What Claire Shay Knows About Fashion & Blogging That We Don't

This week on my blog is a girl boss takeover! You can expect interviews with women that will leave you inspired to blog, create, and conquer your life.

Claire Shay

Today I’d like you to meet Claire, the blogger behind Claire Shay. She’s a fellow fashion blogger posting outfits and how-to guides made from mixing street style and high fashion. Read on to learn more about Claire and her creative take on blogging & life!

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your blog

My name is Claire Shay! I’m a NYC based fashion blogger who was raised in California.

My blog fuses street style with high fashion, translating these industry trends for everyday women so they can develop their own unique sense of style.

How long have you been blogging and what inspired you to get started?

I started blogging in May of 2017, and it has been a constant learning journey! It took me a while for me to find what it is I want to write about and for me to develop my brand.

I wanted to start blogging because most of these beautiful street styles we see on Social Media always meant buying every single piece of clothing at the trendiest store.

At the same time, I always loved high fashion. The beautiful red carpet looks and the pieces from the Fall/Winter or Spring/Summer collections of Dior and Chanel mesmerized me.

I loved it all, but I didn’t know how to translate that into my own style and how to afford that when I am not making a six figure salary.

Because of my own journey, I want to start a blog where every woman will be able to come to and find those must-have pieces, so they aren’t buying everything in the New Arrivals section of Forever 21.

I also want to showcase how high fashion can so easily be translated into our everyday fashion, how the trends and inspiration of each collection have an effect on the very clothes we choose to purchase.

Was there anything that ever held you back from blogging or made you apprehensive?

I never understood why there was so little focus on the actual writing aspect of blogging. I love writing (I was on the school newspaper in college), and out of all the bloggers I saw (and still see), there was only a handful of them who focused on their writing. Everyone can take a good photograph if they have the correct photographer and the correct tools for editing. Writing is where your voice comes out, and I didn’t (and still don’t) understand why this isn’t focused on as much as the pictorial aspect.

Do you blog full time or on the side? If on the side, what’s your profession?

I blog on the side at the moment, but it is my short term goal to make it a full time job! I work in Finance in the Risk Management space.

What’s your best general career advice?

Know your worth, double it, add tax, and add savings. That is what your salary should be, and that is what you should always be asking for.

Too often as women or as influencers are we not paid what we should be paid.

I know of a situation in my personal life in which a man with one more year’s of experience than a woman makes 1.5 times the amount she does. That is absolutely unacceptable.

There are so many career advice or career journey stories out there; instead of adding my own (because I am still on that path towards my dream career), this is the best piece of advice I can offer.

What advice would you give someone who is struggling to find their personal style?

Think about what you loved as a child, and bring that back.

Did you love dresses as a child, but was told that wearing dresses isn’t as nice as wearing jeans (that was what I was told as a 6 year old)?

Did you love to wear orange every day, but no one else seemed to like that color?

If there was something you loved as a child but don’t wear it anymore, revisit that idea and think back on what it was that made you like that so much and why you stopped dressing like that.

What is your go-to power outfit?

If I’m in New York, it would be dark high-waisted jeans from Good American, a sleeveless top, and heels (heeled booties, heeled sandals, etc).

If I’m in California, it would be the Sloane Maxi dress from Lilly Pulitzer in all prints.

How do you feel women could do a better job supporting one another?

I love it when women tell each other to live their best life. Even though that is a generic suggestion that doesn’t necessarily help you identify what it is to actually live your best life, I love it when I’m doing something that I think other people might judge me for, but women are just saying “Hey, you do you girl. Live your best life!”

Do you ever experience social media envy? If so, how do you overcome it?

ALL THE TIME! For me specifically, one of my biggest concerns is about something I have never experienced before. I grew up with a mostly Caucasian neighborhood. I’ve never felt weird about being Asian, and it has never been a differentiating point of me. Even when I was in college, this is the case as well. What changed when I became an adult is that we are increasingly putting people into buckets.

We have the Southern fashion bloggers, we have the LA fashion bloggers, we have NYC street style fashion bloggers, and so on and so forth. Because I feel as though my personal identity is a hodgepodge of my ethnic background, my childhood in LA, and now my adulthood in NYC, I always felt as though I had to fit into one bucket or another. When I didn’t match the standard of one bucket, I felt envious of what other people were like.

I have to really overcome it by realizing to myself that no one else came from the same background as I did. I may be Asian, but my Asian “identity” is so different from other Asian bloggers. The influence LA or NYC has on me is so different than other people’s experience, and realizing that my life story is unique plays a major part in overcoming that envy.

What advice would you give to an aspiring blogger?

Similar to the career advice question, there are so many answers out there. My advice would be to listen to the Influencer Podcast and listen to the Becoming Fearless Podcast.