Let’s get the big stuff out in the open first, after today there will be no more Prosecco & Plaid. We had a good run, but the time has come to say good-bye. I remember sitting on my tiny couch in my tiny NYC apartment three years ago trying to think of a name for a blog. It was after a trip home (to Newport) and a conversation with my Great Aunt (who has since passed) that I was inspired to start a blog. I was working for a large corporate consulting firm and had just moved back to NYC for a pretty big promotion. I felt like I “had” to take the opportunity and I’m glad I did, I have no regrets, because all of that led me here. So back to my tiny couch. When I was thinking of names, I wasn’t thinking that this would become my full-time job and I should probably pick something I wouldn’t get sick of. Prosecco & Plaid just popped into my head. I think I was drinking a glass of prosecco and wearing a gray plaid shirt from J.Crew. I did a quick domain search and it was available, and that was that.
A little background
Some of you already know this but for those of you who don’t…
Over the last three years I’ve gone through so many changes in my life, personal and professional. Shortly after starting Prosecco & Plaid Craig and I decided to move back home to Newport. I was still working at my 9-5 (remotely) and Craig was doing side jobs. We were SO happy to be home but neither of us were fulfilled in our careers. After spending about a year working on the blog every free second of every day we decided to go full time (I left my job a few months before Craig decided to come on full time). We took a huge chance, it was definitely a big leap of faith and the first two years were really difficult. There was a lot of sleepless nights, financial stress and uncertainty, but we kept pushing, learning, striving and challenging ourselves. And here we are.
When we set out to re-design and launch a new website 5 months ago (so there’s the second part of this announcement) we spent a lot of time reflecting and evaluating where we are and where we want to be. The one thing that kept bugging me was the name Prosecco & Plaid. It felt like the only piece of the puzzle that just didn’t fit. l sort of cringed every time I had to say the name or heard someone say it. It didn’t represent me, my brand or where I see this blog going. When I started it three years ago I honestly didn’t anticipate my blog becoming a full time job. It was a creative outlet and an escape from my day-to-day but that was it. I spent a few long days humming and hawing over new blog names and how I would re-brand. Nothing felt quite right. I thought about my one constant, the one thing that’s never going to change in my life, my name. Many of you already know me as Jess Ann Kirby because it’s sort of everywhere else. On the social media front, I used my name because when I started my blog I knew it was the one thing that would never change and so in many ways it feels like a natural next step. This is Chapter 2, and it has my name written all over it.
What’s Next?
Later today will be the launch of the new and improved jessannkirby.com (the old url will forward to the new site). So what can you expect? Well, in many ways you can expect a lot of what you already see here, with some major improvements. For the past few months I’ve been lucky enough to bring Caylin on as the Lifestyle Editor and she will continue to be a fixture on the site. I love what she brings to this blog and I’m excited for her ongoing presence here. Craig and I have made some investments to our equipment and you can expect more video content in the coming months. In terms of the site design, we’ve worked tirelessly over the past few months to create a website that is easy and fun to navigate. I plan to share more content in the career space including a lot of tips, advice and personal stories from my experience as a small business owner. We will continue what has become a popular fixture every week, our Friday link round-up called Click. Read. Love. I’ll also be sharing more exclusive email content including a new weekly email delivered every Friday called Long Story Short (you can sign up to receive it here). The main categories of the site Fashion, Hair & Beauty, Travel, Lifestyle, and Career each have their own unique landing page with featured articles, recent content and some of our favorite items of the week called “Editor’s Picks.”
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