Wednesday 1 September 2010

That Dapper Blogger

Terence Sambo is certainly a die hard fashionista; as well as being a Junior Fashion Editor for FAB magazine he is constantly tweeting updates on the fashion industry and updating his two blogs. Men's Fashion and Lifestyle Afficionando was launched in 2008 and looks at the true elements of style and One Nigerian Boy was launched earlier this year and covers arts, music, style and fashion from a Nigerian perspective. I caught up with him to talk about his blog, One Nigerian Boy and his inspirations behind it.

What made you start blogging? 
I can't exactly point out the main reason why I started blogging but I happened to get bored during the research for my final year project and started spending loads of times reading blogs. One blog in particular I Luw Fashion which is now known as Berkeley Magazine and now defunct use to be one of my fav reads. It was written by a Black Swedish boy of Ugandan descent, Hassan Luwalira. Reading his blog motivated me to start mine as I felt I had something to contribute to the fashion industry.

Describe the concept behind One Nigerian Boy
Its like my mirror into the world of African fashion and Style. I also add reasonable doses of myself into the blog.

Over the last year bloggers have really made their mark in the fashion industry, how do you think they will continue to push the boundaries over the next few years? 
Most people see blogging as a fad which will soon fade out. That's so untrue, if anything I think its print media that will fade out. Blogging is a lot more personal and give the readers a more direct contact with their favorite fashion writers. Even magazines and businesses have started their own blogs and bloggers are now getting front row seats at fashion shows besides 20 year industry veterans. The future can only be brighter for bloggers.

You come up with a lot of unique stories on your blog, how do you get your inspiration? 
My inspiration is drawn both from my environment and my online journeys through various blogs and even sometimes interesting topics being discussed on twitter.

What do you do when you are not working on your blog? 
I'm junior fashion editor of FAB magazine and times I'm not blogging it's either there's work I'm doing for the magazine or reading. I hardly watch TV in fact I prefer You Tube because I can watch it while doing other things online. I'm also learning French at the moment so that keeps me busy.

Describe a typical day in the life of Terence Sambo. 
When I wake up, I reach for my Blackberry, reply to emails, go on Twitter (yup, twitter addict) head downstairs turn on my laptop (I converted my dining room to my work station) and check comments on my blogs and reply them. I check new updates from blogs I follow, check updates from Facebook, post my blog links on Facebook and invite people to join my blog network. After that, I prepare my to-do list for the day, freshen up, walk the dogs and settle down for some study (usually via audiobooks on my ipod) After that, it's blogging, tweeting facebooking and basically social network whoring if I don't go to the book club or I don't have french classes that day.

What are your favourite glossy magazines? 
I.D, Dazed & Confused, Super Super, FAB, Essence, Arise, Vogue Hommes, GQ UK and Wonderland.

Name five blogs that you read religiously. 
Just Jaiden James, I'm The Only One On My Street, Jak and Jil, Paris Most Wanted and Dapper Kid.

How do you see your blog evolving over the next two years? 
Hopefully I gain a lot more daily hits and maybe turn it into a profit generating medium. I also intend to change it to a dotcom site and change the outlay to a magazine type. Then an online magazine and maybe an annual issue. Who knows.

You can read Terrence's blog here.

You can follow him on Twitter.

1 cool comments:

Jay said...

Terrence is absolutely fabulous. I read his blog religiously too. Hope I get to be called 'one nigerian girl someday':) Well done man!