Creative Direction 101: How To Be Your Own Creative Director

Being a creative director is the dream job of the 21st century. As the closest thing to a CEO, a creative director has a lot on her plate. For the past one and a half years since I launched Soeng Signature, I never thought that I’ll be writing this guide and be a creative director of my own brand.

With Instagram as a virtual moodboard, it feels so easy to sit there and copy whatever’s available because sadly, that is how the fashion industry operates. Even though it’s totally OK to be inspired by what you see, what exactly is the point of being a creative director if you really can’t create at all?!

If you are a young creative director and you’re trying to navigate the waters of this role, I got you covered. 😉

Are Superfoods The Superheros For Our Skin?

Eight years ago, I was an omnivore that enjoyed eating sushi, steaks, pizza and satay. I was also eating all sorts of yummy, but healthy snacks that somehow toed on the line of unhealthy. Even though I was on the way to start my senior year of high school, my skin was going through some puberty and stress-induced changes of spots, blackheads and oiliness. My mom sent me to see celebrity dermatologist Dr. Harold Lancer.

During my appointment, Dr. Lancer dropped the bomb that I was treating my skin horribly with meat, raw fish and pizza. Rather than eating all the no-no foods, he advised me to eat more greens. From there, I started to think twice about what I ate.

Flash forward to 2019, I love a cup of coffee with almond milk and two tablespoons of Moon Juice’s Beauty Shroom, count on gluten-free meals, subsist on acai bowls and avoid anything with dairy to keep my skin crystal clear. (However, I can’t keep myself away from deep fried food!) While eating the right food can obviously do wonders for my skin, the same kinda goes for the right skincare.

Enter Rooki Beauty. As a newly founded local skincare brand, they’ve been successfully launching themselves as a rising force with a superfood-based face cleanser, moisturizer and mask. They slid into my DMs, asked me if they can send some items for review and as a skincare/wellness junkie, that was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Before I continue to my review, can superfoods be applied topically to save your skin?

Real Girls Talk: A Girl’s Guide To KonMari’ing Your Toxic Friends

Sparking joy sounds like the biggest cliché you heard in 2019, but it has a ring of truth in it. No matter how sad or happy you feel, nothing makes your heart warm up more than a friend who is there for you at your best and worst moments. When time reveals that the friend you counted on is like a low quality Zara dress, is it time to toss the friendship in the donations box?

As someone who’s struggled with friendships all my life, it hurts to think about the new friend whose behavior often makes me question the friendship. Although I mainly like to blog about fashion, beauty, travel and get real with your Man Crush Mondays, I’ve been beginning to realize that as much as you look up to me as your resident kween, I am just a girl who deals with everyday struggles like you.

Given that I never had an easy time making friends at school, I always felt that having to keep around friends was a personal challenge for me as I had to break up with some whose actions broke my heart.

Even though we have times when we almost contemplate about ending a friendship, the simple principle on who to keep in your life goes on like this:

how to tidy up your friendships with the Marie Kondo method:

1. hold your friend up
2. check if your friend sparks joy
3. if no, thank your friend and put them in the trash

— YEOLO™ (@tzehern_) January 7, 2019

Despite this fuss-free KonMari method, there’s no “perfect” friend as we often make mistakes and fix them in a friendship. If you feel that you are having a hard time deciding on keeping a friendship or unable to define the types of red flags your friend’s been sending, here’s a lil’ guide on the types of behaviors you need to steer clear of: