28 December 2016

COSMOPOLITAN? Yes please.

I have already lost track of time since our arrival on the Istanbul airport (we have a stopover on our way to Mauritius, our final destination) but surprisingly (or not) I have already found a bunch of things that can be done while waiting – I have dozens of cables, hard disks, cameras, portable chargers and other tools that have been carefully packed in my Cristina Cupar bag. I don’t know how, but I find myself sacrificing this bag whenever I am on a trip. However, I’m not here to talk about the bag, there are some special photos that I want to show you. They have been captured on the 1st of December with Mihail Onaca and Ingrid Teodosiu on my side. In the background you can already hear Taylor Young, a German artist, with a song that has a great input when it comes to the meaning of a new beginning and all the blog posts that you have seen under the #ACNewBeginning hashtag. I am listening it on repeat tonight and I hope it will haunt and you as much as it haunts me at this time.

One of these photos have been printed in the latest Cosmopolitan magazine, that you can already find in the press distribution points. Roxana Dobrita sent me an e-mail and invited me to talk about my passion – blogging. 7 questions and 7 answers. Actually, the title refers to how I ended up being an.. Influencer. I am flattered by this description and I hope I am somehow influencing you with everything I am posting on the mighty internet – to become the kind of person you want to meet, as you always hear me saying, to raise your exigency, to take the most out of each experience, to dress with style, to struggle for everything you want and finally, to achieve greatness. Maybe this is the reason why I am still writing at this hour when I should be in the vacation mood. Passion.

Find out how Alina Ceusan has become the most popular Romanian blogger.

How did I end up being an…Influencer

With 247k followers on Instagram, Alina Ceusan is the living proof that online notoriousness is a ‘thing’ in Romania. While competing with other bloggers who are well known abroad, she manages to increase firmly her status reaching on a daily basis an impressive number of people who are influenced by her personality and style.

COSMO: How did you decided upon the blog creation, how it all started and which are the steps that you have followed in order to grow up in this domain?
A.C. : Taking into account my passion for fashion and writing, I can tell that it came somehow naturally. If you connect these two old passions of mine, you will see that the decision related to the blog startup was not that difficult. It did start as a college homework and at that time it did present itself as an exam assay and I must admit that professor Deac basically triggered the launch of my online work. After all, this project developed as an online journal and I started posting photos and writing a lot, I remember leaving all kind of events earlier just to get home earlier and update things on the blog, everything in order to keep my audience always posted with the ongoing trends. I am present and honest and this was one of my objectives from the very start, avoiding with all my power gaps between posts.

COSMO: What’s the most surprising thing about being an influencer, something that cannot be noticed at the very first sight?
A.C.: People do recognize me at events, my readers fell like they know me for a lifetime because they read all my articles on the blog and I do pay them credit on this one. On another hand though, it’s impossible for me to know them all.

COSMO: Which are your daily activities? What are those actions that can summarize your profession?
A.C: I spend the first part of the day checking my e-mail and the latest news, also posting on social media. In the second part of the day we take shots, create new videos, attend meetings and take care of everything that represents new content. I usually post my blog articles in the evening, so now, in the cold season I return to my office as soon as the sun sets. I remain in the office until the morning sometimes but I avoid wasting my time and generally after such intense work nights I have content prepared for the coming days on the blog. I love writing at night, when everyone is asleep, it’s a reassuring feeling.

COSMO: Best and worst thing about your job?
A.C.: The best thing is that all my days are different and each project brings new challenges that motivate me to outcome my own performance. Another great thing is that I have exclusive access to all kind of products/services and I also get to travel a lot, which is exactly what I dreamed about. One of the things which are not that great is that I have to be online 24/7 and please bear in mind that I haven’t yet started to post on Insta Stories. Do you know the feeling when you have to make the same video twice, once for Snapchat and once for Insta Stories? Just sayin’.

COSMO: What’s never missing from your make up bag? What about your wardrobe?
A.C.: I am now at the airport, on my way to Bucharest for a project and my make-up bag contains The Body Shop eyeliner, the eyebrow powder from Anastasia Beverly Hills, the contouring palette from NYX and the Brow Artist Plumper for L’Oreal Paris. From my wardrobe, knitting blouses, CK classic skinny jeans, the leather jackets, black thin tights and silk pajamas.

COSMO: Is there a recipe for what you are doing? What’s the advice you would offer to someone who would like to start a blog?
A.C.: I can’t think of a recipe for success but there are a couple of practical pieces of advice for those who would like to start a blog. Start on an online friendly platform, like WordPress – you can build up a blog in just a couple of hours exploring the options yourself. Invest from the beginning in a very good camera – preferable a full frame with a 50 mm objective. Use Youtube as a learning platform and search from some tutorials for WordPress, Photoshop, Lightroom and Final Cut. You will thank me soon. You also need big dozes of ambition, perseverance, consistency, modesty and work, a lot of work.

COSMO: Which are the biggest challenges that an influencer comes across in Romania?
A.C.: Bringing a new vibe in the blog and social media world, generally speaking, along with the challenge of finding the inner muse that will motivate you towards creating a campaign, a product or an idea from a completely new perspective.