Love from, Florence Grace

Four years is a long time, don't you think? I'm nowhere near the same person I was four years ago. I'm not friends with the same people, I'm not dating the same person, I'm not in the same job. Everything is completely different, and when I look back on the last four years of my life, I can't help but to think about how everything would be even more different had I not started my little blog - four years ago to the day. Four years ago, I was sat anxiously waiting for my A Level results, I was deciding if I was going to go to the university that accepted me or not, I was wondering if photography was really the career I wanted to pursue - in short, I was totally lost. Until I started my blog and began to create my own career. Blogging helped me to find my way, find myself  and totally change my life and I find that totally mind blowing.  I've been looking back through my Facebook page , right to my first year of blogging, and there's so many excit...

On Wednesday (1st November) I turned 22! Eeeeeek . That sounds so  old in my head! 21 seems like an age where it's still seen as acceptable to be a little wild, a little out of control, a bit of a party animal. 22- in my head, at least- sees so much older, so much more mature. I feel like I actually have to start being a responsible adult now, and like I need to start getting my shit together (for lack of better terminology!). As with all birthdays, I did spend some time surrounding my 22nd birthday reflecting on the kind of year I'd had being 21, and the kind of things that being 21 had brought to me and my life. I feel like I say this most years, but I genuinely feel like 21 was my best  year yet. Honestly, this year has shaped me like no other. When I was 20, life turned into a learning curve for me. I was experiencing things I wasn't used to, dealing with emotional turmoil that sent me to breaking point that I felt like I would never bounce back from and so, for the...

Today I left my job at Topshop, after working in retail on and off for five years, and I can safely say… Wow, I will not be doing that again. At least, as far as I can help it. If money gets short and I need to make ends meet, then okay I may need to take on another part time retail job. But for now, and for the foreseeable future, I can safely say hallelujah, goodbye retail, been there, done that, worn the t-shirt and I will not be back. ( To be honest, I haven’t worn the t-shirt; Topshop tried to make me and I refused ) My TS1135 pals xxxxxxxx However, retail wasn’t all bad. It has it's moments; Christmas in retail is always lovely, the store discount was great and I have also made some incredible friends who I hope stick around in my life for a very long time, all who have helped me make some amazing memories. In my time in retail though, I've learnt some valuable lessons, so I thought I’d share them with you guys! People suck No, honestly, you all...

When I started my new job as a Communications Officer , I got a lot of questions about what my new role actually was and the kinds of things it entailed. Justine from Girl Gone Dreamer asked if I would do a blog post on the subject- and so here it is, better late than never! So, what does a Communications Officer actually do? Handle Social Media Anyone who knows me will know how much I adore social media, so I was thrilled when I found out that a huge portion of my job role was to handle the company’s social media . I help to run the Twitter and Facebook account and soon might even be looking into doing some YouTube work too. I take a lot of joy in doing this and always get so excited whenever somebody tweets us, because then I get to tweet back!  Internal Communications I have been told by my colleagues that internal comms are my strength , which I was thrilled to hear, given that I’ve never done them before! I would say internal comms is definitely the main bulk...

The other day, I was talking to my mum about how much I loved my best girl Bobbie's university friends, and how I envied her for having so many loving, caring friends around her- she is so lucky! I was whining to my mum about the size of my social circle (online friends, a gazillion, real life friends, two), and she asked me: "Do you wish you'd gone to uni now?" I said no, straight away. No, no, no. Not going to university has actually been hugely beneficial to me and my career. Most of the people in the same year group as me are now in their final year of uni. In the time that they have been studying, I have been working; I've been a radio presenter, trained to be a TV presenter, started my own magazine, worked with Channel 4 and 4Music, landed several jobs within the media industry...I doubt I would have done half of that, if any of it, whilst at university.  But are there times when I think "Man, this would be so much easier if I'd g...

With the non-stop world we seem to live in today, it's never too early to get a head start on your career, even while you're still studying. No matter what your desired career is, there are several things you can do to help progress in the industry and bulk up your CV a little bit while still in education. Work experience Work experience is the most obvious of the things you can do, however it isn't easy to obtain in all professions. Most secondary schools do a compulsory two week work experience slot- if this is the case for you, really take advantage of this. Try to get experience with something that really will be beneficial to you. At the time, I wanted to be a photographer and I managed to get a two week slot with the photography department at RAF Halton which was an absolutely amazing experience.  You can also do work experience in school holidays and at weekends, volunteering your services to help even with the most menial tasks if it helps you to ...

I'm so  excited because I am back on TV again!  Okay, okay, not quite yet, but the new series of 'Last Fan Standing' starts on September 3rd on 4Music and I'm involved with it. For those of you who didn't already know, back in October/November, I participated in a show called "Shoutouts", the first ever  live TV show on 4Music. I got to meet Ollie and Toff from MIC as well as the presenters of the show, Will Best and Maya Jama and I also met some people who I have remained in touch with today, which is lovely! Now, I've been invited back to participate in another live show, "Last Fan Standing". LFS isn't usually a live show, so I was surprised when I was asked to come to the studio for it, but it turns out it's running a little differently this year. On September 3rd you'll see my face on screen as part of a home video recording, defending the BEYHIVE (obviously) as the ultimate fandom. After this, there is thre...

I don't know what I want to do with my life. There. I said it. Okay, that's not entirely true. Since I was 12 I have known that I want to be a Radio 1 presenter. That is all I want to do. However, it's really not a very realistic career, and whilst I have worked in radio previously and have plans to in the future, I really do doubt that Radio 1 is ever going to happen for me! Then I wanted to be a photographer. My dad bought me a huge, fancy photography kit, I applied to study photography at university, I studied it at college. But it always just felt like a hobby. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life doing it. Since then I've wanted to be a journalist, work in social media, an interior designer, a fashion designer, a magazine editor, run my own business, a blogger, a YouTuber, a TV presenter...it's an ever changing list. I'm quite lucky because I have done most of those things, albeit in part time or 'unprofessional' format...

At work, Lauren and I were having some pretty intense chats about life, and what we wanted to achieve in the next year, two years, five years. Really, it left me feeling that my life was currently stuck in a rut- monotonous and not really moving anywhere. But it also left me feeling motivated, wanting to get myself out of the rut and continuing on into more exciting places. I realised my main priority right now is to move out of the family home. It's something I'm desperate  to do purely because I just want my own space! I want to be able to cook my own meals, decorate my own place, have friends stay over, just be independent! But that got me thinking about the next thing I wanted/needed- full time work. Or, rather, a full time wage. I currently work 4 paid jobs, and this creates a wage that is perfect for my current needs but not enough to live alone on. So I either need to take on more part time jobs or sacrifice some part time jobs for better paid part time job...

Results day has rolled around once more, and social media sites are live with the buzzing of anxious students, dreading the day, spreading rumours about impossible grade boundaries, and making jokes about how to deal with their future when they fail- which every student is deeming to be the inevitable. I laugh at them now, but I know how they're feeling and what they're going through. This time last year, I was going through the same thing. I even wrote a blog post about my feelings- i t was my first ever blog post and it conveyed my own nerves about my results. However, looking back on the year I've had since then, and how little impact my results have had on my life so far, I wanted to take this opportunity to reassure everybody who is panicking right now about what their future holds. Relax. Breathe. It will all be okay! AS Levels. When I started A Levels, someone said to me "Don't even bother with AS results Flo- everyone f*cks them up and then gets A...

Back in July, if someone had said to me "Flo, in six months time, you'll have your own radio show", I never would have believed them. Nor would I have believed that I would be a blogger, a columnist or have started my own mini gift line- I definitely wouldn't have believed I would be more well known as 'Florence' than 'Flo'! Everything I have achieved in just six months is really quite unbelievable, and I wouldn't have believed it coming from anyone. So often I have people asking me how I managed to do this, how I managed to make time for that, how did I get all of the lucky opportunities that I have had? I'm always telling people the same few facts about how to get to where you want to be, so I thought I would share them on a wider platform to help out and maybe even inspire more people who feel as though they're not quite sure about what they're doing with their life. Don't worry, you aren't the only one- six months ago I ...