Baby I'm A Star: How to Build a Blog into a Successful Business
In this episode of Build The Damn Thing, Kathryn Finney opens up about the different struggles she went through on her way to success as a Black woman in business and as an innovator in technology. Learn about her business trajectory since the early 2000s, where she was managing to create the Budget Fashionista blog, which later on became a sensation in the blogging community. However, this was not enough to succeed: with the evolution of technology Kathryn had to constantly reinvent herself and come up with new ideas and new projects that weren’t received with open arms by the white male community who had the monopoly over entrepreneurship and technology at that time.
This episode is a testimony of how Kathryn turned every rejection or project that did not work out the way she wanted into motivation to inspire other women and spark new and innovative ideas to change the game.
Kathryn Finney is known as a pioneer in the fashion blogging community thanks to her blog “The Budget Fashionista” which has helped thousands of women dress chic and cheap. Kathryn not only has built a huge blogging community but also has been featured among "America's Top 50 Women In Tech" by Forbes and is greatly recognized by books like How to be a Budget Fashionista and The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less. In fact, Kathryn is the living definition of a businesswoman who is always trying to generate new ways to share her knowledge about fashion and entrepreneurship just like she does through her platform the Genius Guild which apart from having the podcast “Build that Damn Thing”, invests in companies led by Black founders.
Insights from the Podcast
How Kathryn became a successful black businesswoman.
Details on how Kathryn had to constantly reinvent her projects according to the technology and blogging evolutions.
Difficulties Kathryn experienced being a black woman in a work scenario mainly dominated by white men.
How throughout the years Kathryn, with the help of other black businesswomen, found her spot in the fashion and entrepreneur industry.
How Kathryn has always sought to support women, who like her in the early 2000s, are looking to be successful.
Quotes from the show:
“I wasn't the first black woman, I was one of the first women period” -Kathryn Finney, Build The Damn Thing Episode #3
“Blogging was the future and I knew how influential the influencers were for their community” -Kathryn Finney, Build The Damn Thing Episode #3
“I needed to build a team because I couldn't do it all myself, I couldn't serve the amount of content that my community wanted all the time” -Kathryn Finney, Build The Damn Thing Episode #3
“I kind of knew that it was changing, I started to see that technology became easier, there were more people and more competition and the difference between me and others was not that great, people started to try to take the name of Budget Fashionista which I had trademarked” -Kathryn Finney, Build The Damn Thing Episode #3
“My agent and attorney at the time said to me: don't you ever do that again and I was like what do you mean? They were like you can't be smart like that, you let us do that” -Kathryn Finney, Build The Damn Thing Episode #3
“I don't know of any black woman that ever received the venture funding and I don't think you'll be the first” -Kathryn Finney, Build The Damn Thing Episode #3
“We were invisible Black Founders, Black women were invisible, the irony of it is to see how many of them are trying to get woken up” -Kathryn Finney, Build The Damn Thing Episode #3
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Produced by Genius Guild Content Studios
Executive Producers: Kathryn Finney and Darlene Gillard Jones
Post-Production Company: Prosper Digital TV
Post-Production Manager: Joanes Prosper
Post-Production Supervisor: Jason Pierre
Post-Production Sound Editor: Evan Joseph
Co-Music Supervisors: Jason Pierre and Darlene Gillard Jones
Show Music: provided by Prosper Digital TV
Main Show Theme Music: "Self Motivated" Written & Performed by Tamara Bubble
Add’l Music: "Lil' Sumn" by Dreamadai
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Season 1 Episode 3
July 30, 2021
37 mins, 50 secs (34.7MB, Audio)
#BlackExcellence #Entrepreneurship #FashionBlog #BloggersUnite #Startups #BlackWomen #KathrynFinney #BlackOwned #TheBudgetFashionista #BlacksInTech #AfroTech #BlackAuthors #Discrimination #Incubators #Lissen
