THE SPLASH INTERVIEW : Our monthly blog featuring amazing women doing some incredible things. We hope you enjoy reading about them!
— Anjanette
THE SPLASH INTERVIEW : Our monthly blog featuring amazing women doing some incredible things. We hope you enjoy reading about them!
— Anjanette
BIO: Fashion week fixture Jordan Landes-Brenman (@HauteHouseFlower) has earned her recognition as one of NYC’s “Influencer It Girls”. Pairing her PR past and creative director eye; she and professional photographer boyfriend Scott White (@BloggerPhotographer) create editorial-worthy content for her digital fashion, beauty, travel and lifestyle destination, HauteHouseFlower.com. Jordan has been featured as a fashion expert and influencer in leading publications including; Vanity Fair, OK!, FSHN, Guest of A Guest, TheSkimm, and many more.
with
Hometown
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Current residence
NYC
Type of business
Fashion, Beauty + Lifestyle Blog
Years in the business
13 in the fashion industry, including 3 as a blogger
Favorite crystal/gem
Diamond
Favorite piece of jewelry
Diamond ring from my boyfriend’s late grandmother, Lois.She had three rings soldered together to make this insanely sparkly ring.
Best vacation spot
Positano, Italy
Favorite fitness activity
Reformer Pilates
Drink by day/night
By day it’s an almond milk latte or Gem-Water / and by night it’s Gem-Water or red wine
5 things you can’t live without:
I’ll keep it light for the sake of this interview…:)
• My dogs
• Weekly blowouts (my guilty pleasure)
• My camera
• Jergen’s Wet Skin Daily Glow Moisturizer
• and, of course, my iPhone
What keeps you grounded?
My friends and family
What are you binge watching right now?
I’m constantly binge watching episodes of Gossip Girl, Sex and The City, and Real Housewives of New York. I typically only watch TV to veg out, and give my mind a break. I love anything lighthearted and fashion-focused, especially if it takes place in NYC.
What’s your favorite Gem-Water blend?
Love
Hometown
San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Current residence
NYC
Type of business
Fashion, Beauty + Lifestyle Blog
Years in the business
13 in the fashion industry, including 3 as a blogger
Favorite crystal/gem
Diamond
Favorite piece of jewelry
Diamond ring from my boyfriend’s late grandmother, Lois.She had three rings soldered together to make this insanely sparkly ring.
Best vacation spot
Positano, Italy
Favorite fitness activity
Reformer Pilates
Drink by day/night
By day it’s an almond milk latte or Gem-Water / and by night it’s Gem-Water or red wine
5 things you can’t live without:
I’ll keep it light for the sake of this interview…:)
• My dogs
• Weekly blowouts (my guilty pleasure)
• My camera
• Jergen’s Wet Skin Daily Glow Moisturizer
• and, of course, my iPhone
What keeps you grounded?
My friends and family
What are you binge watching right now?
I’m constantly binge watching episodes of Gossip Girl, Sex and The City, and Real Housewives of New York. I typically only watch TV to veg out, and give my mind a break. I love anything lighthearted and fashion-focused, especially if it takes place in NYC.
What’s your favorite Gem-Water blend?
Love
What do you love most about your business?
I love that the heart of my business is getting to be my true self everyday. It’s humbling to feel that my personal opinions are respected and valued by not only my audience, but by brands and industry insiders that I’ve admired for my entire career. Getting to use my imagination and love of fashion and beauty, and turning it into something tangible - campaigns, events, videos, photos, etc is a dream come true.
Tell us about the journey of how you built your business. How many years did it take you to get to where you are today?
Even though it wasn’t always my goal to be a content creator (blogs and social media didn’t even exist when I started my career in 2005) I feel like my entire 13-year career has been preparing me for this moment. I always loved storytelling, photography, being on-camera, and sharing my fashion and beauty finds. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, but I always knew that I wanted to be known as an expert in the fashion industry.
After an internship at Chanel during college, I moved to LA, and decided to go into fashion PR. I worked at a couple of agencies for years before launching my own PR company with a business partner in 2009. In 2015, after a successful 6-year run, I realized that I was burned out on running my own agency, on PR, and on speaking for brands for so long. I was craving a creative outlet where I could share my own voice. I closed my business, and got a job at a PR and social media agency that had a beauty focus. I launched my blog and my Instagram account @HauteHouseFlower while working in PR full-time, and worked sleepless nights to create content and grow my platform on the side. I recruited my then-boyfriend (now fiancé), Scott (@bloggerphotographer) to take all my pictures.
I continued to see the “rise of the influencer” happening all around me, and in 2016, I decided it was time to turn my goals into actions. Scott and I had always dreamed of living in NYC, and we were both able to relocate from CA to NYC with the companies we worked for. I did the double life hustle for years, and during this time, I gained a deep understanding of influencer marketing, and social media. By day, I learned what brands wanted from influencers, and by night I got to experience life as a content creator.
As my online presence grew, the time commitment needed on my end to nurture my blog and social media platforms also grew. I gradually went from working from full-time in PR, to working part-time, and then finally made the leap to full time content creator and blogger in 2018. Since @HauteHouseFlower’s launch in 2015, Scott has gone from being an amateur photographer that hated taking my photos, to a professional photographer and videographer shoots my content, and everything from major luxury brand campaigns, to Paris Fashion Week. It certainly hasn’t been a straight line to get here, or an easy road, but I couldn’t be happier with where we are today…or more excited for everything to come!
What words of advice can you give other women entrepreneurs?
Don’t ever be scared to go after your biggest dreams...even if you discover them later in life. In this digital age, you can literally do anything you want to do. As long as you don’t give up, always show up, work hard, and be nice to everyone, you will get there. Even if you feel like you are alone on a path, walking to the beat of your own drum is what will make you stand out, and find your authentic voice. There’s a quote I love (and live by) by Frank Kafka that says... “Follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”
Anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Influencers sometimes get a bad rap sometimes for being entitled or lazy. Sure, there are tons of amazing perks to the job, but I just want people to know how much work it actually is, especially if you’re a one woman show- from playing editor, to creative director, to model, event and on-air host, to creating content, to staying up to date on the newest tech and apps, to negotiating brand deals and running your own business, to being your own publicist...there’s a lot of different hats that are worn, and many influencers do this as their full-time job. Of course, there are influencers out there that give it a bad name, but on the whole I’ve met so many people that are true talents, deeply creative, incredibly smart and hardworking, and are just trying to grow their businesses like everyone else.