Treat life like a runway, always go forward Fashion blogger boasts 40K followers, inspires other international creators

MOHAMMAD DJAUHARI Reporter @17thletter

Atastemaker, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is one who sets the standards of what is currently popular or fashionable. Social media is an integral tool used by the fashion forward and one Pierce student is ready to influence people with his sense of style.

Louis Polo, who also goes by the name Pedro, was always fascinated with fashion and began a journey that would allow him to express his individual style to the world a few years ago.

“I was a part of a blog with another person and my role was creating content based on fashion,” Polo said. “Eventually it didn’t work out because creating joint content was complicated, so a year ago I started my own project.”

That project would become his blog, louispolotv.us.

As with many new ventures, his start in lifestyle and fashion blogging started small but has now expanded to utilize newer methods to share his content with the use of Instagram.

“My followings [on Instagram] started growing and growing and I started developing an audience,” Polo said. “I was able to establish myself on Instagram and now I have over 40,000 followers.”

Fashion is big money. Americans spend about $250 billion annually according to a report in 2015 by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and popular fashion bloggers are able to profit from that industry according to Amy Roiland, CEO of FashionTap.

“You can make a lot of money as a blogger if you’re doing it right and monetizing correctly,” Roiland said. Roiland’s start in fashion blogging isn’t dissimilar to Polo’s. Also known as AFashionNerd, Roiland was able