Elena Baxter is the Vice-President of Lifestyle + Charity. Her experience with website management, brand management and marketing is what helps the website progress.

The other part of Elena’s life involves being a mentor to high school students and raising awareness & funds for multiple non-profit organizations known all over the world, so as directing events for Eden Autism Services, Build a Nest, and Tamika & Friends.

The fashion & lifestyle field is new too me as a blogging niche, so let’s see what it has to offer…

What surprised you the most during your first one to three months of blogging?
What surprised us most was the positive response and acceptance from our audience. We felt very welcomed into the bloggingworld.

On average, how long does it take you to write a post?
Depending upon the subject matter it takes any where from 1 – 3 hours.

Where do you do most of your writing (home, office, coffee shop, on the go, etc.)?
We do most of our writing at home, but if our schedules are tight, we will write wherever we are at, bus, train, waiting on line during an errand.

Do you ever experience writer’s block?

Yes, absolutely. We have a lot going on so it is hard to stay focused and in a continual state of creativity, even though being creative is an outlet, we hold a very high standard to our writing in order to connect with our audience and be entertaining at the same time.

Do you use a smart-phone to help with any of your blogging duties (brainstorming, comment moderation, etc.)?
Yes we do. Our smart phones are usually in hand all the time. We take photos in real time to update our audience, we take notes with them, we stay up to date with articles from sites such as mashable (other bloggers).

Have you ever published a post and later deleted it? If so, why?

No we haven’t ever published something and then deleted it. We have a set of standards that we uphold to, and nothing gets published without it being approved first.

How do you deal with criticism and negativity from other bloggers or commenters?

Fortunately we haven’t experienced that much criticism, other than that we have ourselves. BUT, we decided to do this we did expect that there would be people that didn’t agree with us. We are growing thicker skins.

Many bloggers discover monetization is more difficult than they expected. How have you handled this challenge?

We’re still learning ourselves, but so far we have had advertisement opportunities through brand awareness via social media. And we are more focused on building our network more than gaining a profit… for now at least.

How much time do you spend reading and/or commenting on other blogs?
We have our favorite blogs that we are on all the time and add comments, but we usually read blogs just to keep up with what is going on in the media, and public view points.

How do you feel about the blogosphere’s impact on traditional media?
We love it. We feel that we entered this sphere at the right time and ahead of the game. We are the social media generation. Media travels at a greater speed than it ever has before due to the blog world. We are having a great time.

What’s the biggest mistake you see other bloggers making?

The greatest mistake we see are the bloggers that don’t stay committed to the cause. If you start blogging stick then stick with it, especially if you are good at it. We also think it’s a big mistake when I bloggers use their platform as a diary. The blog world is great to air some dirty laundry, BUT keep some stuff private. There is blog etiquette after all.

Favorite quote: “A man is what he thinks all day long” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

At the age of 25, she not only hopes to be very successful in her career, but also to be a strong role model to others. @emabax