Instagram & blogging influencer Sophie Milner talks social media

Sophie Milner, 27, has come a long way since product writing for Harvey Nichols, now she is a fashion blogger sensation.

Many people talk about the idea of starting up their own YouTube channel or blog, but most of the time they are knocked back by self-doubt. 27-year-old Sophie Milner went through this period of hesitation before she created ‘Fashion Slave’.

‘Fashion Slave’ is a fashion, lifestyle and social commentary blog. London-based Sophie started her first blog aged 14, a few years after her Primary School teacher told her she’d make a great Journalist.

Leicester-girl Sophie, pursued this foretelling and studied BA Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. The perfect place for an aspiring fashion writer because of the city’s vibrancy and colour.

Throughout her university experience, she continued to write about fashion, lifestyle and social issues, but remained anxious and embarrassed sharing her Instagram and YouTube with her friends and family.

“It’s initially getting over the fear of it. You’re thinking that your mates are going to make fun of you and laugh.

“But who cares, just do it, they only laugh for so long!” said Sophie.

Sophie during one of her Instagram photo shoots.

She broke through the apprehensive door during her degree after being previously confined to the four-walls of her bedroom. She started to work outdoors.

“Things started to change when I started doing outdoor photography. My dad shot some photos at my graduation and I posted them on my blog and Twitter. The page views tripled- so I knew I had to brave feeling like an idiot outside and just shoot”, said Sophie.

She never looked back, after graduating from university, Central Saint Martins was the next move for Sophie as she embarked on her Masters course in Fashion Journalism.

Her blog was heavily criticised and picked apart by one of senior lecturers, to the point that she was a button away from scrapping it all together.

But Sophie persevered and graduated with a distinction, ending up joint-top of her class. A full-time job was the next step in Sophie’s journey but that didn’t come easily.

She worked as a freelancer for six-months, before a job opportunity at Harvey Nichols as a product writer came up. Sophie grabbed it with two-hands but kept her blog going in her spare time.

To her delight the ‘Fashion Slave’ blog kept growing and growing. She began to tackle more

important topics such as feminism and relationships.

Sophie started charging for collaborations on her Instagram when she reached 15k followers. The following kept expanding to the point where she asked to go part-time at Harvey Nichols.

As a result of this Sophie was eventually earning more money from her blog than she was working for Harvey Nichols. She decided to hand her notice in to pursue her dream.

A decision that had led Sophie to the position she is in now. A fashion and life influencer with 157k followers on Instagram.

This role requires her to promote brands such as, Topshop, ASOS and New Look on her social media accounts, in return for monetary rewards.

She puts her success down to being original. She said, “When I first started I was really preoccupied with what everyone else was doing. By doing that I lost my direction of what I wanted to do, so just do what you want to do. Be present.”

‘Engaging’ with others who were in a similar situation was also key to her triumphs.

Sophie admires the streetwear industry and can only see the trend growing, especially for women as they begin to dabble in the community.

“Women I think are getting so bored of wearing high heels all the time, they don’t want to wear tight and uncomfortable dresses. They want to be able to go out and wear a baggy dress with trainers and a hoodie, feeling cool and fashionable”, said Sophie.

Her role as an influencer has taken her to fascinating places such as, Los Angeles and Italy but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for Sophie.

“A man shouted ‘oi oi Shaun the sheep’ whilst I was doing a photoshoot wearing a white furry coat”, said Sophie.

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