Woman Crush Wednesday: An interview with "A Cup of Tay"

"Two parts Taylor, one part sass"

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Happy Wednesday everyone! Today on the blog we're featuring Taylor over at A Cup of Tay. Taylor is one of my favorite bloggers that I have had the opportunity to interview so far (not just because we both are in love with coffee shops and H&M) but because her story is relate-able.



As readers we often forget that bloggers (like celebrities) are regular people. We make mistakes see the bright side and turn them into stories. When talking to Taylor about what she does on a regular day she shared a pretty funny account of how she started working for her universities newspaper.

"I actually work in the accounting department which throws everyone off…" Being a Business major with a passion for English one wouldn't expect for her to be working in the accounting department. "I was going to sign up for an interview for a different department, but accidentally wrote down my name on the wrong sheet of paper. It was in pen, and I felt awkward scribbling it out, so I just went to the interview. I ended up loving my interviewer and working in accounting instead" said Taylor.

When it comes to blogging Taylor is no Amateur.  "I’ve always loved writing, but my major requires less of it than I’d like. I started the blog as a way to experiment with my writing and write for fun, and it’s just grown from there" said Taylor.

Originally A Cup of Tay was simply her name Taylor Yates but as her passion grew so did her desire to brand herself and the blog. Her first attempt at branding came when she decided to name her blog PinStripes&Lipgloss.

"The name Pinstripes&Lipgloss came to me one random day while I was at home for Christmas break. I had been wanting to rebrand and I thought that the name would capture what I wanted to write about, which was fun topics like food and beauty, and life as a business student" said Taylor.

However as people grow, they don't always  stay on the same path and often find their selves learning new things about who they are. This is the same thing with blogging.

"I never dreamed that posts like “A Day in the Life of Taylor” or “15 Things that Are (Almost) Worse than Getting a Bad Haircut” (about my recent bad haircut) would actually interest people and that those are the things I’d be writing about" said Taylor.

A blogger might start writing motivational pieces, fashion posts, or even movie reviews but with time they could potentially realize this is not the direction they would like to go. It simply doesn't feel honest.

"I wanted a blog name that more accurately reflected what I was writing about, which was just my life, basically. The name seemed too specific and I felt like the lipgloss part made my blog sound more like a beauty blog than a lifestyle blog. I did a lot of thinking about the name, and when I came up with A Cup of Tay, I knew that was it. I love Starbucks and tea, and so it just seemed natural" said Taylor.

Being natural is important when blogging. Readers prefer authenticity to fake. Bloggers occasionally forget this and attempt to write pieces that they feel the reader would prefer as opposed to pieces that reflect who they are as individuals.

"Be really thoughtful about branding. It is easier to tell your readers initially what you are than to try to convince them later. I’ve been through two rebrands, and it’s been hard to change reader perceptions of my blog and the brand" said Taylor.

As you can tell Taylor is definitely someone to follow as she grows and develops into a successful blogger. I am very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to have her be my first interview in my Woman Crush Wednesday series and I hope you enjoyed reading about her.