We've got another batch of Dazey Digitals from our new Dreamer and Doer Collection! Below you'll find this months digital release with both desktop and mobile formatting. Just save right to your phone or drag and drop to your desktop, and bring Dazey with you on all your adventures! 

Dazey Your Desktop "Head in the Clouds" 

DOWNLOAD DESKTOP VERSION USING IMAGE SHOWN BELOW

DOWNLOAD MOBILE VERSION HERE

Dazey Your Desktop "Pretty Powerful" 

DOWNLOAD DESKTOP VERSION USING IMAGE SHOWN BELOW

DOWNLOAD MOBILE VERSION HERE

Dazey Your Desktop "Strong as Hell" 

DOWNLOAD DESKTOP VERSION USING IMAGE SHOWN BELOW

DOWNLOAD MOBILE VERSION HERE

 

So if you follow along on our Insta-stories you know my boyfriend Phillip and I just got an amazing pup named Franklin. For whatever reason around the same time we’ve been trying to get into travel blogging! It’s been a fun challenge navigating how to travel and shoot with a doggo. Luckily we were able to stay at the new photo & pup friendly Pendry Hotel! It’s located in the heart of Downtown San Diego, super close to a bunch of amazing spots.

My friend Alden was having an event at the hotel that weekend so we figured we would take advantage of the trip and turn it into a mini staycation! Check out some of our photos below as well as a breakdown of the places we went to and recommend!

Dinner:

-Kindred in South Park

-Lionshare inside Pendry Hotel

Dazey Lady Feature on Alden Steimle 

So excited to feature one of my best friends, Alden! You may recognize her from one of my Dazey lookbooks, or on her popular Instagram page, or one of the thousands of photoshoots she's been in for countless companies. This gal is not only gorgeous but has a heart of gold. Amidst her successful modeling career she wanted to give back and find more meaning, so she launched Soul Shapers. 

I met this babe back in college. We lost touch but reconnected again a few years back when she was living in LA through, surprise suprise, Instagram! Since then we have become super close and both help each other out in our businesses as well. She's always been a huge help in promoting Dazey and doing shoots with me. When she first told me about her business idea I was so excited to help her out too! We even designed her logo together :) 

Soul Shapers just launched this year and she's already worked on countless collabs and has even thrown a few events I was able to attend. So I bet you're asking yourself what is Soul Shapers!? I have a full interview below with all the details! I also shot Alden in Dazey all around town, including her adorable bungalow, at her most recent pop up shop event, and at Biz Babez! 

I know there is so much to Soul Shapers, but what’s a quick description?

Soul Shapers is good people doing good things — it is collaborations with artists, entrepreneurs and philanthropists who are making a difference in this world and inspiring others to do the same. 

Most of your adult life you have spent modeling and have found a lot of success in that. What has your journey been?

Modeling has brought some of the most up and down experiences of my life. I feel so blessed to have been given amazing opportunities to travel and live all over the world, learn about myself, work for myself, and challenge myself, yet I have also seen my lowest lows from being in the fashion industry. Constantly getting judged almost entirely on my appearance, and constantly getting rejected from various jobs and castings really takes a toll on you. It's hard to always feel good enough and loved. Sometimes I also get a sense of emptiness, like all I'm doing is selling more product so there is more stuff in the world, and I'm selling/representing what beauty should look like. Those are not things that I believe in and stand by, which makes it difficult when I also appreciate the positives of my career. I want to use the doors and connections that I'm presented in this life to do good in this world.

What are some of the highest points and lowest points you have experienced along the way as a full time model?

The lowest point has been during moments of depression and anxiety when I don't feel fulfilled or good enough. The highest points are when I'm entirely in the moment experiencing connection and what is for me, ultimate happiness; ie when I am having fun on set and connecting with people, traveling and working in a beautiful place like Tahiti for 10 days, and most recently, when I am using my connections and audience from modeling/social media to fuel Soul Shapers and help others in need. 

What inspired you to start this new venture, Soul Shapers?

I started to realize that since I work with so many different people at my jobs, I was meeting so many individuals who are doing amazing and inspiring things. Around this time, my blog was completely uninspiring to me and it became meaningless. Don't get me wrong I still love fashion and have fun with it, but I had this epiphany that I wanted to bring awareness to these amazing people doing amazing things! 

What is a Soul Shaper?

A Soul Shaper is anyone who has helped someone in a way that has brought happiness or positivity to another's life... Everyone, in some way, is a Soul Shaper. The Soul Shapers that I feature are making waves by pushing to be their best selves, encouraging others to do the same, and help others in need.

Why do you think inspiring and giving back is so important?

I think that a huge reason we are here is to help each other and lift each other up. There is just too much hurt and suffering in this world to not do anything about it and make an effort to make a difference. Some of us are extremely blessed to not experience extreme trauma or poverty etc. but that doesn't mean we can just ignore other innocent people who can really use our help. Even the tinniest efforts can make big changes. 

Who are some of the makers and shakers you have collaborated? What are some of the projects?

One of the first Soul Shapers I featured was Dazey LA of course! Each feature is a profile on that Soul Shaper with interview questions, photos and sometimes video. Some of the collaborations have a limited edition product that gives back to the featured Soul Shapers favorite organization. I've had two events so far that acted as a Soul Shapers collaboration— one was a unique retreat collab with Nicolette, Founder of Expansive Voice, and another was a Pop-Up Shop with Andrea, owner of Van De Vort Boutique. Both events combined raised around $5,500 for Hidden Treasures Foundation, and The Her Initiative.. that was insanely gratifying for me!

A few other products: 
- A wood piece by Aleksandra Zee that gives back to Planned Parenthood.
- An print by Marissa Quinn that raises awareness for the endangered Vaquita Dolphins (illustrated in the print) giving back to Sea Shepherd Nonprofit to help save these Dolphins.
- The Soul Shapers T-shirt that I call the OG Give-Back Tee — 100% of the proceeds go straight into fueling my company and enable me to continue these features, tools, fundraisers, collaborations, etc. 
- Unique leather bags that Rachel & Josh from Voyages of Agape brought back from their travels in Guatemala (on the site soon).
- And more are in the works!

What’s planning an event like, will this continue to be apart of your brand?

Planning an event is A LOT of work. But it's something that I've realized I love doing. Both of my recent events were very different, one being about shopping for clothes that gave back 100% of the proceeds, and another that was a retreat with crystal and meditation workshops where a portion of the ticket sales was donated. It's hard to say if events will continue to be a part of my company, but doors are continuing to open in that space and since I feel pretty good about it, I will keep following that light.
That's been a lot of the fun in Soul Shapers, it's a completely made up concept and I don't have many rules or guidelines holding me back. :) 

Soul Shapers has been something you have wanted to do for so long and now it’s finally here! What has been the process so far?

The process was so long for me, because I couldn't get past the fact that I just didn't know where to start. Being that there aren't any other companies (at least that I've heard of) that are doing what I had in my mind for Soul Shapers, there was no example or guide for me to follow. After two years of feeling paralyzed and craving to start, I really pushed myself to figure out WHAT it was, what is Soul Shapers?? As soon as I figured that out, the ball started rolling from there!

Tell us about what you and your family have recently gone through and how that has effected your new business? How can people help?

On October 9, 2017, the Sonoma County fires burned down my Dad's home which is the home I grew up in, along with 6,900 other homes. Just take a moment to think about that number. It's just unfathomable what has happened, and the fact that this is my home and my hometown will forever bring knots to my stomach. This fire has been recorded as the worst fire in California's history— it's pretty surreal to be a part of that. Helping my dad has been extremely devastating, but I try to stay strong and have hope. Unfortunately they're estimating 4-5 years until people will get their homes rebuilt because the devastation is so extreme. There are also very difficult political and financial aspects involved in the aftermath of this natural disaster.
Although blatantly asking for money is one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever done, I set up a GoFundMe for my dad. I also just placed an order for a new Soul Shapers Tee that I hand drew, and I'm donating 100% of the proceeds to victims of the fires— stay tuned!

 What do you see for the future of Soul Shapers as you move forward and further define your brand and what you do?

At this point, I see Soul Shapers continuing to feature people who are doing amazing things for this world, along with expanding the shop page to have more philanthropic products that gives back. I can say events will definitely be around for a while longer as well. I'm trying to have fun with it and not hold myself back from anything!

 What does being a Dazey Lady mean to you?

Being a Dazey Lady means being your true self and your best self. I think that at the end of the day, if you are working hard to be a good and honest person while helping people along the way, you're killing it at being a Dazey Lady!

 

 

Beachwood Canyon Babes

Yesterday was a super wild day! I had planned to shoot with Quigley, and she had a blogger friend, Maria, who was in town from NYC so we decided to do a fun little duo shoot in the Beachwood Canyon area. Well, soon after getting to the super cute Beachwood Cafe I realized I had left my memory card at home, woops! By the time I got the card we had about 45 minutes left to shoot because all three of us had meetings! We had about 10 mins to shoot each look.

Luckily these girls totally killed it and we had so many rad shots from the super short shoot that it was hard to even narrow it down to the ones you'll see below. We started out at the cafe and then literally ran up the hill to get some awesome snaps in front of the infamous Hollywood Sign. The hustle was worth it and I'm so stoked with how this shoot turned out. 

 

 

 

 

 

Downtown Daze

As many of you know I recently started my second business, Biz Babez. An all-female co-working and creative space in Downtown LA. It's been so fun exploring what's good in the neighborhood and finding the best shoot spots! The rooftop of our building is a DREAM to shoot on so I enlisted my boyfriend, Phillip, to help me get some Dani Dazey looks on it as well as around town. 

I'm so excited to share my Dazey Everyday looks for Fall as it's my favorite season for fashion and the new collection is perfect for it. Check out some of the different looks you can create in our dreamy new tees! I styled with a ton of pieces from the Dazey Lady Shop, we carry a lot more than graphic tees ;)  



 

Shooting and shopping in the Canyon

I love collaborating with other female bosses so when I was planning out this shoot around my neighborhood I had to reach out to my favorite local boutique, Shop the Canyon, to help style and loan us some amazing pieces! Shop the Canyon already carries Dazey so I knew they would have the perfect finds to make this shoot look perfect. We headed to gorgeous Fern Dell and Franklin village where I live and the store is located. 

If you live in LA and haven't checked it out yet make sure to go take a peek- they've got the best looks for this Fall. Our rad model Taylor was recommended through Elle Elle Models, who also connected us with Amari earlier this year. They have such an awesome, diverse group of models and I've loved being able to collab with them throughout 2017! Taylor, who is also an actress, was so sweet and made every look ooze with that cool girl, laid back feel. This shoot was such a blast, scroll down to see all the looks head to toe!

 

This month's Dazey Digital we are highlighting a few of our faves from the new Dreamer and Doer Collection! We love switching up our phone and computer background, it's basically an outfit for our devices right? Below you'll find this months digital release with both desktop and mobile formatting. Just save right to your phone or drag and drop to your desktop, and bring Dazey with you along for the ride! And don't forget to enter our contest going on right now for a chance to win some free Dazey tees! For info on how to enter click here!

Dazey Your Desktop "Fall or Fly" 

DOWNLOAD DESKTOP VERSION USING IMAGE SHOWN BELOW

DOWNLOAD MOBILE VERSION HERE

Dazey Your Desktop "Visionary" 

DOWNLOAD DESKTOP VERSION USING IMAGE SHOWN BELOW

DOWNLOAD MOBILE VERSION HERE

Dazey Your Desktop "Brave Babe" 

DOWNLOAD DESKTOP VERSION USING IMAGE SHOWN BELOW

DOWNLOAD MOBILE VERSION HERE

#dreamertodoer stories

Today a few exciting things happened in the world of Dazey! We just launched a new contest called the #dreamertodoer challenge. Dani was also featured on her first podcast! Let's chat all about it :)

The Challenge

As you know our new collection is all about going from a dreamer to a doer. Taking a leap of faith to pursue your dreams. We want to hear your story and give some free tees away in the process! To enter post a photo of yourself and tell us the steps you took or are taking to make your dreams a reality! Then hashtag #dreamertodoer and add @dazey_la in the caption. Not only do you get to share your super cool story to the community but you are also in the running to win a free tee every month left in 2017!

The Podcast:

Recently I was asked to go on The Laptop Lifestyle podcast hosted by Alexis Teichmiller. I'm a huge podcast junkie and have always wanted to be on one so I jumped on the opportunity! I was super anxious before, but Alexis was an awesome interviewer and asked some great questions. I talk all about my journey before Dazey and the process I had to go through to get where I'm at. I thought this would go along perfectly with the #dreamertodoer challenge. I seriously share ALL in this including times I've been fired or found amazing jobs through Craigslist! You can listen to the podcast below. I've also included some photos from the past few days hanging out in the new Biz Babez office and shooting some of the new collection :)

Show Highlights:

-Sometimes “dream jobs” aren’t actually the job you’ve been dreaming of.
-It’s easy to get bored when you don’t feel challenged.
-When your creativity is suppressed and micromanaged, it creates the urgency to want to start your own business.
-Creating boundaries in your creative process can help you stay focused and be clear on what you want to create.
-Think of what would you want to see as a struggling creator. That’s the kind of content you build to help serve your community.
-Empowerment begins from within. You must first love yourself before you can truly love the world around you.
-You don’t have to base your worth on what everyone else thinks. You can be proud of who you are and what you do, without the approval of others.

 

"I didn’t even know graphic design was a career option. My degree is in fashion design. I ended up getting an internship for an apparel graphics company and it was like something clicked, a union of my two favorite things, fashion and art." - Dani on The Laptop Lifestyle

"For so long so my creativity was being suppressed and micromanaged. Some people have trouble with creative freedom. But for me it was so pent up. I was ready to explode creative freedom everywhere!"- Dani on The Laptop Lifestyle

"Being able to connect with my customers has become everything to me. I like to keep my business interactive. I don’t want it to be one-sided where I’m just talking at people. I want to ask questions, I want to start conversations, I want them to feel like they are apart of my brand." - Dani on the Laptop Lifestyle

"Instead of trying to shove your product into peoples faces you should tell a story. Being open and including people is a marketing tactic, you can be authentic about it yes, but it is a way of marketing." -Dani on the Laptop Lifestyle

 

Say hello to NEW DAZEY!

So excited to release our Fall/Winter line, the Dreamer and Doer Collection. This collection is inspired by taking that leap of faith and going from a dreamer to a doer. Choosing to pursue your dreams and ideas and go all in. We like to define a Dazey Lady as an, "Everyday girl choosing to be brave and share their ideas and talents with the world." Often time the hardest part of starting a new venture or choosing to go after a dream is just making that decision. The graphics all have phrases and artwork to inspire you to go make it happen! Gorgeous warm tones, turtle necks, and a bunch of cozy choices. We have also added a ton of new pants and fun accessories to the Dazey Lady Shop that pair perfectly with the tops. 

The timing for this collection couldn't be more perfect because recently I decided to take a risk and start a second business! After working with so many local female entrepreneurs I noticed they loved self employment, but not the loneliness it brought on spending full days working from home. We want to work for ourselves but not by ourselves! I have tried WeWork, a fairly large co-working space and just found the corporate feel and lack of community didn't really meet my needs. I wanted to build a space where young female entrepreneurs can come together and find inspiration, collaboration, and community. So I teamed up with my friend Taryn and we built it! We call the space Biz Babez. We both built our business off of creating content and using social media, so we knew the Biz Babez office needed to be Pintrest-perfect! I designed the space specifically to have multiple areas that serve as different backdrops, giving plenty of options for photoshoots without it looking repetitive. We finished decorating the space just in time for the shoot and I'm so excited I was able to use it for this lookbook.

Stay tuned for another Instagram sharing challenge around the Dreamer and Doer that will be announced in the next week or so :)

SHOP THE NEW STUFF HERE:

All Involved:

Location - @bizbabez

Models - @jjakerman & @joiliaye

MUA - @amberrose

Photography/Styling - @danidazey

Shoot Production Assistant - @thelittleavocadoshop

 

 

 

 

Meet Mel, the amazing lady behind #presetsbymel and so much more

I met Mel via Instagram, because where else do you meet people these days haha?! She reached out wanting to shoot some Dazey on a trip she had planned. One look at her feed and I knew she would get some amazing shots! And boy did she deliver. She is a Dazey Lady of many talents and runs her own jewelry company, digital product line, and travel blogs. One of her most recent trips was to LA so we planned to meet up. I figured this was this perfect opportunity to features this awesome lady! 

I began following her awhile back after her email and she kept posting all her amazing trips on Insta Story. But what really caught my attention was her before and after photo edits! I became hooked. She makes custom Adobe Lightroom presets and sells them on her website. You can literally make any photo look fabulous with them. I reached out asking if I could give them a try and Mel said YES! So basically this past month all of my photos have been edited with her amazing presets, including the ones you see below. I am in love and they match the Dazey vibe perfectly. Before this I edited all my photos in Photoshop and it took FOREVER and I was always struggling with my "signature editing style". Now I edit all in Lightroom, throw on one of Mel's presets, adjust a tick, and BOOM amazing photos!

Below we have a full shoot I did with Mel on the rooftop of her hotel, Freehand, and a few we snapped when she stopped by Biz Babez. The rooftop at Freehand is amazing and I have been wanting to check it out for awhile now. My assistant Megan, aka The Little Avocado Shop, actually helped create the colorful woven wall you see by the pool, along with the new necklaces and pom earrings you see on Mel!

We asked Mel a bunch of fun questions all about her life and how she built it. I also show some before and after examples of the newest Morocco set she has on her website! She's offering a special discount to any Dazey Ladies who want to try them out:

TAKE 10% OFF OF MEL'S PRESETS USING CODE "DAZEYLADY"

You have built a few different streams of income. Why don't you let us know a little about each of them.

I started a jewelry line called Melanie Audrey (@bymelanieaudrey) four years ago after I did my first solo trip. I was ready for a big change and that was to start something on my own and be my own boss. Each bracelet is inspired by someone and comes with a story about them. A year and a half ago I went to Bali and started building travel content for my Instagram account (@mvandersluis) and as I spent more time being consistent with my editing and posting I started to grow my account that now reaches more than 100,000 people, which blows my mind. I now work with hotels and brands from all over the world to create content as I travel. As I started to do more and more work with my camera I got into editing with Lightroom. I taught myself how to use it by watching countless tutorials on Youtube. I hated this program at first but within six months I’d grown to love it. In June of this year I launched my presets for Lightroom (a preset is like a photo filter) and I decided to do this because everyone had been asking me how I edited and eventually asked, “Do you sell your Lightroom presets?” Now I sell a few different packs on my website, www.presetsbymel.com.

You mentioned your Lightroom presets are now your main money maker which is amazing! I have been using them for all my Dazey photos. How did you learn Lightroom and what are some tips for beginners?

You use my presets better then I do! haha. I’m completely self taught with Lightroom. I’ve watched so many videos on Youtube, read blog posts and have collected advice from other Lightroom users along the way. The best advice I can give to beginners is to start watching tutorials on Youtube. I have a couple on my YouTube channel (Mel Vandersluis). Watching tutorials is great so you can get a feel for what all the toggles and buttons do. Then once you’re a little more comfortable I would purchase some presets. I’ve had so many people tell me that they learned so much just by purchasing presets so they could see what was changed and then they took that preset and made it their own. Another tip is try not to get discouraged and just have fun with it!

What gave you the idea of starting to sell these filters? How did you go about packaging and marketing them?

I had so many people from my community ask me if I sold my presets and I thought, “Oh maybe they’re onto something there.” So I looked into it and sure enough it was something that other creators were starting to do. After speaking to some other girl bosses I decided to open up a simple Shopify store, created all of my graphics, looked up, “How to attach digital products to Shopify” and within two hours I was all set up! In terms of marketing I decided on Facebook ads. I took a whole bunch of before and after photos and turned them into a short video with Final Cut and the conversion ended up being a lot better then just a static photo. 

Tell us about your jewelry business! How long have you been doing that and what is your inspiration?

I’ve been building Melanie Audrey for four years. My inspiration is always travel and people. I’m constantly inspired by the stories I hear from people, what they’ve been through, and what dreams they are pursuing. When customers shop the website they get to read these stories and see which ones resonate with them and a lot of them take their bracelets all over the world and then send us pictures. 

Your travel blog and your images are incredible! So many girls dream of traveling for a living. How did you go about starting your blog?

I started working on my Instagram account a year and a half ago. I was on a trip in Bali with my cousin (@tracy_komlos) and my best friend (@lisahomsy). As I’m sure most Dazey Ladies know, Bali has been one of the most popular places to shoot content in the last few years. We spent 10 days going on adventures, taking all kinds of pictures and consistently editing and posting. Some really big Bali repost account started posting my pictures and I started to see my following grow. When I got home I kept posting Bali content for at least a month or two! Not long after that I sent out as many emails as I could to try working with brands. There were a lot of noes but there were some yeses, and that’s how I started getting into the whole content creation world. 

What are the best ways to monetize a blog once you’ve started it?

In terms of monetizing Instagram, first start working with brands to promote their products. Some advice, don’t work with everyone! Promote products that you truly believe in and form a great relationship with them that can last a long time. Second, start a small side business to bring in consistent income that can be cross promoted. For me that’s presets and Melanie Audrey and I’m able to talk about those two things on my Instagram at any time. One business feeds into the other. 

What are your top three travel recommendations for girls who gram and why?

1. Make sure you do your research for all the places you want to go and take pictures. When you fly by the seat of your pants it can get really frustrating when you find out on the flight home that there was this really cute cafe with a swing that you didn’t go check out. 

Your social media following is massive and you have built it up so quickly! What do you attribute to your success? Top tips?

I have to say that having great content and consistent editing is probably the number one thing to focus on. When you travel with other content creators you always cross promote which is awesome but if your content isn’t great it’s not inviting to new followers who are just discovering you. Instagram is very much about being eye catching and being pleasing to the eye. That comes a lot with editing and keeping a theme. 

Has it been difficult balancing all these things you do? What are the toughest parts of the self employed hustle and how do you deal?

I work mostly on the road or at home so finding a good space to be able to concentrate and work is often a challenge. Also, when you’re on your own you have to motivate yourself and sometimes that can be really difficult to do. That’s why Biz Babes is such a great idea! But in this case I hop on YouTube and I watch either Gary Vaynerchuk or Casey Neistat. They really inspire me to get going. In terms of balance I make sure to write out all of my to-do’s and work through them one at a time. There also needs to be OFF time. I’m constantly on a laptop or phone and thinking about the million things on my to-do list so having time to reconnect to my friends and family and leaving my phone on silent in my bag is sometimes really important. But I have to say I wouldn’t have my job any other way. The challenges make the journey even better. 

What does being  Dazey Lady mean to you?

Being a Dazey Lady is about embracing your journey, loving who you are, and following your dreams. It’s about collaboration not about competition. A Dazey Lady believes failure is an opportunity for growth and also celebrates her victories, big and small. Dazey Ladies stick together in good times and in bad and always inspire and empower each other to live their best lives!