Black jumpsuit: LOFT (Similar from Ann Taylor) // Teal blazer: c/o Apricot Lane // Cork Tiny Tote: c/o Dagne Dover // Heels: Franco Sarto

Alright, alright, alriiiiiiiiight – let’s get down to business! The above outfit is a favorite of mine for more formal business settings that don’t require a tailored suit. It’s more lax, and a bright pop of color in an un-structured blazer is definitely a fun twist! This jumpsuit was a splurge for me at the LOFT, but I have never once regretted it. It’s actually one of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe, because it’s just so stinkin’ versatile and works with or without cover for day or night. I mean come on, people. I featured this teal blazer here and paired with a mega-punchy purple lip for some color fun and really loved it for a cooler summer night out. Now for the real talk…

Earlier this month, I let ya in on one of many whirlwinds in my life right now: getting a house.

It’s caraaaaazy, and I still can’t believe it’s happening, but if all goes well, J and I will  have keys to our own place in a few months. Now, I figured I’d let ya in on another whirlwind: my life after college.

POST-GRAD PLANS.

I’m graduating from Wharton and Penn in May, so the past few months have been jam packed with figuring my life out, since that’s the typical path of a soon-to-be-22-year-old, right? Apparently.

So here’s my story.

When I first came to Wharton, I totally thought I’d be heading for Corporate America. I always knew marketing and brand were my “things,” so I aspired to a life of brand management at a giant brand house.

But then Coming Up Roses happened.

While I still loveloveloved marketing and brand, I was introduced to all of you. I felt (and feel!) personally connected to so many people all at once, and suddenly pushing product to a targeted mass for the sake of hitting a set profit margin wasn’t nearly as enticing as providing value and a daily respite to everyday women looking to live a more inspired, purposeful, joyful life.

Without a doubt, I am a purpose-driven person. I constantly feel like I’m on this crazy quest to get deeper and deeper in a pool of passion and purpose, and I just want to completely surround myself with people who I can genuinely help in some way or another. That’s why I love reading your comments on CUR – if you read a Monday Mantra that gives you much-needed clarity or perspective, or you find your new favorite dress, or you experience a branding breakthrough of your own, that makes me feel so much more fulfilled than raising corporate revenue ever could.

I just know that.

I’ve had five internships thus far in life. I’ve worked everywhere from a newsroom to a boutique, from an online start-up to corporate retail, and I most recently worked in brand strategy at an agency downtown.

I’ve learned so freakin’ much from each, but with each I also felt like I was getting one step closer to uncovering what I really felt my calling was for the rest of the foreseeable future. By forcing myself to figure out what I liked and disliked in the working world, it helped me realize that the corporate ladder just wasn’t for me at this point in my life – which totally rocked my world, since I always thought I’d be a corporate gal.

SO, my post-grad plans.

I’ll be a full-time blogger and the ladyboss in charge of my own shebang – my own LLC. I’ll be a 1:1 mentor for other bloggers, and a brand and business coach for entrepreneurs who need clarity, direction, brand savvy, and actual, personalized strategies to reach new heights, new audiences, and new income brackets. If you’re not the 1:1 attention type, I’ll be launching courses that you can complete at your own pace, centered around specific topics having to do with building a blog and brand, as well as monetizing it. I’ll be doing agency-like brand work for companies that don’t want to pay the bigger agency pricetag. And if I have any free time, I’ll be doing personal style consultations for anyone in my radius. 😉

Anyone who says they’re a “full-time blogger” isn’t necessarily just writing on their blog and making a full-time salary. That’s SO not how it works for most of the world, just because it’s HARD and not all companies have fully bought into the value of influencer marketing yet. So most (JK, probably all) “full-time bloggers” have multiple income streams, both active and passive, to bring in revenue.

While I’ve never felt so close to my purpose, I’ve also never felt so challenged.

Being an entrepreneur is freakin’ difficult.

Half the time I feel like I’m on top of the world, and the next second I’m doubting myself and my dreams and calling mom for a pep talk.

But I know that it’s going to be one helluvah journey, for better or worse, and I’m really, really excited to walk across the graduation stage and fully step onto this new entrepreneurial road (instead of painfully holding myself back all this time in avoidance of serious brain pain – ha!).

Thank you for always being such an amazing community, and for helping play a part in making this all possible. I seriously could not do it without you, and for that, I owe you the world.

Post-grad world, I’m comin’ for ya!

What’s your dream? Are you headed on that road?

Now I want to hear YOUR dream. And if there is any way at all that I can help you get there, say the word and let’s make it happen.