Magic City Fashion Week Emerging Designer Shannon Warren

Shannon Warren

Years ago I figured out that to be a successful blogger I must not only be a writer but also an entrepreneur and thus I need to learn not only from other writers but from any creative person seeking to use her talents to make money and make a difference. This is one reason I love immersing myself in Birmingham’s fashion community. And if you think Birmingham doesn’t have a fashion community you obviously haven’t been following all of the events being hosted by the organizers of Magic City Fashion Week. (You can learn more here.)

One event of the week you definitely don’t want to miss is Friday’s Emerging Designer Competition. Hosted by Ty Hunter and Raquel Smith of Beyonce’s style team, the show will feature the works of five emerging designers competing for a prize package valued at $5,000. The show will also include looks from Macy’s and luxury streetwear by Splashed by DKG. This event is set for 6 to 11 p.m. and will be held at the Goldstein & Cohen building in Ensley.

I had the chance to interview one of the emerging designers who will be featured in Friday’s show — Shannon Warren of the Shan Latris Collection.

Warren’s advice for other emerging designers could so easily be applied to writing and blogging and there are so many takeaways from her journey that we can learn from, too.

Do what you can with what you have. Warren couldn’t sew when she was a kid so she used a hot glue gun to alter clothes!

Read, read, read. Before Warren could afford to go to design school she went to the library and read every book she could find about fashion design. And Warren continues to learn more about and work on her craft. We writers and bloggers must remember to do the same.

And whether she knows it or not, when Warren designs her clothes she actually uses Edgar Allan Poe’s single effect theory! She seeks to evoke a single emotion from her customer with each piece she designs just as Poe sought to evoke a single emotion from his readers with each short story and poem he wrote.

Take a look at my chat with Warren.

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Finding time to #bloglikecrazy

Can you believe that #bloglikecrazy starts next week?! In case you’re new around here, every November I challenge my fellow bloggers to publish a new blog post every day for 30 days. I started doing this a few years ago with the ladies of See Jane Write and soon women — and men — all over the country joined in.

If you’d like to participate, simply use the hashtag #bloglikecrazy when you share your posts on social media and I’ll help you promote your posts. Also, I’ll give you encouragement along the way by sharing blogging tips and post ideas using the #bloglikecrazy hashtag. 

Now you may be thinking, “Why on earth should I blog every day for 30 days?”

Good question. I believe blogging every day for 30 days will boost your creativity, your community, and your consistency. I break down each of these here. 

Or maybe you’re thinking, “How on earth am I supposed to blog every day for 30 days?” 

Well, last week, I wrote a post to help you create an editorial calendar for November. This week I want to help you figure out when you’re going to actually write these posts.

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The Little Press That Could

You could say that Liza Elliott thinks like a rock star.

“Just like a musician can set up their own production company to write, produce, and sell their music, I thought, why not authors?” Elliott says. So six years ago she started Red Camel Press, a small publishing house based here Birmingham.

Now she’s following in the footsteps of musicians who collaborate with other artists. Elliott has partnered with Kaneshia Sims Hudson, a public relations and marketing professional and owner of Red PaSH Magazine and The Southern PaSH Company. Hudson helped with the marketing of some of Red Camel Press early publications including Elliott’s novel 30-A Supper Club,  the accompanying cookbook, 30-A Supper Club: The Cookbook, and the art book John Lonergan: Painter. With this new partnership Hudson is now co-owner of Red Camel Press. Elliott and Hudson are eager to work with emerging writers with unique stories, especially those related to science, and are even interested in publishing graphic novels.

The latest work published by Red Camel Press is Everything is Known, a sci-fi, futuristic novel, highlighting the journey of a strong, fiery female protagonist fighting against oppression. The novel is due to hit shelves this fall.

For my latest piece for B-Metro magazine, I had a chat with Elliott and Hudson about their partnership and about the future of Red Camel Press. You can read the interview at B-Metro.com.

Let’s Get Ready to #bloglikecrazy

It’s almost time to blog like crazy! Every November I challenge the women of See Jane Write to publish a new blog post every day for 30 days. I’ll give you encouragement along the way by sharing blogging tips and post ideas using the hashtag #bloglikecrazy. And if you use the #bloglikecrazy hashtag when you share your posts on social media I’ll help promote your posts, too.

Now you may be thinking, “Why on earth should I blog every day for 30 days?”

Good question. I believe blogging every day for 30 days will boost your creativity, your community, and your consistency. I break down each of these here.

Or maybe you’re thinking, “How on earth am I supposed to blog every day for 30 days?” Well, I’m hoping this blog post will help you with that. 

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