April 18, 2021 makes 2 years since I started blogging. I honestly can’t believe that it’s been that long. I’ve had my brand name “Southern Life of Jas” for 3 years, my blog for 2 years, and my content page for 4 months. They are like my children in a way.
Now the real question is: how did all of this come about?
Fall 2017 I took a Management 101 class and at the end of the semester we had a project that everyone had to do. Our project was to create a “Book of Possibilities” and present it to the class. The idea was inspired by the movie “Last Holiday” staring Queen Latifah. The movie is about a woman who was told that she was going to die. So she decides to spend up all her money on things she had in her book of possibilities. I remember watching the movie a lot growing up. My professor pointed out a lot in class as well that we are our own CEO and brand. He gave us two options of how to present our presentation, either a video or a PowerPoint. I chose a video. (Link to the video: https://youtu.be/uncP8RqGBho)
The next year, my brand name “Southern Life of Jas” was born. How did this name came about? I had followed Devale and Khadeem Ellis for while and they had a hashtag called #DevalesTruth. It basically revolved around their marriage and family life raising 3 whole boys. I wanted to come up with something that represents me and my life. I used the word southern because I’m a southern girl. I used the word life because my life is very interestingly complicated. Finally, Jas because that is my nickname that all my family and friends call me. There was no other hashtag out there and it was perfect for me. I used the brand name on all my Instagram posts as well as for YouTube.
After quitting from YouTube, I still wanted to make some kind of content with my brand name. For two years I had thought about starting a blog, but I was unsure of what I would talk about and if people would read it. Two months after quitting YouTube, the Southern Life of Jas blog was born. I began to share personal stories, college advice, mental health talks, options, and much more. I felt so proud to have it and I didn’t think it would do so well. My goal with my blog is to not only share my story, but speak on facts that are true. Nowadays some things you find online aren’t always true. For my blog, it’s always the truth. Why? I do my research before hand and I have a lot of knowledge that I learned from when I was in school.
Blogging has been a lot of fun, but I felt that I needed more to reach my audience. I had to think and pray long and hard about starting a content Instagram page. I had to ask myself “what will I post?”, “will this be a daily thing?”, “would people follow it?”, etc. So many questions and so much research. I knew that this is my brand and that I am the one making original content. January 2021 Southern Life of Jas Instagram page was born. Everyday I post different types of content. Such as Encouragement Sunday, Music Monday, Blog Post Tuesday, and Wisdom Wednesday. But Thursday through Saturday every month is a different type of content.
I’ve been doing this for a while now and I often ask myself, what is the purpose, mission,and goals for this brand? As I was doing content creating, it all came to me within my work. The purpose is to shed light to people in the most humble and fun way possible. Today’s world is so full of bad and evil. I want to bring light and happiness.The mission is to have the truth be told of what is right and be far different from any type of content creator there is. What are the goals I want to achieve for this brand? I really want to participate in Power Morphicon, get brand deals that revolve around what I like/my vibe, and possibly return to YouTube.
The purpose, mission, and goals could possibly change over time, but as for me at my age this is what I stand for. I’m so blessed and grateful to have a platform that I can be myself. I hope that it can grow even more.