An Evening With Liberty London Girl...

Last night was a long time coming, you may recall the excitement when I read that Liberty London Girl was coming to Bath to 'speak' at one of the Bath In Fashion events...In brief, it's a week full of events from fashion showcases and art to talks from some amazing names in the industry... 

Sasha Wilkins (AKA LLG) is one of the most engaging and inspiring people I have EVER met...She went on stage just after 8pm and talked (without scripts/notes) for just over an hour...Sasha spoke passionately (with perfectly placed injections of humour) about how she started out, the pitfalls, the achievements, the lows (and there were plenty!), the highs, the sausage dog, her travels, the names and now, where her life is today.... Honestly, I barely blinked throughout!

The truly incredible lady herself (taken from the most perfect front row seat I bagged)...;

Dress Whistles, Shoes ASOS.

There is sooo much to share, my head has been spinning with ideas, her words and generous advice... So much so that on the way home last night I zoned out on Lady SatNav (the posh bitch who tells me which way home is), sat at a green light, got beeped and then missed two exits off a roundabout...I'd hate to think I was doing her an injustice by not filling this post with her exact words but let's face it, an hour and a half listening and then in conversation is hard to sum up in 300 words (read on, you'll see why 300, damn it, lost 6 words with my overuse of bloody brackets!!)

LLG, in brief..;

Her first job was very much Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wear Prada...(she joked that this is where she learnt to make the perfect cuppa')...Really though, her time grafting earned her the next job and so on... Conde Nast was her initial platform and since then she's made courageous decisions that most would shy away from, taken risks that find me reaching for a brown paper bag and dropping my head between my knees, clocked up Air Miles that a 747 pilot would be jealous of and all of this whilst working her talents as a journalist, stylist, editor, media consultant and of course, a blogger... One thing was clear, Sasha is not afraid of hard work! 

She's resilient and very switched on (and not afraid to drop the 'F BOMB' in conversation, not in a Chubby Brown way of course)...Now, after an all-time  low watching her home burn down and actually being homeless with NO money (love that as she fled the burning building, she grabbed a red lippy and her passport and tweeted a live feed!!), she owns her own businesses in media consultancy and film production annnnnd, was named in The Telegraphs Top 100 Bloggers in 2012... Don't be fooled, there were so many incredible achievements mentioned, I just couldn't write fast enough!!

My head is still spinning so for now, here's some words of wisdom I picked up in relation to blogging, in no particular order..;

• Maintain and keep your blog design appealing to readers and also, brands who might potentially want to work with you... 
• Keep a post to around 300 words to keep your readers engaged...(ahhh, about that...)
• Write a editorial diary...(this is on my things to do list..)
• Don't give up, when LLG launched fully in 2006 she had 30,000 page views in 12 months, now she gets this in 2 days (!!!)
• Everyone gets writers block...(encouraging to know)
• Use social media platforms in line with your blog...Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter..
• Bounce backs (when someone looks at your page and goes again without actually reading) are unavoidable, these should be under 65% of your views..
• Posting every other day is a good way to keep readers coming back...(yeah, sorry about that... 2-3 times per week needs to improve, I clearly have enough to say..)
• You can't predict what people want to read, a post about a family member is still her biggest post to date!
• RSS email feed...(OK, I got lost here... I'm all over Google to learn more)
• Keywords are vital.. I have snuck one in here that she mentioned last night.. (hoping it's not copyrighted...I'd have to sell my shoes..)
• Affiliate schemes were mentioned...I'm a novice and apart from the comments made last night, this is a new one on me...(Google is my friend)
• Don't be afraid to say NO to an opportunity...(it worked for LLG and I get it)

When it came to dressing for the evening it was all about what the buggering weather was gonna' do...(shoe related, of course..). The outfit of choice...;

Prada came out to play!

The Zara Necklace from here made it's third appearance accompanied by the ASOS double collared shirt.

Maiden Voyage of my Rupert Sanderson Seville Burgundy Python pumps (squeals with excitement!!)

How big are my cheeks, squirrel at feeding time? 

Sasha answered questions from the crowd like she had all night, each response was full and informative and once done, she came to meet the enchanted audience and spent time with everyone!

This image is from LLG's Instagram page, I stole it because I believe it..

You can follow the LLG blog here.

LLG responded to my tweet...Mum, get the scrapbook!

Oh oh, I also walked away with this goodie bag..;

I've (smashed) through my '300 words' but, I hope you have enjoyed it..

Coming tomorrow...What I bought at The Bull Ring today and the contents of the goodie bag!

Happy Saturday
x