When it comes to Mia Ray’s Glam-Aholic Lifestyle brand, there’s no heavily-layered business plan to back up the growth. Like many entrepreneurs in this flexible and creative business era, she started with a small idea that would potentially lead to greater opportunities. Sticking to where consumers are found in the greatest numbers — the web and social media — Ray turned a blog (Confessions of a Glam-Aholic) into a brand and, most recently, a hair extensions line: Same Girl Different Hair.
“When I started the blog it was a snowball effect. More and more people would reach out and tell me they read it or purchased something that I suggested,” said Ray. “It was surreal. After that the brand came along and it took off.”
Before she launched her blog site in 2009, Ray worked as boutique buyer. Juggling countless odd jobs prior to that, working as a buyer was her official break into fashion. Soon after a friend encouraged her to transpose her fashion sense and tips — which she kept in a notebook — onto a blog.
“That really gave me a boost of confidence. From there I thought, ‘Okay I can handle this. This is what I’ve been hoping for’,” Ray said.
When Confessions of a Glam-Aholic gained a solid following, Ray added a shop component to the brand (via glamaholiclifestyle.com) and began selling shirts, bags and key chains with the Glam-Aholic word logo. Teaming up with an established friend in fashion and entertainment Ray reached out and sent shirts to celebrities that she thought would identify with the brand. Her “Same Girl Different Hair” shirt turned out to be a smash as former 106 & Park host Rocsi Diaz, Marsha Ambrosius, Angela Simmons, the OMG Girlz and others wore it.
“I was getting orders from everywhere; NY, California, and Florida. I’m really in-tune with social media and people always told me how much they loved the movement. I don’t want to say it was an overnight success, but it was,” Ray admits.
