A Letter from the Editor-In-Chief, Marie Denee: 15 Years of Plus Measurement Trend with TCF

Fifteen years. 15 Occasions. 3,590+ Articles. 850,000+ followers, followers, and subscribers from the US, Italy, and the UK to Australia, Canada, Brazil, Japan, and China. This 12 months’s birthday (Christmas to be actual) marks an anniversary that I by no means dreamed of reaching– marking 15 years (and counting) of The Curvy Fashionista bringing you the most recent in plus dimension vogue information, model, and sources! 

I believed for some time about which course I needed to go together with this reflection on the previous 15 years. Not solely have the plus dimension group and the style business grown, developed, and reworked over time, however TCF and I have grown, developed, and reworked. Do I vogue a “better of,” “high moments,” or a “what I’d prefer to see from plus dimension vogue” method? Might that presumably seize every part I’ve to say?

This 12 months, particularly after the final two years, has been so impactful and transformational for me personally and professionally that it doesn’t make any sense to create a listicle. I’d moderately share a mirrored image of this progress and the thrill I’ve about what’s to come back… from the lens of a founder, an Editor-in-Chief, and a member of this group.

Reintroducing The Curvy Fashionista

So, the place do I start? Let’s first begin with the place I’m– as a result of this 12 months has been actually a blessing in disguise– one I prefer to check with as my Phoenix elevating from the ashes. This has been a 12 months of therapeutic. A 12 months of transition. A 12 months of schooling. A 12 months of basis. And better of all, a 12 months that has birthed a renewed pleasure and vigor that I missed! 

I need to admit… it was not till final 12 months that I actually realized what (and the worth of) what I had constructed. After a failed enterprise deal that eviscerated and deflated any sense of self, I’ve been on a transformational journey that has helped me notice my value, discover my confidence, and supply readability on what I used to be constructing and why. 

It’s been a journey that’s begged me to ask myself, “How am I displaying up for me?!” How might I present up for my enterprise if I didn’t present up for myself? My group? My family and friends? 

Now that I’ve readability, enable me to reintroduce myself:

Howdy! My identify is Marie Denee, and I’m the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Curvy Fashionista. This reintroduction, getting extra private than I ever have, is my manner of displaying up for you. For TCF. For many who assist make TCF what it’s and might be. As a result of darling… this acutely aware confidence I’ve discovered? This self-awareness? This therapeutic? This drive and ambition? I’m sooooo geeked for what’s to come back. 

For my fellow entrepreneurs, you’ll perceive me after I say, “When you’re good, your online business is nice” and vice versa! BUT! What occurs once you utterly neglect your self? I didn’t even notice that I had been pouring a lot of what I had and knew into TCF that I didn’t look after a very powerful thing- ME. And I didn’t notice how essential I used to be within the equation that’s my enterprise. 

I let disappointments, heartbreaks, misplaced friendships, errors, and the concern of rejection, acceptance, or each dim my mild. I fell all the best way again. I made myself small. Together with the melancholy that led to my remedy journey, I used to be carrying the residue from childhood traumas that I believed I had handled. It was there I spotted the necessity for the group– the group I had spoken about a lot. It was the impetus for launching our TCFStyle Lounge. I wanted that. I wanted YOU. However as a result of I fell up to now again, I didn’t know HOW to point out up. 

It was with final 12 months’s divine realignment and repositioning that I actually realized, questioned, and really noticed the various errors and classes that I wanted to handle and the way TCF was in its good place to develop and scale to greater heights. Divine timing. 

When the Scholar is Prepared, The Lesson Seems

I wrote a reflection on the BOMESI Accelerator Program, and shared how my new mentor helped right my mindset and method to TCF and the enterprise of publishing. It was mind-blowing and eye-opening! It confirmed me a complete new world. 

You see – after I began TCF, I had no concept that this journey would carry me right here! Running a blog was not a proper profession that you can make a dwelling from. There was no marketing strategy. No technique or group to make it work. It was all natural progress and many leaps of religion. 

After a couple of cool campaigns (Evans, Chevrolet, Marina Rinaldi, Nordstrom, and Hole) and awards (The Root 100, Ebony Future50, and the FIIAs, amongst a couple of others), I knew the place I needed to go, however I had no identify for it or roadmap for how one can get there. 

I’m chuckling to myself as I write this in hindsight realizing how hilarious it was not realizing what I used to be constructing or what business I used to be actually aligning with. And I didn’t have the acutely aware confidence to make all of it occur. Even nonetheless – my large bushy audacious aim of TCF sitting subsequent to WhoWhatWear, The Zoe Report, or Refinery29 was by no means a matter of if I might do it, however how. 

And it felt just like the spirit answered my query. 

People say when the scholar is prepared the lesson will present itself, proper? Effectively, this 12 months has proven that to be so true for me! Because of the BOMESI Accelerator and different divinely aligned people, I’ve a transparent course of the place I would like and must go, the instruments that I want, and the ecosystem wanted to help me and my imaginative and prescient. Shifting ahead, one of many methods I’m honoring all that TCF is and may be is by now not figuring out as a weblog, however as a vogue digital media writer.

For the “how”, that is the place the New Voices 2023 Madam CJ Walker PACE Bootcamp comes into play on the subject of my private degree up as a enterprise proprietor and founder. 

My private journey has been plenty of realizing and acknowledging my errors, studying from them, however NOT beating myself up about it (which is hilariously exhausting to do as a Virgo with a Cap moon IYKYK). It additionally means studying how one can ask for assist and never judging myself for momentarily forgetting that I’m not a Superwoman. It additionally means studying how one can acknowledge, obtain, acknowledge, and have a good time myself– interval. 

What to Count on in 2024 from The Curvy Fashionista

Whereas we make this transition, there might be small adjustments right here and there as we tinker with the brand new instruments and sources at our disposal. You may anticipate to see new subjects, deeper dives, and new faces on our platforms. Now, I wish to share how I see TCF rising and what you may anticipate from me. 

This new chapter is all about managed progress, leaning into the novelty, and being intentional. Previously, TCF grew hella quick in sure areas- solely to need to contract when it didn’t work or after I had no concept what I used to be doing. So, now? It’s all about schooling, technique, planning, and audacity. 

Since I’m extra conscious of the enterprise of publishing, I now know and see the place we now have alternatives for progress. I would like the interviews, the in-depth reporting, the introduction of subjects that we love, however by no means understood how one can roll it out– which brings me to Micah. 

Our Managing Editor, Micah Gause (please welcome her, y’all) is such a breath of contemporary air of course, group, and technique to the workforce. Her content material technique expertise, resourcefulness, and wonder background, paired along with her being a plus dimension individual dwelling on the East Coast carry a fantastic stability and course to our content material! 

As I discover ways to defer all issues content material to her, I might be engaged on driving the imaginative and prescient of the model. Occasions, partnerships, and this *new & shiny* column. You will note extra of ME in new methods. Now that I’m again house in Southern California, I’ll ensure that to point out up in ways in which problem my previous Most cancers rising hermit consolation. 

However that is the place I want your assist. 

As I work on displaying up for me and TCF, might I’ve your help right here? As I study to ask for assist, I believe my first step is asking you to assist maintain me accountable. If I slide again into being quiet otherwise you wish to problem me to point out up extra, please don’t be shy… tag me in! 

I’d additionally love your help within the feedback. Sharing our content material on social. Subscribe to our e-newsletter. Reply to our newsletters in case you have a problem, query, or want some recommendation! If you’re on X (previously referred to as Twitter), cease by and say hello to me @mariedenee! That’s the place I’m THE most energetic! 

I truthfully wouldn’t have the ability to develop with TCF if it had not been for every one in every of you studying all through the years. So, for that, I thanks. Thanks for each manner you might have proven up for me, even after I didn’t know, couldn’t, or was afraid to point out up for myself. 

I hope that you’re prepared for what’s to come back as a result of I do know that I *lastly* am. Thanks so rattling a lot. Right here’s to fifteen years, and searching ahead to fifteen+ extra!