The Importance of Authenticity - Your Trendy Therapist

Hey everyone! Hope y’all are having a great week 🙂 I wanted to share a topic related to authenticity that’s been weighing on my mind lately. So, as most of y’all know, I started blogging ~ 3 years ago as a hobby to share with y’all my love for fashion, travel, therapy, etc. That being said, I love working with brands that I truly love and I’m passionate about. The brands that I represent are ones that I personally wear or new brands that I discover that I would purchase from again. If there’s ever something I receive that I try and I don’t love, you won’t see me post about it.

I’m writing this post because to me, authenticity and transparency are the keys to establishing a trustworthy business. Recently, I encountered a situation where I love a brand’s clothing, however, I do not agree with how they manage their business. The point of this email is not to put the company on blast, so I will leave that part of it out. If you have any questions for me, you can message me privately.

Long story short, the companies PR contact emailed me to work together on a paid photoshoot, cancelled the photoshoot (which is not a big deal, I understand things happen), offered a few items in exchange for a post, then lied about the availability of one of the items. You’re probably wondering how I knew they lied about the availability of an item. Wellllll, I actually ordered the item myself to just prove a point and it just so happens it was in stock and shipped out shortly after. This whole situation could have been avoided with them simply just stating the truth.

After this experience, I felt compelled to reach out to the owner to explain the situation. In response, the owner apologized and went on to say she’s sorry IF there was any miscommunication, completely disregarding the lack of transparency and unprofessionalism I had encountered. It’s such a sad situation, because once again, I might have given the company a second chance if they were sincere in their apology, and if they recognized that they were in the wrong. Because of my terrible experience, I would never promote or recommend anything from this particular company.

My point of this post is to really emphasize the importance of being authentic to yourself, your brand, and others. Don’t ever feel you have to represent a brand that you don’t love or recommend to others. Stay true to yourself and ALWAYS choose to be authentic in what you do, say, and represent. Also, don’t just accept any brand collaboration because they’re offering you free items. Make sure it’s a good fit for your brand and that you agree with their brand and values. I’ve worked so hard these past years to build my brand and I’m so thankful for all of y’all for following along- y’all are the best!

Mary

Also here’s the fun peachy outfit I just posted:)