This week our Fashion and Beauty Buzz series and our What’s Your Story? Powered by Cision series collide! We had the pleasure of chatting with online shopping expert and founder and CEO of SHEfinds Media Michelle Madhok–whose fashion expertise has been featured on numerous media outlets including NBC, Women’s Wear Daily and RealSimple.com. She talks with us about her tips for PR pros, her new book, and how she turned a style blog into a thriving fashion hub for women and retail buyers across the nation.
Watch the video for the full interview or read a teaser below.
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Q: Take us to the beginning!
A: A long time ago I used to work for AOL, and I ran women’s content. At that time, AOL was the king of the world, and what I found was that women were really looking for advice on where to buy things—what to wear, where to get it. So I left AOL in 2004, and I started this in my bedroom, SHEfinds.com, where we talk about fashion, we do beauty, and we’re going to start expanding into some home things, kids things, we do some bridal. So it’s all about what’s cool, what to buy and where to get it. We want to be your friend that you always go to.
Q: What tricks of the trade do you credit to your success?
A: Well, I have an amazing team. They come from all sorts of different publications. Everybody’s really dedicated here. But my editors also have a business brain, because we focus on shopping. And we look at our data quite a bit. So we know which celebrities move products—Kim Kardashian, Kate Middleton—we know what’s trending, what’s popular, we are always out there scouting where to get the deals, and what’s the next big thing coming.
Q: How do you keep on top of the latest trends?
A: We definitely look at seasonality, and what people are wanting. We are on Facebook, and all the social media, seeing what’s trending and what’s interesting to us. When it comes to PR people what we really want are things that fit our site.
Find SHEfinds on Twitter and Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+ and at www.shefinds.com.
For more pitching advice from journalists, download our free Public Relations Resource Kit. For more beauty and fashion insight, check out the Cision Navigator profile on Vanessa K. Bush, Editor in Chief at Essence.
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