Sometimes in life people prepare to perform a normal job, for example to be a doctor or a great entrepreneur, and people may also have a hobby, something they do in their spare time. But sometimes that hobby can become, perhaps without the person realizing it, the driver to another profession, another source of income or a complementary activity.
Karen Huggins, better known as Glam and Brains, is a businesswoman who has worked for more than 13 years in the telecommunications industry in multinational companies in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. Besides growing in the IT world, she was also attracted in a special way to her other passion–the world of fashion.
“For years I tried to combine my career in telecommunications with fashion, so I created a fashion line and one day I realized that I was exhausted between my work, business travel and the fashion line, so I decided to leave the dream of fashion. I felt like it was a failure and then I thought maybe fashion wasn’t for me.” Karen shares.
Having that feeling of failure in the context of her fashion work, she kept growing her passion for beauty and runway glamour. In fact, she continued to design clothes for herself and followed fashion weeks and trends.
“I was always interested in fashion. My Instagram started to grow when I had the fashion line and I became more active sharing my work trips and my looks, brands started to approach me and one day I realized I was blogging and I loved it. I want to share my journey with my followers demonstrating that you can combine your work life and your passion (in my case travel and fashion), you can do whatever you want in life if you have the goal and go for it”. Glam and Brains recounts.
Today, Karen’s world revolves around her telecommunications career and being a travel and fashion blogger during her business trips. In addition, she also has a monthly column where she talks about her travel and fashion trends in Miami Shoot Magazine. Glam and Brains is a woman in tech traveling around the world with style giving tips about women empowerment, mindset, fashion, travel, wellness and also pets.
Her interest in blogging comes from a desire to help others. In that sense, Karen has an altruistic spirit.
“I love helping people. I studied International Foreign Affairs to do it through international organizations, but blogging is also a way to do it. I really wanted to share my passion for travel, fashion, motivational stories, women empowerment and tips to successfully combine a career with a hobby. I always took pictures about places on my travels, and my friends used to ask me for tips on places to go, restaurants, hotels, the latest trends, beauty, travel tips, fashion tips, etc. I love when someone thanks me for helping with a piece of information I have provided on the blog.” She says.
When it comes to competition, Karen believes that there isn’t any in the world of blogging. Instead, bloggers like her must focus on their own content.
“Bloggers don’t sell the same product because we are all different. Even if someone tries to imitate someone else it’s not going to be the same. That’s a great thing about this industry. The best way to do it is to be authentic, just be yourself and you will differentiate yourself.” Karen states, and adds. “Mindset is everything. If you believe you can do it, you will do it. You have to convince yourself that the power is within you. You don’t need people to tell you if it’s right or not, just follow your instinct. Read and study hard, and if you fall down, get up as soon as possible.”
After years of experience in the telecommunications industry and now as a fashion and travel blogger, Karen is no stranger to obstacles or fears. But she is also no stranger to getting through them.
“Fear is the worst feeling, it can paralyze you, make you forget the power you have and take you away from your goals. We are human and it is okay to feel fear but it is important to identify it and act to eliminate it.” She says.
Once people can control their fears, they can work to accomplish their goals and achieve success.
“Success for me is being able to achieve your goals. It is finding our passion and feeling fulfilled in what we do.” Karen shares.
Karen’s upcoming projects include continuing to work on her blog, her monthly column on the Miami Shoot Magazine, and other publications. Additionally, she is preparing many interesting trips and special projects her followers will find out about soon.
Follow the journey Glam and Brains here.