing New Year and hope that you will all find my blog even more inspiring, useful and contributing than ever. I hope I will help you and motivate you to find your dreams just as you did for me. Thank you for an incredible year!
Bez mnogo razmisljanja slobodno mogu reci da je ovo bila najbolja godina mog zivota. Za pocetak bilo je tu mnogo promena na Glam&Glitter-u, ali pre svega ovo je prva godina u kojoj sam pisala svakodnevno, tako da je ovo ukupno 377.post, sa prosecno preko jednog posta dnevno u 2013.
Radila sam vise nego ikada da obezbedim kvalitet bloga i da u Glam&Glitter ulozim mnogo vremena, truda, energije, karaktera i kreativnosti sve to dok vam pokazujem delove svog zivota, outfite, putovanja i projekte koji sada spadaju u moje zanimanje. Mnogo uzbudljivih stvari mi se desilo vec pocetkom godine. Pre svega odlazak na Njujork i London Fashion Week. To je nesto o cemu sam oduvek sanjala i sto mi se cinilo neverovatno prosle godine u ovo vreme. NYFW je poceo za velikim dilemama u meni. Tada sam shvatila da mi je blogovanje jako bitno i koliko uzivam u njemu. Ovo je bila moja odskocna daska u svet mode, jer sam upoznala mnoge blogere, novinare i ljude iz industrije. 2013.godina je godina uvidjanja. Uvidela sam da zelim da budem modni bloger puno radno vreme i odlucila da napustim poziciju farmaceuta i menadzera apoteka, sto je bio ogroman rizik, jer je blogovanje veoma nepredvidivo, ali sam ja krenula za svojim snovima. Kazem rizik, jer takodje volim svoju profesiju i nisam znala sta mogu ocekivati od novog posla, tako da sam zadrzala par dana u apoteci da ne bih izgubila znanje.
Cim mi se ukazala prilika da ulozim vise vremena u postove i da blogujem cesce pocela sam da primecujem rezultate. U maju je moj blog nominovan za Najbolji Modni Blog u UK i za Najbolji Licni Stil od strane Company casopisa, a moje kombinacije su istovremeno izasle na stranama casopisa poput Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Glamour, Look, Stylist, Svet&Style, Huffington Post, Lepota i Zdravlje, Stillbook Mazagine i drugih publikacija.
Sva ova dostignuca su mi mnogo znacila i bila sam jos motivisanija da povecam kvalitet sadrzaja, da budem aktivnija u odgovaranju na komentare, mailove, projekte i slicno. Napravila sam raspored za blogovanje i prvi editorijal kalendar koji mi je mnogo pomogao da dostignem ono sto zelim. Vec tada sam pocela da razmisljam kako bih mogla unaprediti Glam&Glitter i kakve promene treba izvrsiti na sajtu.
U 2013 sam imala mogucnost i da putujem na prelepa mesta, poput Njujorka, Barselone, Zelenortskih Ostrva, Pariza, Majorke, na neke od ovih cak vise puta. Provela sam najveci deo godine u Londonu, jer se tamo odvijaju eventi, sastanci i ostali dogadjaji vezani za blog. U julu sam pocela da radim na liniji mojih proizvoda za negu tela i bilo je jako tesko sacuvati ovu tajnu. Naucila sam da budem strpljiva, da pazljivo istrazim ono sto me zanima, da slusam vase zelje i da budem najbolja moguca verzija same sebe. Izuzetno sam zadovoljna rezultatom i vasim interesovanjem za moje proizvode. Cinjenica da su neki od vas kupili vec vise puta moj losion i sprej me je ohrabrila jos vise, jer znam da volite moje proizvode koliko i ja!
U 12 meseci 2013.godine radila sam sa mnogo kompanija ukljucujuci: Abercrombie&Fitch, Marc Jacobs, Miss Selfridge, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Swarovski, ghd, Lavazza, Wildfox, Chanel, Kenzo Perfumes, Folli Follie, Clarks, Cadenzza, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins, Lipsy, BlackBerry, Jimmy Choo, Wolford, Asos, Styligion, Nike, M&S, John Lewis, French Connection, Bourjois, Westfield, Girissima, Very.co.uk, H&M#38; W Hotel, The Standard Hotel, Riu Touareg Hotel, i mnoge druge…. Do kraja godine moj je blog poceo dobijati oko 1 000 000 pregleda mesecno, sto je fenomenalan napredak u odnosu na proslu godinu. Osim toga, dostigla sam jos jedan cilj, a to je 100 000 pratioca na Facebook-u, kao i 5 puta uvecan broj pratioca na instagramu. Leto 2013 je bilo posebno jer sam upoznala mnoge od vas. Na ulicama, putovanjima, kaficima i restoranima prilazili ste mi svakodnevno i dobila sam novu omiljenu aktivnost. Mali razgovori i diskusije na nama drage teme, citaoci Glam&Glittera i ja. Hvala svima koji su mi se javili i prisli ove godine, zaista mi je svaki vas komentar ulepsao dan.
Septembar je dosao brze nego ikada, i ja sam opet otisla u Njujork, ovaj put sa jos vecom misijom. Osecala sam se mnogo bolje, jer sam imala 2 divne devojke koje su mi pomagale na putovanju i poznavala sam vise ljudi. Ove sezone sam proglasena jednom od najbolje obucenih osoba na NYFW, od strane NY Post-a u drustvu mnogih poznatih licnosti. Glam&Glitter jer primio rekordan broj poseta ovaj mesec i na osnovu statistika bio proglasen 4. najuticajnijim blogom na svetu sa sezonu SS14. Takvi rezultati su me ostavili bez teksta. Sve se desavalo samo zahvaljujuci vama i zato sam pocela da organizujem i dogovaram vise giveaway-a i nagrada da vam se zahvalim na taj nacin. London Fashion Week je bio iza coska i tada sam shvatila da mi treba jos pomoci. Moja sestra je zaduzena za organizaciju projekata i odnose za kompanijama, kampanje i poslovni deo bloga, njoj je takodje trebala pomoc. Negde u oktobru Rebecca je postala deo Glam&Glitter tima i sada nam pomaze da stignemo sve na vreme i da kvalitet bude na prvom mestu, dok ja imam vise vremena da se posvetim postovima i komunikaciji sa vama.
Trenutno mogu samo da kazem hvala, hvala vam za svu podrsku, hvala vam sto pratite moj blog i drustvene mreze i sto mi pomazete u ostvarenju svojih najvecih snova. Imam mnogo toga u planu za 2014.godinu, pre svega The Glam and Glitter 2.0 verziju, za samo par dana i obecavam vam da ce sajt biti bolji nego ikada. Radila sam na tome mesecima i sigurna sam da ce vam se dopasti.
Vec sam postavila sebi mnoge ciljeve za sledecu godinu i radicu vise nego prosle godine da ih ostvarim. Zelim vam svima srecnu Novu godinu i nadam se da cete na mom blogu naci inspiraciju i da cu vas motivisati da ostvarite svoje snove, bas kao sto ste vi to uradili za mene. Hvala vam za neverovatnu godinu!
