This week we’re excited to feature Alex Morehouse, founder of The Gypsy Shack! Started with her best friend, Iris, TGS was originally a blog for sharing their adventures through photos and short stories, but has in the last 6 months grown into a collaboration hub for creatives and businesses seeking help with content, promotion or growing into omni-channel sales. They will also be hosting workshops, classes, meet-ups, and family vacations – amongst many other fun things coming up this year! To learn more about TGS visit their website or Instagram here!
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background? Hi there! I’m Alex Morehouse, a full time Fashion Merchandising student at Cal State Long Beach (graduating in May – whoop whoop) also working full time for an amazing boutique in Long Beach called La Bella! I moved down here from a tiny mountain town up north near Yosemite, and started The Gypsy Shack Blog with my best friend Iris in March of 2016! Back home, in high school, I started my first online store and also helped local boutiques with charitable fashion shows, marketing and promotion ideas, and also helped with buying! That was all what truly sparked my love for fashion and the creative community!
What 3 words would you use to describe yourself? Tall, loud, forward-thinking
What Profession other than yours would you love to attempt? Right now with The Gypsy Shack it’s given me an amazing opportunity to try out a handful of different positions! It started with “modeling,” then I branched into writing blogs, then that lead into more of a website which I had to design, so naturally I needed a logo… and it snowballed from there! I’ve been dabbling in a little bit of everything and loving it all!
What inspired your blog? My love for fashion, photography, food and adventure!
What is your favorite social media platform and why? Instagram! It’s how I’ve built most of my team for The Gypsy Shack because it connects people and gives people the opportunity to discover and connect with people! It’s a great tool for networking as well as for marketing and brand awareness!
Where do you find inspiration for blog posts? Our blog posts are about the projects we’re working on or boutiques that we come across! If they’re local I’ll go in and do a pull with the owner or manager, but if the stores or are out area or are online often time they’ll ship product for us to use for our shoot! I throw a team together of models, a MUA, photographer, and sometimes a videographer to get some cool footage and content with their clothing which we send to them to use to amp up their social media / marketing game! Lots of times it’s brainstorming with photographers about locations and vibes to broaden their portfolio and to try new or different things!
How does a brand get your attention for a feature? If they’re on Instagram that’s how I find A LOT of our potential brand partners! Also if I wander into a store and I love what I see I’ll hand out a business card! I also receive emails and DM’s from companies and retailers who want to collaborate! I mostly choose to work with brands that are true to my own image and the image of The Gypsy Shack!
What do you love most about blogging? It gives our projects a voice! We can tell the stories about the shoot or funny things that happened! We can put words and life into our images!
In your opinion, what separates a great blog from an unsuccessful blog? For me a great blog is one that excites and involves its readers! I think The Gypsy Shack has been generating an audience that is excited to see our work, but also excited at the prospect of joining us if they’re a creative since we have our open door policy!
