IN THING TURNS 9 – AN ODE TO THE JOURNEY

Aug 31, 2024 | Cover Story, Fashion, Outfit

Welcome to IN THING’s first Digital Cover. To jumpstart this new feature, our Editor, Kamara Williams, recounts her journey of willing IN THING to life from inception to full fledged creative pursuit.

When I pressed the launch button on August 24, 2015 on Tumblr, I never imagined where we would be now. And when I say, I never imagined, I’m not talking about the expected glitz and glam that come with working in fashion and publishing but more about the person that I’ve become. At the time all I wanted was a creative outlet, a place to put all of my creative ideas that consumed me daily. But when I clicked “launch” that day I never could have imagined the personal journey that blogging would thrust me into.

At the time, I was just a young girl. I had just graduated from college with a degree in writing, trying to find a way to marry my love of fashion with journalism. It was a transitional period of my life where I was trying to navigate the real world after being in the college bubble and the beginning stages of my career. I knew I did not want a traditional path, but I also wanted to be successful and so I packaged my gifts to conceive an outlet of my own (fashion blogging). At the time, there weren’t many people blogging as a full-fledged business. But the people that I did see made me believe even if they didn’t look like me. I admired that those women were able to create their own paths, build their own brands and businesses and live life on their own terms. I thought I could do the same. How hard could it be right? Well thats the part the 21-year-old naïvety had no clue. God bless her heart..

That summer I wrote all about my loves for fashion, food, travel, art, as IN THING wasn’t strictly about style advice back then. Every article I published fueled me to churn out more. It was a euphoric feeling. The more I published the more I wanted to publish. I was experiencing a new high. I explore my new love and wrote and shared strictly on Tumblr for a about a year. It wasn’t until December 2016 that I finally got an official website, inthingstyle.com, that we know now. By that time I had dropped the food, travel, and art categories to focus mainly on fashion and style. The domain and hosting was gift for my birthday from my mom. I remember feeling like “now I’m official, now I can be taken seriously as a blogger. In reality, that was just the beginning just as I feel like the present moment is just the beginning. Other than getting the tools that i needed, I remember this being a pivotal moment in my personal development. Follow along as I recount some of my greatest and most challenging moments of realizing my dream of IN THING over the last 9 years.

Mango top, bag; Urban Outfitters shorts; Zara heels; Bauble Bar. earrings

IN THING: So what happened once you launched your official site at inthingstyle.com?

Kamara Williams: The first post that was called Lincoln Center Chic. At the time I was posting outfit idea inspirations and styling tips on how I arrived at the look to guide my audience on how they can achieve it too. It was shot at Lincoln Center by my brother on a Nikon camera he had laying around hence the name Lincoln Center Chic LOL. I didn’t know about SEO and page ranking at that time and had no clue that no one would be searching Lincoln Center Chic so the chances of finding my post would be zero to none. Back then it was all about the vibes. At least I had that. But to even get to that point first I had to learn WordPress and how to build a website. I remember staying up night after night watching Youtube videos on how to build a site. I was tweaking and learning by trial and error. But it was an exciting discovery. Watching the time count down on my deadline which was launching before the year (2016) ended felt like a new era was loading and I couldn’t wait to see what was waiting for me on the other side. I made my deadline just in time and published my first post on 12/30/2016 at 8:13pm. The experience was one of my first lessons in “if you’re going to do this, then you’re going to have to learn new skills and invest in your education.” It was a task I was up for.

I knew I didn’t want a traditional path, but I also wanted to be successful and so I packaged my gifts to conceive an outlet of my own -fashion blogging.

Mango top, bag; Urban Outfitters shorts; Zara heels; Bauble Bar. earrings

Mango top, bag; Urban Outfitters shorts; Zara heels; Bauble Bar earrings

IT: What were your early days of running IN THING like?

KW: It was definitely a lot of exploring and testing. Exploring my personal style which later developed into me being more self aware. I was also exploring what type of content I wanted to create and how I wanted to present myself as a brand. Even though I was just starting out, I always wanted to deliver the best quality I can with the best quality even if the best quality back then would be something I would cringe at now. In the first two years I was also realizing that my success would take take more that my creativity. To succeed, I had to become more efficient as a person because the brand would only grow as much as I did as a person. I was learning the business of blogging back then. Even things that has now become second nature was a learning curve for me then. I even had to learn how to pose better and be more confident in front of the camera. I remember one time I did a shoot and I was self conscious to shoot in front of people so I held back during the shoot. When I got home I was so dissatisfied with my film that I vowed that day to give every shoot my all. It didn’t make sense to put in all that effort to prepare for a shoot, hair, make up, styling, concepting, just to get subpar results. Those were the kinds of things I was working through back then, It was definitely all about exploration, education, and application.

IT: You often talk about how starting IN THING changed you as a person, can you give more insight about that?

KW: They always say if you want to know who you are start a business. That’s definitely been my experience. When I started this platform it was mainly to be creative.I didn’t expect it to reflect back to me my strengths and shortcomings. That was the most surprising discovery for me. Often I would have an idea but fear would hold be back from pursuing it. I would come up against similar roadblocks like that along the way. Running IN THING forced me to look within to uncover where those “limits” and fear were coming from. This journey had me me look into my personal life and upbringing to course correct where some of those fear-based beliefs. There were a lot of things that I wanted to accomplish and I couldn’t reach those milestones until I over came those blocks and got over myself. In a lot of ways, this journey has helped me to be more bold, heal, and continue to discover myself. For instance, I had to learn to overcome the opinions of others and to validate myself. It’s also though me to show up for myself even when I don’t feel like it . those are just a few examples of ways IN THING has informed my personal life.

Mango top, bag; Urban Outfitters shorts; Zara heels; Bauble Bar earrings

IT: What was the most challenging part about this journey?

KW: Accepting that things are going to unfold differently that I expected. Perhaps the way they’re meant to. In my naivety, I thought that surely within a few months of launching my platform that it would be met with a booming success and the largest readership. I didn’t understand at the time that this type of thing takes time to build, that i had to be processed. I wanted it now. Going through the process and letting go of my idea or ideal of how it’s supposed to unfold. was a challenge for me. Also, when I started this journey in 2015, that same year and the following I lost loved ones that were monumental in my life which made it hard to focus on my dream. I had to show up while grieving which was healing as it helped me to turn my pain into beauty but it was also debilitating a lot of the times. It was a paradoxe that was hard for me to navigate but I always say that this platform tremendously helped me to transmute all that chaos and heavy energy into joy. It gave me something hopeful to focus on during the time. Sharing and publishing was a light that took me through and often felt like the only positive to look forward to at the time.

Mango top, skirt, heels, sunnies ; Zara belt

IT: On the contrary, what were some of your highlights?

KW: There are so many! Nine years worth of then now. And the highlights always make all the lowlights worth it. If I had to name a few, one of the first ones would definitely be those first brand gifting and acknowledgments that I received. At the time, it was so validating that major brands that I grew up admiring thought what I was doing was valuable. It gave me a spark to keep going. It was like that if they wanted to work with me then I must be doing something right. Another one was being featured in Barney’s New York NYFW campaign. That opportunity got me a lot of press coverage and was so exhilerating. It was a meta concept so they shot my streetstyle against the NYFW streetstyle scene. It’s still one of my favorite shoots ever. It was my first time being styled by someone else and having the whole on set experience. Top tier. My first brand trip was also monumental for me because I felt appreciated and valued by the brand as they invited me even though I didn’t have the largest audience. In this industry, that’s few and far between so I appreciate then for doing something special and outside of the norm for me. It was definitely one of those bucket list things that I got to cross out. Most recently, I went to my first Paris Fashion Week. Need I say more! For anyone in fashion, going to PFW is a dream and a must do at one point or the other. I still reel over it whenever I think about it honestly. The way it happened so spontaneously too made it ten times better. Another dream come true.

Mango top, skirt, heels, sunnies ; Zara belt

Mango top, skirt, sunnies ; Zara belt

At the time, it was so validating that major brands that I grew up admiring thought what I was doing was valuable. It gave me a spark to keep going. It was like that if they wanted to work with me then I must be doing something right.

Mango top, skirt, sunnies ; Zara belt

Thrifted jacket; Aritzia short;, Mango sunnies; Tory Burch clutch

IT: In 2021, you made the switch from being the sole creative on this platform to becoming a digital publication that features other creatives, why did you make that shift?

KW: This going back to blogging informing my personal life. Until then, I was featured in every single post that I had ever published. It was safe to say that I was burned out after 7 years of doing that and wanted to find a way that IN THING could still run without me being the focal point of every post. I decided i could get the same job done while featuring other creative voices. Also, at the time, we were coming out of the Pandemic and I felt like an entirely different person. I didn’t want to show up the same way in life and online anymore. That informed the switch. I had also always ran my blog editorially so I thought why not go all the way with that approach? This way, I would have the opportunity to showcase and explore more of my creative abilities and sensibilities such as curating, building a team, leadership, styling and more. I was also curious to see what IN THING would feel like and be like championing other voices and creatives. I was ready for a new challenge and excited to create my own ecosystem.

Thrifted jacket; Aritzia short;, Mango sunnies; Tory Burch clutch; Primark heels

I didn’t want to show up the same way in life and online anymore.

Thrifted jacket; Aritzia short;, Mango sunnies; Tory Burch clutch; Primark heels

Mango top, sunnies; Primark jeans; Missguided heels; Claudia Pegus hat; Acne bag

IT: Where do you want to take things now? What direction is IN THNG heading in now?

KW: Funny enough i feel like I’m back where I started. I’m exploring again with new forms of content and new ways of approaching it. I’m also working on improving my creative abilities. But most importantly, I’m excited about featuring more creative voices on the platform. I’ve done so since 2021 and it’s something that I really enjoy. I want to go more in that direction. I love how open ended it all feels and I’m just prepared to be more precise and creative in what I share next. Or should I say what we share next. I know it’s cliche but it really is just the beginning.