The modern Millennial’s guide to winning at life
To me, lifestyle encompasses many areas that allow me to feel fulfilled and grow as a human being.
I love sharing inspiration for practical fashion tips (especially when traveling abroad) many of my outfits and style reflects a basic but classic, pulled-together look. I like dressing for the occasion but my go-to is typically a soft black sweater, jeans and riding boots.
I also enjoy using and sharing really great products. This can be anything from well-made items or businesses to beauty products.
I’m interested in financial wellbeing and continue to educate myself about saving and investments. I feel it’s important to continue to educate oneself on the aspects of finance and credit throughout life.
I’m also big on food and nutrition especially as it relates to fuel for life. I married a chef so I absolutely know what I got myself into. I’m always working on my Sous skills to be worthy of working in the kitchen alongside my husband 🙂 his culinary blog is here btw…
Salt and Love – A Cooking blog by Glenn Anderson
Lastly, I can’t leave out fitness. I’ve always led an active lifestyle. I studied martial arts as a young girl (from age 8 to 16). In college, I got into ballroom dancing and followed it into becoming a competitive International Standard dancer training with an amazingly dedicated partner and coaches (I danced competitively for about seven years). Currently, I reside in the Bay Area and enjoy getting out to hiking trails on the weekends in addition to weeknights at my home gym, Courage Performance, doing weightlifting and Crossfit.
Lifestyle Blog
KY Distillery Tour: Willett
Bourbon Chronicles: Willett Distillery Also on the list of distilleries not to miss is Willett. Location: The distillery is located just over an hour south of Louisville near a city called Bardstown. It’s also geographically close to the James Beam distillery, and is all but in the back yard of Heaven Hill’s main property. Plan…
KY Distillery Tour: Castle & Key Distillery
Bourbon Gin Chronicles: Castle & Key Distillery This is a location not to be missed. Personally, I’m more of a gin fan. And while this distillery is technically not (at this time) part of the KY Bourbon trail, it is absolutely worth your time to visit. They’ve recently started releasing a line of bourbons. At…
Product Review: my favorite things from Under Armour
This post contains a list of the products and items I’ve purchased from Under Armour for my personal workouts and everyday wear. Small caveat, at present, I work for the company so while I receive an employee discount on the items chose to I purchase, since I love the brand, I also love sharing when…
Hairstyles for women: must have hair products for formal events
For about 7 years of my life, I traveled and competed regularly in ballroom competitions. A few times I booked an appointment to get my hair done professionally but most of the time, I did my own. I learned over time what style worked for me and could do my own hair and makeup. Ballroom…
Career Navigation: Side Hustles Worth Investing In & Skills Worth Developing
Side Hustles and Skills Worth Investing In or Developing There are very few side gigs that can truly replace a full time income. But, side gigs are just that, gigs that are worth a bit of investment if you have time on the side and want to make extra money. This page from the Penny…
Retrospective: My Experience In Agency vs. In-House Roles
In my career as an SEO professional and digital marketer, I’ve spent time on the agency side as well as an in-house and as a consultant. For context, my “agency days” were roughly between 2012-2015. Cough, cough, so I suppose, at the time of documenting my reflections that’s now about 6 years ago which, isn’t…
On Building Resiliency (the key is adaptation)
Observations from a Millennial who lived through 9/11, the 2008 economic recession followed by a global pandemic in 2020. I started writing this post in 2020 as a way to cope and process what was going on during the COVID-19 outbreak. I updated it in late 2021 and all I can say is I’m really…
My 2021 Year In Review. More “unprecedented ness”
With March 2020 bringing on the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, in many ways the word “unprecedented” became the word of choice. For 2021 and me personally that word still fits. In a way, the last 3 ish years have been rather unprecedented for me personally and professionally. For context: August 2019: we got married…
Rant: how to not fail with online influencers
I started to see a pattern in the outreach messages I’ve received about doing brand collaborations and thought I’d jot down some thoughts…because, you know, my ultimate hope is to make the world a better place so let’s start with the internet. There’s a marketing tactic called “influencer marketing” where basically, anyone with a substantial…
If I announced I was giving a Ted Talk…
What topic would you automatically assume I would be speaking on? I thought this was a fun social media experiment. I posted the below image with this message on Facebook and Instagram: The responses were pretty interesting. Ball Room Dancing as a Metaphor for Google’s AlgorithmSEO landscapeWorking outSwing dancingTalk about the economic shifts of e-commerce…
Cyber Monday Deals 2019
As I browse the online deals this Cyber Monday, I have a song stuck in my head: “last Christmas I gave you my heart but the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to someone special…” In my head, I’m mentally swapping out the word…
Buyer beware: The pitfalls of buying a men’s wedding ring online
One of the hardest things to purchase online is jewelry and second to that is clothes. I recently went through the experience of buying a wedding ring online for my fiance and ran into difficulties with a vendor. My hope in publishing this article is that it reduces the likelihood of this happening to someone…
The Best Things In Life Are: Helpful
You know the cliche “the best things in life are free.” But I also happen to think the best things are things that are actually helpful: tools, recommendations, products and every-day items that solve a problem and make life easier. Here is a list of the incredibly helpful items I cannot live without. Collapsible folding…
The Reality of Freelancing: The Dream Is Free. The Hustle, Sold Separately
I used to dream about what it would be like to be a digital nomad. Just me, my laptop and a turquoise stretch of ocean on either side. I’d think about what it would be like to work from a remote location that inspired my creativity and not just a desk where I’m accounted for…
From Magician’s Assistant To Online Marketing Consultant
My very first job out of college (gasp! in 2007) was anything but a typical 9-5. But it’s part of who I am today. To this day, I’m not really sure how I came home and told my parents my first job was going to be a magician’s assistant. Quite literally but not literally. You…
Growing Up Millennial – Online Marketing Consultant Explains How ‘Kids Today’ Use Social Media
Imaging there is no Facebook. No Instagram. No Twitter. No Snapchat. What do you spend your time doing? Who are you telling that story to about your weekend adventure in LA rescuing the neighbor’s cat and breaking into your friend’s apartment because you were out partying but they fell asleep on the couch. Who is…
Modern Millennial Fitness: My Perspective On Speeding Up Recovery Time
This past week I’ve been recovering from a surgery where I had a gum graft done (that’s where they take a portion of skin from the roof of your mouth to essentially cover over the gum area of the tooth where you have a receding gum line. Exciting stuff, I know.) Anyway, I’ve been resting…
Why ‘La La Land’ Should Have Won Best Picture
‘La La Land’ encapsulates what it means to reconcile with the choices we make, bearing witness to outcomes that could have been, and in spite of this, owning our story and making the best of the choices we’ve made. This helps us move on in pursuit of becoming the best version of ourselves. There’s something…
Two Main Ingredients For Personal Branding: Salt & Love
I got to have dinner with a chef the other night. It was fun to see a completely different perspective on food, its taste and presentation — all the stuff you take for granted after awhile. It was kind of like sitting next to a director while watching a movie. You just know this person…
Cultivating Fearlessness: How I’m Learning To Get Over My Fear Of Failure
Let me give you steps of a completely different kind because there is no checklist to getting over your fears; there are no shortcuts here. For what it’s worth, I’m learning it has more to do with leveraging a balance of mental and physical strength. Getting into a routine that helps you build physical strength…
Life Advice: The Secret Of Competing Against Yourself
It’s the start of a new week. One that transitions into the next month of the new year, for that matter. Hopefully you’re getting excited for what is in store for you and all this week has to offer. I wanted to share some perspective from a video I watched today. It was a compilation…
Life Advice for Millennials: You Create Your Own Happiness Where You Are Right Now
I’ve had this quote tapped up to my bathroom mirror for a bit. And it’s a good one because… it centers you with the responsibility of creating your own happiness each day. But it’s also good to temper this expectation because while you’re responsible for your happiness, it’s truly a balance. Sometimes saying ‘yes’ to…
Life Advice for Millennials: How To Own Your Power
Sundays are a great day for getting perspective, reflecting on your goals, and also just getting things done. Especially on this rainy Sunday in January, I wanted to share three inspirational messages (one podcast & two videos) which I came across recently that you can listen to and infuse more reflection time into your otherwise…
Life Advice for Millennials: Cut Loose
Lately I’ve found that the secret to being able to do something is to mentally not overthink or pre-frame it first. I’ll give you an example from weightlifting. There are times when I start to mentally psych myself out of executing a lift when I know how much weight is on the bar because I…
The Best Practical Life Advice for Millennials
I happened to be listening to the radio while getting ready this morning and I heard a trailer for the Martin Scorsese film ‘Silence’. At the very end, there was this sound bite from Liam Neeson where his character says, “Pray. But with your eyes open.” That stopped me, mid mascara swipe. I thought, “that’s…
How Drinking A Protein Shake Before a Workout Helped My Hunger Later
I had gotten into the habit of consuming my protein shake on the drive home from an evening workout. Good, healthy habit, right? Well, lately I noticed that once I got home, I wasn’t hungry for a real meal. This was happening fairly regularly over the past few weeks and for as much as I…
Advice for Millennials on Making New Year Resolutions
Want more? Be prepared to expect more from yourself first. I found it a bit ironic that the top organic search result on “new years resolution statistics” shows we’re just as apprehensive about making them as we are about not making them. The data surveyed roughly 1,200 respondents (#grainofsalt) showed there are just as many…
How To Do Your Year-End Reflecting in Rapid Fire!
I love Christmas time but not for the reasons you might expect. To me, this time of year is a reflection point. In particular, it’s a day where we collectively consider what’s really important in life and make an effort to be surrounded by people who contribute to it most. I think we should have…
Life Advice for Millennials: Stand Up For Yourself But Take The Emotion Out Of It
I haven’t posted anything in the last week. But that’s because I had switched gears and was writing for a different outlet. Well, after working very hard to submit a finalized version for said outlet, it happened that my work was not published in its entirety. Normally, I’m open to edits because I like making…
Holly’s Recommended Reading List for Digital Marketers
I typically over prepare for questions I might get asked on webinars or talks I’m giving. But I was recently part of a panel at an event hosted by the San Diego American Marketing Association where I was asked a question about what books I’ve read that have had the most influence on my professional…
Life Advice: The Impact Of Extending An Invitation
Sometimes we take things for granted. We can make assumptions. But you may not realize the impact a simple, direct invitation can have. I remember when I was competing with my dance partner, the signal to come together was an “invitation” from the man to take up our frame together. I always appreciated that because…
A Metaphor for Millennials On Flying Blind Through Life in General
Conditions change every day. The stock market goes up and down; the weather shines and storms. What matters is what we do when that storm comes. Challenge yourself to re-frame your thinking about the “storms” in your life. Challenge yourself to think differently. Here are two quotes I really like around this concept: “Listen, there’s…
You Become Like The 5 People You Spend The Most Time With
I skimmed over this quote once on Instagram but it has really stuck with me: “You become like the 5 people you spend the most time with” This picture is from a year ago. This is when Searchmetrics began to regain its foothold in the US, bolstering the team with more SEO Consultants. As I…
Life Advice: There’s Always A Price, Dearie.
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau Anything that costs you your peace is too expensive. Now, some things we cannot change, but we can make the best use of what is in our immediate influence, and take the rest as it happens. The choice…
Inspirational Quotes for the Modern Millennial
People who are successful use failure as a way to learn quickly and adapt. “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” – Coco Chanel “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something…
Life Advice: Protect Your Own Well
Today, looking through Feedly, my eyes flashed across these words from Seth Godin’s blog: “The single most important part of any project is the battery, the source of energy, the optimism and effort that turns the long shot into the sure thing, one day at a time.” And, especially if you’re that battery, taking this…
You never know who you might be inspiring
I happen to really like quotes. Particularly of the inspiring kind 🙂 Anyway, I’ve had this one tapped up to my desk for a few months now: “Make your life a model of what can happen if you take chances, think big, and go for your dreams. You never know who you might be inspiring”…
It’s going to be OK. But first, you have to Spartan up!
If it’s both terrifying and amazing then you should definitely pursue it. – Erada Nothing but 8.5 miles of incredibly uneven terrain, hills that silently wear away your calve muscles, and pools of shockingly cold mud and your own faith in your abilities. The Spartan Sacramento Super this weekend tested everyone’s endurance. I ended up…
The Modern Millennial Perspective on the 2016 Election Results
“The remedy of all blunders, the cure of blindness, the cure of crime, is love…”Ralph Waldo Emmerson A Black Swan Event It’s the day after Election Day. I couldn’t not post today with the unexpected turn of events; Donald Trump is elected the 45th President of the United States of America. This is quite literally…
The Modern Millennial Motto: Always Be Prepared To…
…run a Spartan race! I’m excited and nervous for this weekend gearing up for the Spartan Sacramento Super. Wooo! This will be my second Spartan race this year after doing the Sprint at AT&T Park back in May (that’s my game face while on those monkey bars!). Let’s be honest, I’m way more excited for…
The General Election – How the Modern Millennial Can Stay Informed
Everyone is busy these days. But that shouldn’t be an excuse to not at least be informed of the important issues, policies and candidates involved with shaping our nation. I vote by mail and I usually keep an ear to the ground on several different news and radio stations. Admittedly, it has become increasingly difficult…
Modern Millennial: Get Better At Getting Better
I watched a great interview recently on Marie Forleo’s YouTube channel with Seth Godin. It inspired me to start something today that I’ve been gradually getting better at; writing more. But more than that, it challenged me to up my game by taking on the challenge of blogging every day. On a good day, I’m…
Reflections from a Modern Millennial: Gratefulness Begets Greatness
A friend in the advertising industry recently interviewed me about being involved in CrossFit as part of a research project he is conducting working on the Reebok account. While I’m nowhere near a being a competitive lifter, his questions, however did make me reflect on how grateful I am to be able to dabble in…
Speculations on ‘Spectre’: Bond Girls Should Bring It Too
I recently saw the latest Bond installment, ‘Spectre’…and I’m a bit conflicted on how I feel about the move–especially the ending. (Fair warning for those who have yet to see it, this post is both a movie spoiler and a bit of a rant on how this Bond girl should have been portrayed). I feel…
Advice from A Modern Millennial: Ladies, If You Want Your Marriage To Start Out On The Right Foot…
Wear the right shoes! Lately I’ve noticed an influx of wedding couples in the ballroom where we practice, and I can’t help but notice the array of improper dance shoes worn by the brides-to-be. It looks like something out of a runway fashion show—platforms, open-toe, wedges, and three to four inch stilettos! Take my advice…
When Movies Are Marketed Poorly
I remember my first feature film Dear Domestic Marketing Team at 20th Century Fox, In my (evolving) professional opinion, the campaign of your recent release, “Date Night” is a classic case of movie marketing miscommunication. I happened to be in NY a month ago in Times Square and saw much of the outdoor space filled…
Observations on Performance and Presentation
I happened to catch Skate America the other night watching the men perform. I was amazed at how critical the commentators were throughout each performance. I’ve never even attempted to lift my leg but 3 inches from the ice and here were these young athletes doing full extensions while moving! I found it amazing! But,…
Life hack: on being brief and brilliant
So, I received a violation notice from the Toll Road Department the other day for apparently not having paid a $0.75 fee. I responded online with the following dispute: To Whom It May Concern: Upon exiting the north bound toll road, I paid $O.75 at the off-ramp booth. I proceeded to turn around and re-enter…
Everything In Life I Learned From Ballroom Dancing
Once upon a time, I was a competitive ballroom dancer. Sway If you think about it, the table-top shaping of most women is an illusion. I mean that, this type of shape is produced from sway. And sway is the result of alignment to your partner with respect to angling the lady’s torso slightly right…
Modern Millennial: The Price of Investing In Your Passion
With the popularity of dancing shows today such as “Dancing with the Stars” or “So You Think You Can Dance” many people are unaware of the price professional and amateur athletes and performers pay to become accomplished in this sport (that is, of course, if you’re not naturally talented). In particular, the training, competition and…
Modern Millennial Wisdom: Classy is Classic
How does one become classified as being “classy?” Who or what determines what classy is? Is it the style of your hair, cut of your clothes, or the accessories you put on for the day? Maybe it’s more ethereal; what if it’s in the way you sit, stand, walk, approach people, or interact with a…
The Modern Millennial 