Rising Stars: Meet Liz Brown of Little Italy

Hi Liz, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been passionate about home decor and creating a stylish and trendy life aesthetic. For the longest time, though, I felt that home projects, DIY, and creating a space with my own unique style were reserved for those who owned their homes and had the extra money to do it. As a budget-friendly millennial renter, I’ve always felt limited, and to be honest, left out of all the fun… When I moved to San Diego with my fiance (then boyfriend) a few years ago, I wanted our first place together to be something we could both be proud of. The only problem was that when I moved here, I was completely unemployed with no prospects of a job, so decorating was going to be a long-term plan. Eventually, I found a job in Content Marketing, so I slowly started decorating the way I always hoped. I started documenting my home projects and DIYs on my blog and social media and brought my followers behind the scenes on Stories to help me make decisions & watch my progress along the way. I realized throughout this process that there are so many women my age who struggle with the same issues as I did—wanting to have a beautiful and aesthetic home you can be proud of, but without going broke! As my blog started to see some traction, I knew that it would be a source of inspiration for women to create a stylish home they love and have an aesthetic lifestyle while still keeping a modest budget. I share anything and everything that will help women create a life they love—from the home decor & styling tips, timeless beauty & fashion inspiration, simple DIYs, cooking tips, wedding planning, & more.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not! If anything, it’s been a rocky and bumpy road most of the way. I started my first blog back in 2010, but I had no idea what I was doing to make a long story short. At that time, the industry was really young, and social media didn’t even exist yet. It was a lot harder to get started back then, and finding information to help you figure it out was just as difficult. As time went on, I had attempted to start my blog back up a few times, but it wasn’t until the last year I started to find myself, discovered my niche and stayed consistent with it. Fast forward to today, I’ve finally gained the experience and knowledge to see the growth I always hoped for.—but even now, I’ve experienced challenges. The first six months of starting my blog back up again, I would constantly feel defeated because I focused way too much on the number of likes and followers I gained (or lost) and took everything personally—which was extremely discouraging. I was so much in my head and over-analyzed everything to the point where I think I would say self-sabotage. Sometimes I would stop posting for weeks because I worried if I posted, I would lose followers. Looking back, it was silly, but it’s a real struggle I had! Those moments made me want to quit so many times. But the biggest lesson I learned that made a huge difference in my growth, but for keeping a healthy mindset about it as well, was learning how to let my content happen organically and become fluid with my everyday life. I also stopped posting what I thought people wanted to see and just shared what I enjoyed.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
By trade, I am a Sr, Content Marketer and create content for health and wellness e-commerce brands. My 9-5 job is to strategize and create various forms of content (like blog posts, videos, recipes, etc.) for brand-specific audiences to support current and future customer experiences. Prior to finding a job in Marketing, I worked in the health and fitness industry for about seven years. I had my own personal training business and held numerous degrees and certifications in health, wellness, and nutrition, not to mention my years of blogging, all of which helped me land my marketing job. I’ve been working in marketing full time for about three years now, and I can definitely attribute a lot of the growth of my blog to my experience there. Working in a fast-paced environment with a team of talented marketers allowed me to see the potential of what my blog could eventually become one day. Understanding marketing in a holistic way has also helped me develop the voice and intention to thrive as a blogger.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is to stay authentic and true to yourself and to not overthink things. Like I mentioned before, sharing your life and ideas with the world can open the doors for a lot of criticism, but from the most surprising and unlikely source—YOURSELF! I realized that once I started making my content about providing value to my audience rather than making it about myself, I started to criticize myself less and enjoy the process a lot more.

Contact Info:

• Email: hello@lizlovery.com
• Website: www.lizlovery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizlovery/
• Other: TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@lizlovery