Meet Tasha Steel, a North East award-winning lifestyle blogger.
Photo credit: Barbora Bednarova
It was a cold Sunday morning when I and Tasha met in Holmeside café in the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens. Whilst waiting for our cappuccino and flat white coffee, Tasha talked about her disappointment over her Topshop knitted crop jumper, which she was determined to return even though it looked so lovely.
Hello Freckles – Tasha’s blog – is full of inspirational articles and pictures, and being from the North East we decided to meet with her and discuss her success over the last couple of years.
Tasha is a 26-year-old blogger from Sunderland and introduces herself on her blog as an: ‘Award-winning lifestyle blogger sharing thoughts on everything from styling up the latest seasonal pieces, to where to get the best burger.’ She also covers topics such as beauty, personal lifestyle, and travel.
“It was the North East blogger awards where I was nominated for three or four categories. Actual people outside of my family nominated me – excellent. I had to record a video about how I would feel if I won. Then I went to the ceremony, heard my name get called out. I was like – oh that’s me,” says Tasha.
Inspiring people for a couple of years now through her online platform, we were curious about how it all started.
Tasha said: “It takes me back to 2011, back when I was in first year of Uni and I started to read some blogs and I think one part of our module was to create an online website/blog. I wanted to do a food blog, but baking takes a lot of time and so does photographing everything – eating is the easy part though. Then I started finding fashion blogs and I was like – oh I could possibly do this. So using my student loan I went out, bought a few bits and I started to write about styling.”
In the style section on Tasha’s website, you can find many articles about styling or about shopping tips for example, how you can change your closet for less, how to style for Christmas party or five tips for outlets shopping. Even though her blog is not necessarily about fashion anymore, there are plenty of articles about lifestyle and about travel tips which are incredibly useful.
Tasha also mentioned she has a YouTube channel where you can watch her travel vlog from Mugla and Turkey, which she visited this year.
Do you have a YouTube channel or are you planning to create one?
“I’ve got one. My last one is from Turkey. It is something I think I want to do, but it is just so hard to fit in. I think I could do it later, maybe in the new year. I just need to find the time to do it.”
Do you travel a lot? Which country do you like the most?
“This year I’ve been in Australia for a month, I’ve been to Turkey and Spain. I think I like Australia the most, there is so much to do, so much to see. Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef is probably the most fun I had because I am not usually keen on the sea. I like it, I think it’s amazing, like all the things we’ve got in the sea, but when you look down and you cannot see the bottom – it freaks me out a bit, but just to see all of the turtles and fishes, it is just amazing.
“I don’t want to get in the situation and think oh I wish I did this. It is better to do it than later think about what you could have done.”
Can you tell us what your family think about your blogging?
‘They are all very supportive. When I first set up my blog, I thought I would never tell anybody about it. But it is so hard to take your photos by yourself. I mentioned it briefly to some people. It was obviously a few years ago, so I wasn’t the best. But my mom thought: Oh, this is actually really good. And then my mom told her work friends and my sister told her friends.”
Is being a blogger your full-time job?
“No, no, I think quite a lot of people think it is because it kind of was when I was quitting my other job and I was freelancing and blogging. But since then, I’ve started another full-time job which is communication. I like it, it’s busy.”
Tasha wrote an article on her blog about quitting her job, why she decided to leave and why she was not feeling happy in it.
“The article was a very popular one, and I think it explains it better than I can. I wasn’t in a good place with work and I thought if I got through this, someone else probably has, so if I can help at least one person then great. It was a big decision to quit, but my family was there for me during the hard times,” says Tasha.
It is really important to talk about everything that is happening in your life. When you feel like you can’t talk about your problems to someone in work or uni, try to talk about it to friends or if not, write it down like she did. You can even write an email to Tasha who experienced the same situation as you. It’s not healthy for you to be in an environment when everyone is against you.
Photo credit: Barbora Bednarova
Tasha’s advice to all Fashion North readers who might feel the same is:
“I think it is important to talk about your problems. It’s never a problem to say to somebody I am upset about this. Talking to somebody really helps. You’re not alone.”
We hope Tasha has inspired you. Whether it be her styling articles or travel tips or in the importance of talking about your feelings and problems. Remember, when you are dealing with very difficult times someone else may have had the same experience too.
There are also charities to talk to about these issues, or Tasha has said she is more than happy to help, you can send her an email at ohhellofreckles@gmail.com.
