Rising Stars: Meet Amanda Nava

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Nava.

Hi Amanda, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’m a southern girl at heart, having been born in Louisville, KY. After attending college at The University of Kentucky, I moved to Chicago to pursue a career in marketing while also creating a fashion and lifestyle blog, The Creative Brief. After five years in the city, my husband and I moved to Nashville.

I’ve always had an interest in fashion and I started a blog for a college advertising class that focused on long-form writing. Once the class ended, I kept the blog and started writing in my free time about fashion week, different trends I enjoyed, and how readers could recreate runway looks with just a college budget. While getting ready for a night out and helping style some of my friend’s outfits, they had the idea of taking pictures of my looks and sharing them on my blog. Through a couple of website name changes, I finally landed on The Creative Brief as a nod to my background in advertising and the term’s meaning of outlining the creative details of a project. I loved how it translated to the many creative aspects of my life and the topics I would cover on the blog. As I started my marketing career and grew into my own personal style, the blog also grew into various topics outside of fashion like home decor, travel, and lifestyle products..

Fast forward six years and The Creative Brief has become a place where women can gather fashion inspiration, feel like they’re reading the words of a friend while enjoying a glass of wine, dive into a travel guide, or simply find a space to share and meet other people in our little community.

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?
Like anything, there are ups and downs and The Creative Brief has definitely been a journey. I first started the blog as a hobby and would write and create content when I had time. My intention wasn’t to make money or gain a following, but simply that I loved to write and share stories with readers. I didn’t make any money for the first 3 years until I made the conscious choice to view The Creative Brief as a business.

Pushing through some feelings of doubt or motivation to continue was a bit challenging in the beginning when things didn’t take off right away. As the blog has grown and I’ve established a more business-focused mindset, other challenges have appeared. Just like other businesses there are many things to keep track of and manage. For example, editorial calendars, brand outreach and negotiation, legal and contract considerations, website or other platform management, and the day to day of content creation. Since I work full-time as a Senior Marketing Communications Manager, I also balance my 9-5 job with blog work. It’s a lot of late nights, writing and creative direction at my lunch break, spending weekends editing, or having family members help with photo shoots and creative concepts.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The Creative Brief is a Nashville-based fashion and lifestyle blog fueled by passion and prosecco. When it comes to style, I believe that every woman deserves the fashion and lifestyle she wants and that no matter her budget, personal aesthetic, or pairs of shoes she owns there is a community to support her in The Creative Brief. With this belief as the foundation of the blog, I share posts about fashion brands and how I style my favorite pieces. I cover sales or review products I think readers will love. I also write lifestyle posts about home decor, our 2019 wedding planning process, travel guides, and editorial content from a 20-something woman’s perspective.

I’m proud to share an authentic and genuine take on fashion and provide my readers with a space to feel inspired, confident, and included. I have had the pleasure of partnering with brands that I personally use and that my readers know and love, like American Eagle, Amazon, MVMT, and Katie Dean Jewelry. Through blog posts, a monthly newsletter, Instagram, and creative outfit pictures (90% of which are shot by my loving husband, Kollin), I have been able to connect with so many great women from all walks of life and build a community that is supportive, collaborative and fun.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was pretty reserved and quiet but always felt most like myself while creating. My mom always tells a story about how she once found me sitting in our pantry surrounded by markers and covered in pictures I’d drawn all over myself. Thankfully, I didn’t feel compelled to draw on the walls, but I was always drawing or painting in my makeshift art studio in the basement and putting on fashion shows. At about age 8, my parents came home from work one day to find that I was charging the neighborhood kids 25 cents to come over and view my art exhibition of 10 original paintings that were thoughtfully hung around our kitchen with scotch tape.

As I learned more about clothes and styling, my focus changed to fashion. When I realized I enjoyed the creative design process of fashion more than sewing, I started considering creative advertising as a career path. I loved the combination of art and business that it provided and I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Strategic Communications, Creative Advertising. While I loved my career choice and still do, creating the blog is a way for me to continue to express my love of fashion.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.thecreativebriefblog.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/amanda_navaa
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecreativebriefblog