Annie Spano Reveals How She Hustled Her Way From Math Teacher To Fashion Queen

She got her MBA while working a full-time corporate job?! Let's see how this girl does it.

Meet Annie Spano.

Before moving to New Hampshire for a full time job and working on her MBA at the same time, Annie taught math for two years. She decided it was time to shoot for her goals and now empowers women through Style Collective, her marketing business for up and coming influencers, and her blog, the Lovely Girl.

Q: How did you begin blogging & what were your inspirations to make the leap to start a blog? I had finished my MBA program and loved learning about social media marketing. I wanted to get more involved in the space, but didn’t know where to start. I started a website named “Collective Passions” with a mission to help entrepreneurs. I ended up finding my tribe within the fashion blogging community and started using Collective Passions as a personal blog, even though that was never my intention.

Q: Where do you see yourself in the next few years with your personal blog & with Style Collective? My personal blog will always be my creative outlet and my way of learning best practices for influencer marketing, so I can share my knowledge with the S.C. team. For Style Collective, I have really big plans. Every single day I just chip away little by little to reach my goals. The vision is in sight and I will not stop. My goal is for Style Collective to be THE destination for influencers AND brands.

Q: Can you elaborate on S.C. and where you would like to see it go in the future? There are so many facets to the company, but the biggest ones that I want to dominate are: 1: Sisterhood: Continue to help other women starting out so they don’t feel lost, confused or discouraged. Connecting women through a shared passion has been the foundation of Style Collective and is the most rewarding part for everyone who is part of the network. The friendships we have all created will last forever and that is amazing. 2: Collaboration: I also strongly believe in everyone working TOGETHER on brand campaigns because we can reach more people collectively than one large influencer. I tested this concept in April and across 150 people, we reached 1.6 MILLION people on Instagram in just 5 days. It blew me away and I just keep preaching teamwork because at the end of the day, we have strength in numbers and we can do anything together. 3: Connecting Everyone: Style Collective will be the go-to destination for brands to find influencers, so they can focus on running their business. And it helps the girls because they have a warm lead that they can pitch to! I want to remove the guesswork for everyone involved. 4: Conferences: First I want to start by speaking at blogging conferences, but eventually we will have our own across the country. I can’t wait.

Q: So you’re a total #GirlBoss... who have been your major inspirations in the fashion world & how would you describe your style? OMG thank you – I am flattered! I am going to sound like every other woman in the world, but really my mom influenced my style. She was a classic, Talbots wearing kind of lady. Her style was preppy/nautical in the 90’s and then more edgy in the 00’s. I tend to be very extreme with my style: nautical, girly or sassy AF. I am a New Yorker at heart, so I can’t really hide it!

I actually never intended to have a blog, but it’s where I ended up because I love fashion and really connected with other women who were fashion bloggers! I think I got really lucky that I accidentally ended up having a fashion blog.

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