Career Profile: Julia Engel, Gal Meets Glam and Gal Meets Glam Collection

When Julia Engel started her fashion blog out of her college dorm room in 2011, she didn’t know that it would catapult her career. She started sharing her personal style her junior year with her then-boyfriend now-husband Thomas Berolzheimer behind the camera. After graduation, Engel worked a full-time job while continuing to work on Gal Meets Glam with Berolzheimer late at night and on weekends. Once Gal Meets Glam had a higher revenue than her full-time job, Engel decided to devote all her time and energy to Gal Meets Glam in 2013 and instantly realized it was the right decision.

Fast forward and Engel has more than a million followers on Instagram alone, has been named one of Forbes’ Top Influencers in 2017, and has worked on campaigns with brands including Tory Burch, Tiffany & Co., and Nordstrom. Berolzheimer has also joined the Gal Meets Glam full-time and they’ve hired a team that works out of their Charleston office. Now Engel’s achieved her long-time goal of launching her own clothing line, Gal Meets Glam Collection, a line of modern feminine dresses sold at their site and at Nordstrom. We spoke about her career advice, collection, and how she turned her blog into a business.

What inspired you to start Gal Meets Glam? 

I spent a great deal of time combing through fashion magazines and websites, always passionate about clothes and finding my personal style. I started Gal Meets Glam in 2011 when I was a junior in college studying business. I knew I wanted to create something, but I wasn’t entirely sure of what that ‘something’ was. So I decided to sign up for Blogger and wrote my first blog post. I went into the process without any expectations except to have fun and use Gal Meets Glam as a platform to be creative and see where it took me.

You started Gal Meets Glam in college then worked a full-time job and blogged on the side. How did you decide to leave your job and pursue Gal Meets Glam full-time?

Deciding to become a full-time blogger was a scary decision. At the time, [Berolzheimer] was still in graduate school, so that meant we’d have no guaranteed income. Despite how scary it was, I knew it was the right choice. I was commuting two hours each way to work, working eight hours, and then getting home and working on my blog. The blog was making as much money for me as my full-time job and it was growing quickly — all despite the fact that I was unable to dedicate my full attention to it. Within a few weeks of going full-time, it was very clear to me that I made the right decision.

Congratulations on launching Gal Meets Glam Collection! What motivated you to start your own collection?

Thank you! When I started Gal Meets Glam back in 2011, it was simply a way for me to share my love of fashion and what inspired me daily. Within the first few years, I was able to build an amazing community of women who all came to me because they identified with my feminine, non-trendy style, which mostly centered around dresses. I love dresses and practically live in them year-round, and our readers do, too! However, I always felt that there was a gap in the market for dresses that are both feminine and classic, but also available at an approachable price point. As a shopper and customer, I’ve always been incredibly frustrated by this. So in 2014, I began the ascent towards creating a line that met all of these unfulfilled needs. I knew that I wasn’t alone in wishing for a product like this, as the community of women that have joined us on this journey have expressed their longing as well. I’ve basically created all of the dresses that I’ve always wished I had.

How did you decide to focus exclusively on dresses? 

I wear dresses all the time. It got to a point where they became synonymous with Gal Meets Glam. From the very beginning of wanting to create this collection, I knew I wanted to only focus on dresses. They’re what I know and what I love, so it was a very natural process for me.

Where did you draw your inspiration for Gal Meets Glam Collection? 

Each dress in Gal Meets Glam Collection is an extension of my personal style, a modern take on classic sophistication and feminine elegance. My favorite eras for fashion were the 40s and 50s, so a lot of the silhouettes and styles are inspired by the dresses women used to wear back then, but I wanted to make them feel fresh and modern. I’m also inspired by thinking about the women who will wear them — what’s practical for her every day, what kind of dress does she wish she had in her closet or what will she keep reaching for over and over again.

What has been the biggest challenge and, on the flip side, the biggest reward of being a blogger?

The biggest challenge, especially in the early years, was not having a clear path laid out for me. While many of our decisions and strategies turned out to be the right ones, there were also things that went wrong. I used these failures as learning opportunities. I also learned that there’s no substitute for solid short and long-term planning, which we think applies to anyone that has a career. While you might not always follow the path you set out for yourself (we certainly didn’t), at the very least, you’ll have something to direct you and guide your actions. The most rewarding thing about owning our own business is that we receive immediate benefits — and feedback — from our own achievements, making it so much easier to put in the extra needed hours and effort that comes with being an entrepreneur.

What is a workday as Julia like? Please walk me through a day!

Since Gal Meets Glam is my full-time business, I work on it all day, every day, seven days a week. The greatest thing about working for yourself is that you can set your own hours, but since my life is my work, I pretty much work from the moment I open my eyes until I go to sleep. A typical day consists of answering emails, running social media, meetings, and calls, working with brands, styling looks, shooting content, writing copy, searching for inspiration, and many other things in between like travel, location scouting, and planning out our calendar months ahead.

There seem to be a lot of misconceptions about the business of blogging. What are your responsibilities as the founder of Gal Meets Glam?

I think there are a lot of misconceptions about blogging because the public only sees the end result of all the work we actually do. And the term ‘blogger’ now seems to carry a negative connotation. While there are, in fact, a lot of people out there taking pictures and sharing them online, everyone’s not the same. Some people just enjoy doing it as a hobby. It’s important to me to approach my business in a way that reflects my true style in an aesthetically pleasing, consistent, and professional way.

Each post takes a lot of work behind the scenes. Please walk me through the process of creating one blog post from start to finish. 

It all starts with an idea, whether I’m traveling somewhere, shooting something for a season or a specific campaign for a brand, or coming up with a concept through brainstorming. I spend a lot of time browsing online to find great pieces that go with the stories we create. Sometimes I’m inspired by a specific item I find, colors I come across, a beautiful image or something I rediscover in my closet, and the blog post concept comes to life.

Next, I go location scouting, either locally or online using Pinterest, Google Maps, and Instagram Geo Tags. [Berolzheimer] and I shoot a few hundred photos for a typical blog post and sometimes almost a thousand per day when we travel to an amazing location.

After shooting, I upload it to Lightroom (our preferred editing software). I edit everything but am hoping to eventually pass that role off to someone as we grow our team. Editing starts with selection, which involves separating out the best photos from the shoot. After that, I edit the selected images and then further narrow them down after deciding what the layout of the post will be. After that, I upload the images to WordPress, which is the platform our website runs on. I pay close attention to how I layout the images to make sure they help tell the story I’m after.

After the layout is finished, I grab all of the product links for the post, and then I write the post. After I finish, I have [Berolzheimer] read through to check for any spelling or grammatical errors. From the moment I upload the photos to my computer, the average blog post process takes about three to four hours.

What are the most important characteristics someone needs to have to be successful as a fashion blogger?

To be a successful blogger, it’s important to be dedicated and consistent. I’ve spent countless hours staying up at night to make sure the next day’s post goes up on time. Consistency is key because readers come back each day expecting to see something new. You have to be passionate about what you’re talking about and passionate about connecting with people. Being business savvy is incredibly important as well.

What advice do you have for bloggers who hope to monetize their blogs? 

I’ve always encouraged people not to go out and start a blog for the sole purpose of making money because they’ll be easily discouraged when they find out how difficult it really is. I’m always amazed by how many people think of blogging as a ‘get rich quick’ opportunity that anyone with a camera and wardrobe can do. A combination of a uniquely great idea, really hard work, passion, focus, timing, and sheer luck all play into making a new business thrive. I spent the first two to three years barely breaking even.

Start a blog because you have a passion for sharing your particular take on the world. Focus first on deeply connecting with your readers, and then on growing that segment of people. The money will follow eventually.

The blogging world can be competitive and I’m sure there can be criticism and competition from readers and other bloggers. How have you learned to deal with criticism and stay focused?