By now you must have heard about the Shopbop family and friends sale, and a ton of other sales information going on… simply put, everything I am listing in this post is on sale!

Even though I have already found my perfect work bag (blog post here), I am still on the hunt for the EVEN MORE PERFECT work bag. And here’s a list of bags that I am just itching to get.

If like me, you have an office job where you have to fit personal belongings like your wallet and make up, possibly a few different cell phones, and paper and documents… these are probably the right bag of choice for you!

The post My Favorite Work Bags Right Now! appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

What is an Instagram Loop Giveaway?

There are a few forms of loop giveaways done on the web, but the kind I’ll explain below is the kind seen on Instagram.

Basically, it’s when a few Instagram accounts (the “hosts“) get together, usually between 20-60 of them, and come up with a prize of a group of prizes for the giveaway, and create a criteria for others (the “entrants”)  who want to be entered into the drawing in order to win.

The way the hosts come up with prizes vary. It could be chipping in together and creating a pool of funds for one of the hosts to purchases the prizes. OR, it could be on a contribution basis, where some or all of the hosts contribute a product or something they don’t mind giving away.

Why do people host Instagram Loop Giveaways?

For the most part, it’s for the hosts to gain more followers.

In my personal experience though, I hosted a loop giveaway to get to know other bloggers who blog about similar things. You see, my blog is about corporate fashion and workwear for professional women. When I created my loop giveaway, I teamed up with 18 other bloggers who blog about the same topic. The logic is that my audience would appreciate their content and vice versa.

How to get the biggest return from hosting Instagram Loop Giveaways?

Full disclosure here – I’ve hosted one loop giveaway myself and also participated in co-hosting of another. Each time I gained on average about 400 Instagram followers. About 50 or so I’d lose in the two weeks following the end of the giveaway. I’d also like to caveat these numbers with the fact that the total number of followers all the hosts have in accumulation didn’t exceed 50K either time.  I would imagine some of the loop giveaways with more powerful IGers would be more effective and fruitful.

What makes a good Instagram loop giveaway?

This section is intended for those of you who are thinking about creating a loop giveaway yourself. Many bloggers have covered on the logistics of how to carry out one, you can find some of the most popular ones on Tin Shingle, Blog Brighter, and Life by Lee.

To me, the loop giveaways that stood out and piqued my interest always have two critical elements. 1. A carefully selected co-hosts with a unique focus and 2) a set of curated giveaway items. The concept here is similar to blogging 101, where they always tell you to know your audience. It’s the same thing when creating a loop giveaway. Because you want your audience to stick around for the long run, you want to target the right people. Teaming up with people that have similar topics in their content is the first step. The second is to provide the right prizes that attract the right kind of audience.

You can see what I did for the Instagram loop giveaway I hosted in January 2016 here, and see the language I used, what I did for terms and conditions, and the imageries.

What are your thoughts on loop giveaways? Share away below please – positives AND negatives!

The post Instagram Loop Giveaways || I hosted one and here’s what I learned appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Yet, this quest seems to be a never-ending journey! Today, though, I wanted to share with you my favorite work bag so far in my 5+ years working in the corporate world. It’s the Banana Republic Larkin Tote!

Here’s a quick view of what I usually carry in my bag… and all the links for where you can find them!

I always have to have my Chanel Sunglasses with me. Being in Southern California and a 90 minute commute everyday, it’s brutal to go without sunglasses. In terms of the content of my cosmetic pouch, I have a lip balm, a tube of Tylenol, a mint oral spray, a NYX matte lip color, and a little leather pouch if I need to run out for lunch so I can grab some of my ID’s and credit cards for quick access. Lastly, I just have my car key and my Louis Vuitton French wallet.

There is something that’s a little different about my work bag though, something that I am sometimes a bit bashful to share with people. It’s absolutely adooorable, makes me smile everyday when I look at it. Not the most professional accessory in my bag, yes…. but something that makes me happy It’s my TOTORO ID CASE, Ta-DA!!! 

What’s in your work bag?? What’s something that is unusual??

Before you answer that… check out what’s in some of my stylish blogger friends’ work bags!

Sanam @ Stylish at Work

Belinda @ Snapshots of My Closet

Janise @ Mama in Heels

The post What’s in my work bag? appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

It’s that time of year again! For me, February is extra special because it’s also my birthday month. I always feel that birthday dinner followed by V-day dinner is a bit excessive and feel a little bad.. but this year I’m going to enjoy both!

In the spirit of celebrating Valentine’s day, whether you are shopping for yourself or for a girlfriend, below are items that people are (I AM?!) lusting over these days, according to Instagram! I hand selected a line up of products PERFECT for you cubicle dwellers.

I could totally see myself using every one of these items!!

Do people by Valentine’s Day Gift for themselves? I’m sure people do… right? I mean, we buy stuff for ourselves any other day in the year so… this is totally logical.

The post Valentine’s Day Gift Guide appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

In many ways, my 2015 was a year of changes and challenges. I turned 30. I moved out of my parents’ house and got a place on my own. I said goodbye to people that were dear to my heart. And,  I started a blog. Life definitely threw some curveballs at me amidst all of it but also created room, much room, for growth and development.

Turning 30 leaves a lot of people anxious, lost, and directionless. I had been preparing myself to embrace these feelings and anxieties that people have told me about. The weird thing is, it didn’t happen for me. Being 30 feels mostly the same, minus the aging jokes I get to crack now. A part of me is even excited about this new decade that I get to start out anew, equipped with so much self awareness and mental clarity, at least compared to when I started my 20’s. It’s a big change that came in with such positive energy it almost surprised me.

Moving out to live on my own is something that is long overdue according to societal standards. For me, this arrangement made a lot of sense previously because of financial/short commute reasons, and also because I am incredibly close with my parents.  And even given all of these reasons, sometimes you just know it’s the time to do move on. You go through with the the motion, and it feels just right. Moving out was one of those things.

Starting a blog was something that I have always wanted to do, but never got around doing. My blog was born out of my desire to create something for myself, and being able to have something I can call my own; tending to the builder within me, so to speak. It serendipitously also allows me to put a lot of things I practice at work, which is marketing communications, into my approach to blogging. It’s a lot of fun and very rewarding; the best part it is that the reward comes in so many different ways. I recently teamed up with a group of amazing workwear/office fashion bloggers for a loop giveaway on Instagram and it was quite a success. Let me know if you’d like to hear more about that!

All of these things, and others, created a lot of space for me to think about who I am as a person, and who I really want to be. I’m not going to lie, every single one of the things I mentioned above has given me plenty to freak out about. But I ended up handling them, and in the process of handling them, no matter how clumsy I was, I gained confidence and faith in the end that I CAN handle them.

I read this article on Career Contessa earlier this month. It talks about the difference between motivation and purpose in that most people look for ways to get “motivated” when they feel down or dejected. What they don’t realize is that motivation is transient in nature, it’s a “pick me up” that zaps us with temporary energy so we can keep going. It’s the byproduct of something else, something bigger, that can be constantly motivating. That something else, something bigger, is purpose.

I think that is what 2016 is going to be for me – adhering to my purpose, and in some aspect of my life, finding my purpose. I spent my entire 20’s looking for self confidence, evidence and reasons to believe in myself. I know that’s no longer a something I search for, because I have it now. And in the next decade in my life, I am going to focus on loving and caring for my own well being, and being responsible for my own development and growth.

The post 2016, a year to be responsible, caring, and loving toward myself appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Note: If you’re completely new to this topic, I’d read up on Poshmark’s recommend tips to create amazing covershots here. It’s got some very easy to follow tips on what basic rules to follow!

1. Free Templates: STUDIO

To download, iPhone here, Android here.

This is a FREE app that provides thousands of templates for you to use. All you need to provide is a base image (see #2 below). You can edit the text, size of the text and other graphics, remove individual elements, add individual elements, so on and so forth. Here are a few examples I’ve created. Some base images are mine (first row), some images I got from the app mentioned in #2 (second row).

2.  Free Base Images: LINE DECO

To download, iPhone here, Android here.

All this app does is providing amazing wall papers for your phone, for FREE. What I’ve started doing is download these cute images and add other elements onto them! And if you use LINE, an instant messaging app that’s gaining popularity quite a lot recently, LINE DECO is created by the same company Below are some examples of super cute images I’ve gotten from LINE DECO.

3. Adding Text and Creating Collages:  A Beautiful Mess

To download, iPhone here, Android here.

This is an app I’ve been using for years. It’s not free, but it costs a measly $0.99. It’s created by the creative geniuses behind A Beautiful Mess blog, and it allows you to create collages of images, and add beautiful text to them! There are quite a lot of fonts, and they’re very unique! It’s well worth the $0.99 in my opinion. Below are examples of images I’ve created using ABM. Top row are all Poshmark items I’ve sold, row two are collages I’ve created combining different images.

4. Photo Editing: Snapseed

To download, iPhone here, Android here.

This is another FREE app, which allows you to edit the tone/brightness/contrast, etc, of your photos. Judging from the last sentence, you probably already know I am  no professional when it comes to photography. So I’m not going to pretend I know how exactly to recommend this app…. I just know it works. When I am not satisfied with a particular image, I open it up in Snapseed and play with it using all the levers, until I get it right. More often than not, it works out awesomely. See examples below – images on the left are the original, and on the right are the edited versions!

The post Apps for Creating Amazing Covershots (For Poshmark & Other Social Media Platforms) appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Hopefully by now you’ve taken care of gift shopping for friends and family, and perhaps it’s time to think about your MOST loyal friends – your furbabies!  I have the gift items that are perfect if you own any dogs or cats (if you follow me on Instagram, you will know I am a helpless cat lady). Even better, it comes with matching items that YOU can use/carry yourself! I was beyond excited when I received these as gifts!!

 This is Miles, a spunky and slightly crazy 5 year old orange tabby that enjoys chestnuts, watermelon, lemon, yam, and kale.  Miles likes to be different…

This is Lulu, a 11-year old girly girl kind of cat. She is shy but bossy, playful but lazy.. easily scared but plays vigilante all day long. She is full of all sorts of contradiction and is the love of my life!

All photography by Brianna Olsen Photography

Just a little bit about the brand and company that makes these amazing pet + human accessories – It’s a Taiwanese brand called ZAZAZOO, these products can be found here, if you’re interested! Unfortunately the website is in Mandarin Chinese, you’d have to know the language to order. Alternatively, you can email me if you’d like to purchase! The bow collars are about $25-$30 (not including shipping) and the tote bags are about $50.

The post Holiday Celebration Continues – Don’t forget your Furbabies! appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Tis the season to shop till you drop!! Gift Guides are floating around everywhere and I had to create a special Cubicle Chic edition for my dear beloved readers!

I don’t know if this list is more like my personal holiday gift WISHLIST or a true Gift Guide. I mean the line is seriously so blurry…so who cares. It’s everything a girl who works (or lives) in a cubicle will ever need to thrive! All the items are clickable and will take you straight to where you can buy it. I know..it’s awesome!!

Lastly, just a heads up, I will be having a series of Holiday Party Dresses coming up. As per usual, it’s for the cubicle chic, i.e. girls who work in corporate offices… so of course, they are COMPANY holiday party or CORPORATE holiday party specific. Stay tuned!!

The post Holiday Gift Guide for the Cubicle Chic appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

Liebster Award Q & A

What motivated you to finally start your blog?

I’ve always read blogs, especially fashion blogs. The catalytic influence came from my experience with Poshmark, an online platform for women to shop and sell unused/used items from their closet. I started my journey with Poshmark in January 2013, and since then have grown my follower base to close to 250K. I attribute my sizable follower base to the exponential growth Poshmark has taken on organically on its own, but there are definitely a lot of perks that comes with having a big follower base. One of which is that it allowed me to tap into this amazing online community that is supportive, encouraging, and all about each other’s growth and wellness. This is how I came across CaraMia’s blog, incidentally. It gave me courage and faith to start blogging, knowing I have this community to share my thoughts and content with.

How did you come up with your domain name?

I’ve been with my current employer for a little over four years now. I am in the marketing department, so much of my time is spent in the office, in an cubicle. Because of this, I am always looking for information that are particular to me, with this unique yet common environment, whether be it fashion advice, wardrobe tips and tricks, or things that you do to make the cubicle life more enjoyable and productive. I feel like there is a shortage of such information in the blogosphere and therefore decided to contribute by creating my own content. Since my blog is mostly about fashion and outfits, I came up with the name Cubicle Chic.

What are your blogging goals?

This is the part about my blog that I still haven’t quite figured out. To be honest, I am content at the moment just having a creative outlet that allows me to express myself through fashion, outfit, and writing. Not to mention I am also connecting with people out there who share the same interest as mine… I can’t complain. I think eventually it would be nice to be able to work with prestigious brands, but in the short run I’d like to keep this as a fun hobby.

What part of the country/world do you live in?

I was born and raised in Taichung, Taiwan. I lived there until I was 15, and moved to Southern California to go to high school and have been a So Caller since then. As of February 2015, I’ve spent exactly half of my life in Taiwan and the other half in the U.S. I’ve always wondered what my mindset would be like once I reached this point, culturally speaking. And now I can firmly declare that I am a lot more American than I am Taiwanese, at least according to myself.

I am also a fluent speaker and writer and avid reader in Mandarin Chinese.  將來也不排斥用中文來寫部落格… 改天有機會可以來寫一篇，但是還不知道要寫甚麼!

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

I like to consider myself a pretty healthy hybrid of the two, and even my Myers & Briggs personality test agrees. I enjoy crowds, and don’t mind being the center of attention; but I have days when I just want to be quite and alone, and find comfort in activities such as reading and watching movies. In other words, I am a normal human being… ha.

Who has been your life’s biggest inspiration?

I find inspiration in books, podcasts, sometimes even encyclopedia. I think this came from the habit my Mom instilled in me since my childhood to always be curious about things, have an open but critical mind about what I learn. I have read many books that I would consider inspirational but if I could only name one, it would be Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind  by V. S. Ramachandran. This book inspired me to pick Psychology as one of my majors in college which later on lead to a career in marketing. The most amazing part is during my time at University of California, San Diego, where I received my bachelor degrees, I was fortunate enough to take a class one quarter lectured by Dr. Ramachandran himself. I have to admit I did not know UCSD was where he was teaching at that time.. so imagine my surprise!

What are you most afraid of?

Public speaking and modeling in front of a camera.

The ironic thing is that these are two things that I get to do quite often in my life now, and have managed to grown an inkling of passion toward both… I consider myself very lucky.

What, if anything, prevents you from pursuing your wildest dreams?

I can’t say I am the type to have the wildest of dreams. But if I did, I think I would stand in the way of myself and those dreams… Hmm somehow these scenarios could be one of the same. I do realize that. Ha.

How would your best friend describe you?

Loud, fun-loving, full of emotions and passions, has too many ideas that I can afford to explore… emotional. Oh I said that already.

NEXT – MY NOMINATIONS!!

Brittney @ Beauty v. Brain

This is beauty/fashion meets major brain. Brittney is a Harvard Law student and offers her very unique and sharp-witted opinion about various trends in fashion, or just things in general.

Morgan @ Between The Racks

Morgan and I met over the app Poshmark, and have become mutual fans of each other’s blog. Morgan is a high fashion thrift hunter, and you read it right.. this exists. She is all about designer items at super affordable (most of the time ridiculously affordable) prices. Head on over if you want to learn more about Poshmark too, she has written a ton about it.

Valentina @ Pear of Heels

Valentina and I also met over Poshmark. I found her closet and immediately began ogling over her super envy worthy closet filled with designer stuff. She is young but has a very developed taste of what looks good. Her outfits are always on point and her heels are always high.. I’ll leave it at that.

Rachel @ Weenie’s Guide to Cool

Rachel is my little cousin who is no longer little. She blogs about her journey to become truly COOL in a totally sarcastic but not sarcastic  kind of way. She is very good at documenting all the little voices that we all deal with when we struggle to grow and become better versions of ourselves. The struggle is real, as they say.

The post A Small Blogging Milestone Reached: The Liebster Award! appeared first on Cubicle Chic.

I spend 90 minutes driving to work each day, and I’ve done this for the last 4 years.

From the initial dread four years ago to my current state of sometimes looking forward to it, I’ve gone through various tactics to keep myself entertained, focused, or awake sometimes, while I drive. The things that I am finding myself gravitating toward the most over the 4 years though, are audiobooks and podcasts. These are the BEST TWO THINGS that have ever been created for commuter’s sanity. I can’t imagine what my drives would be like now without them.

I want to create a series where every few weeks I will share my favorite podcasts at the moment.

Radiolab 

Radiolab is what started me on the journey into the Podcast world 4 years ago. I still remember bing-listening to the show for those few weeks.. like you binge-watch The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. This show has been around for over a decade, and is done by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, a very funny, witty, and harmonious duo. This show takes you on a magic carpet ride and examines overlooked and unconventional angles on scientific, cultural, medical, and biological events. Some of my most favorite episodes are as follow (you can listen online if you don’t have or don’t want to use the iPhone app)

1. Why Isn’t the Sky Blue
2. Rodney Versus Death
3. 23 Weeks 6 Days
4. Ally’s Choice

Note to Self

This podcast designed specifically for Gen Y-ers (those of us born in early 1980’s to early 2000’s) and the very particular challenges we deal with everyday. For examples, dealing with digital devices EVERYWHERE, living in a text-based cultural, and the having the conflict of having no privacy yet extremely privacy sensitive… you get the deal, this is basically you. Well, it’s also me. Read some of these titles and just TELL ME you don’t find yourself at least a bit curious?

1. Stop Going on Bad Dates. Here’s how to Fix Your Online Profile
2. Why Google “Thought” This Black Woman was a Gorilla
3. Why Texts From Your Ex Is a Thing
4. It’s Time to Deal With Your Photo Clutter

The Lively Show

This is what I call radio therapy. As career minded and professional women, many of us find it hard to find balance everyday in trying to stay focused and driven at work while living a fulfilling life and tending to your family, significant other, sometimes children. There are times when you are just lost in the middle of all of this “always trying”. Listening to Jess and her interviews always lifts me up, whether I am feeling stressed out, anxious, lost, or just frustrated. She’s interviewed very many that are considered “successful” – Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, and Tal Ben-Shahar, renowned scholar on positive psychology, Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home, to name a few. Episode after episode, Jess manages to find what’s most relatable and inspiring from the vast pool of knowledge and experience each expert has to offer, and share that with us. My favorite episodes:

1. TLS #89: HOW TO TAKE BIG + SMALL STEPS TOWARDS A ZERO WASTE LIFESTYLE WITH BEA JOHNSON (ZERO WASTE HOME)

2. TLS #96: HOW TO DIVERSIFY SELF-WORTH WITH TAL BEN-SHAHAR (HAPPIER.TV) 

3. TLS #100: ELIZABETH GILBERT ON CURIOSITY, EPIC SELF-COMPASSION, & CREATIVITY (“BIG MAGIC”)

This Won’t Hurt A Bit

I literally just discovered this Podcast today. The Podcast is very new, with only 4 episodes currently available. But if you liked the TV show House M.D., you will like this podcast. The hosts are all Medical Doctors, in the show they discuss historical cases or their own experiences, but more likely these are ones that have some yuck or gore factors. So far they have talked about maggot therapy, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, medical use leeches, to name a few. If you need something to keep you awake and entertained, this one will do it for you!

1. Voices and Wonderlands
2. Things That Go Bite

The post A Commuter’s Pastime – My 4 Favorite Podcasts At the Moment appeared first on Cubicle Chic.