ALKMAAR – When ‘Blog and the City’ asked me to write a column I was very honored. Immediately I was thinking about what my blog has given me personally throughout the years. Lets start at the beginning:

I’m Joyce from Livstyle.nl and I grew up in a little village nearby Amsterdam. In my younger years my mother selected my clothes, but when I reached the age of ten I knew exactly what I wanted to wear. That’s when I started to develop my own fashion sense.

In high school I was a ‘petite’ little girl who was famous for wearing everything she liked, no matter what people thought about it. I also loved to pick out clothes for my friends, male or female. They saw me as their own personal shopper. It was so much fun to give them advice in how they could look better. Everybody thought I was this confident girl who knew exactly what she wanted. But that was not entirely true. Although I was feeling confident about my fashion sense, I was insecure from the insight about everything else.

By the time I had to pick colleges I panicked. I knew I loved fashion, but my parents always told be that in fashion you couldn’t build a good future for yourself. And if you want to make it in fashion you’ll had to have a thick skin. My parents told me to make my own decisions, but at the age of seventeen I was too insecure to believe in myself. I made a career test and human resources came out on top. So this was the study I followed.

I believe everything happens for a reason and it did. The four years of college where a blast and I got my degree in no time. I learned a lot about coaching people and that’s also helped me to develop myself and raised my self-esteem. After college I started working in a HR-department and I loved it. But the urge to do something with my creativity and my fashion sense was still there.

At the end of 2011 I saw a quote that said: ”doubt kills more dreams then failure ever will”. I was touched and inspired, so with a little encouragement from my boyfriend I followed my heart and started my own blog Livstyle.nl. It’s a fashion & lifestyle blog for the modern woman like you and me! I believe that inspiring fashion and healthy lifestyle ensures a positive impact on your daily life.

I hope that my blog can be just as inspiring to others then it has been for me. Fashion is a good way to express yourself and feel good about yourself. My blog made it possible to show people my fashion sense, to work with great designers and brands. But most of all my readers gave me more self-confidence. Self-confidence is the best outfit for every woman, so rock it and own it. Believe in yourself and follow your dreams!

Joyce – Livstyle

JOYCE’S FASHION PICKS: