- Blog: Awesomely Luvvie
- Niche: Pop Culture/Lifestyle
- Founder: Lovette Ajayi
- Twitter: @Luvvieig
Lovette “Luvvie” Ajayi would rather make fun of life than complain about it. It’s this mantra that’s found the 27-year-old dishing 50,000 unique visitors a month with a heaping of laugh-your-butt-off pop culture commentary on her blog, Awesomely Luvvie. And whether it’s roasting a celebrity or roasting herself, Luvvie’s mission of extinguishing day-to-day stress with humor never wavers.
Live for six years, the Chicago native’s blog has gone from pastime to fulltime, gifting her with opportunities far beyond her browser’s wildest dreams. Most notably at this year’s 84th Academy Awards, where along with Afrobella, Luvvie was selected as one of two brown bloggers to receive first-time red carpet and backstage coverage access, an honor solely based on her click appeal. Yet, recognition was knocking even before the Oscars came calling.
In 2009, Awesomely Luvvie won Best Humor Blog at the Black Weblog Awards and has never been bumped out the ballot since. But don’t think the e-queen is stuck on snark appeal. In addition to saluting the side-eye flag, Luvvie is also the founder of Red Pump, a nonprofit organization devoted to kindling HIV/AIDS awareness amongst women of all generations. Now, as part of BlackEnterprise.com‘s Black Blogger Month, Luvvie shares how her blog got so awesome.
I started blogging because of…
Huny Young’s blog, which was my introduction to the blogosphere. Her blog was just about her life and so interesting to read. In 2003, when I was in college, I started blogging on Xanga to basically chronicle my random adventures as an undergrad. But 2006 is when I started my current site, AwesomelyLuvvie.com. The switch happened when I graduated from college. I wanted to start fresh because I felt like I outgrew Xanga. I began to write about more than my life and had things to say about the world around me.
My biggest influence as a humor writer is…
Angela Nissel. Her book The Broke Diaries really showed me that I can do this and do it well. I have so much respect for her.
My biggest influences as a blogger are…
Fresh of Crunktastical because she’s one of the few other Black humor bloggers and she’s so hilarious with it. Folks try to duplicate her style but they can’t match it. And I love Angel Laws of Concrete Loop because she’s my age and has really shown that blogging can take you far when you stay true to yourself.
It’s important for me to maintain an honest voice in my writing because…
For me, it’s everything. I love that people who know me read my blog and say, “I can hear you saying that.” I can’t put out content that doesn’t feel genuine to me and I can’t duplicate anyone else’s writing style. It won’t be “Awesomely Luvvie.” It’d be “Terribly Someone Else.”
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Awesomely Luvvie stand out because…
It’s chock full of foolery and ratchetness in the voice of a superb side-eye artist! But really… I think what makes my blog stand out is that I write like I speak. My take on a lot of what’s going on in the world is really authentic to how I feel and my sharp tongue and love of side-eyes seems to appeal to folks. People tell me that I say what they want to but are afraid they can’t get away with. Plus, I still value the craft of writing well. I use spell-check, when I’m not making up my own terms and words, that is.
I realized blogging was a business when…
Companies and brands started reaching out to me on some, “We love your site and we’d like to partner with you” steeze. I was like, “Me? Really?” GAP reached out to me to become a brand ambassador and I love that store. And then I started monetizing by putting ads on my sidebar and a few coins dropped in my bank account every month. I was like, “Oh, snap!” [Laughs].
The biggest mistake I ever made in business was…
Probably me not monetizing [the site] sooner; I don’t think I had ads until 2009. I had a fulltime job then and wasn’t in a hurry to get more money. How foolish of me?
What I learned from that was…
One can never have too many streams of income.
The biggest lesson I learned about branding in the digital space is…
It’s important to know that your brand is really how you make people feel and in this digital space most of that comes from your words. How folks perceive you are based on your blogs and your tweets can make a huge difference in how far you go as a blogger. Laughter is part of my brand and it makes me happy to know folks see my eCrib as a space that can make them smile. In this world–and especially online–there’s a lot of hate that makes us all frown. The fact that folks know they can come to Awesomely Luvvie and get a cackle is my prize.
The Black blogosphere’s impact on social issues is powerful because…
The Black blogosphere often turns important issues from whispers to yells. We kick off conversation that grow until they are heard by the people who need to. In the Trayvon Martin case, a lot of us took to our blogs and Twitter accounts to talk about it. We RT’d the petition and used our platforms to make sure people know about it. And this is why I love us. We’re not just fluff. We can make an impact and we do.
In business you should you never be afraid to…
Pay it forward to someone else. The knowledge and lessons you’ve learned in business can make someone’s path a bit easier than yours is. Share your lessons… especially women. For girls to really run the world, we’ve got to start supporting each other more. Trailblazers leave a trail. They don’t erase it as they go along.
The advice I have for anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps is…
Do work you’re passionate about and have a blog that you’d like to read, even if you weren’t the person behind it. Be authentic and stay true to your voice.
The most awesome thing about me is…
I look like a cartoon for real [Laughs]! Folks meet me and go, “OMG! That avatar is you!” But besides that, I’m just a smiley writer who folks find hilarious. And my locs are luxurious. My blog is awesome because it’s entertaining, funny, snarky, and a well-written version of the person I am. It’s me in print.
Be sure to check out the rest of the digital thought leaders as they’re revealed each day by logging on to BlackEnterprise.com/BlackBloggerMonth.