HaileyDailey.XO a name familiar to many Auburn students, is a fashion blog run mostly through Instagram by Hailey Feely, senior in apparel merchandising.
“I started blogging just on Instagram, just using Instagram as a platform about four years ago, just starting as a hobby, not really thinking much of it,” Feely said. “But today I definitely do it as more of a business.”
When a blogger gains enough fans, companies will often send them products to try and give feedback on through their blog. It is a form of promoting. Feely considers herself an influencer through her Instagram feed.
Feely began her blog in 2014 as a senior in highschool. Because Feely already had a deep love for fashion, she decided to turn that into opportunities.
“I had always been interested in fashion,” Feely said. “I would literally go home and make 30 different outfits for the whole month and write up exactly what I was wearing because I was so obsessed with clothing and the way it made me feel when I was at school.”
Feely spoke with other bloggers and decided to go with the name HaileyDailey.Xo because it wouldn’t fade from popularity as easily.
After a break her freshman year of college, Feely picked back up her creative blogging outlet.
Part of her business is collaborations, Feely said.
“That’s the biggest way that bloggers can grow. It always has been, I feel like it always will be. Is getting someone to put your name out there for you and allowing a larger audience to see your name whether that brand only has two, three, 4,000, 10,000, 100,000 more followers than you,” Feely said.
Feely says she views herself as more than her blog, even though that’s what others see her as.
“I feel like completely honestly, I feel like it has given me a completely different understanding of not only fashion but how your life can evolve based on just an image that you have on social media,” Feely said.
Feely says a passion of hers outside of fashion is sustainability.
“The impact that we have on the earth is so huge and something that we talk about in my major all the time is the amount of stuff that we consume, in terms of clothing, is ridiculous and we should not be buying that many things,” Feely said.
In addition, Feely is a strong supporter of LGBTQ rights. Feely looks forward to her future life living in a big city when she believes she will have a larger platform to share her ardent support.
This fall Feely will be moving to New York City with a friend in the hopes of finding an internship in the fashion industry.
“I definitely think it’s going to be refreshing. I grew up traveling and so I never wanted to live in the South … I need to be in a city, even if I don’t live there 10 years from now,” Feely said.
Feely believes she wouldn’t have become such a success without the support of her friends and family, from taking pictures to general support.
“I don’t really know if it would have ever gotten to the point that it is today without the people that have like helped me get there,” Feely said.
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