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Show UVU REVIEW LIFE B4 COLUMNIST Happy Valley dating pressures By Brianna Bailey Assistant Life Editor @BriannaBailey14 Passion for fashi The story of a successful student blogger By Amanda Holtman Assistant Life Editor @HollmanAmanda When UVU student Rachel Parcell started a blog to document the first year of her marriage, she had no idea it would develop to be among the top five grossing blogs in the largest blogger affiliate network. Parcell is the editor of the popular style and beauty blog, Pink Peonies. She is also a junior in communications here at UVU. Even as a child, Parcel! has always had a passion for fashion. While on the UVU dance team, she helped select the costumes and had the chance to design one of them. When she started her journal blog she had no intention of focus- ing on style, but when women she didn't know started asking where she got her outfits, her game plan changed. Parcell started focusing the photos in her posts on her outfits. Readers began to put the images on Pinterest and her blog traffic skyrocketed. From there, Pink Peonies was born in September 2011. Now the site gets over 2 million views each month, being an online influencer and digital style publisher has become more than a full time job. "Conference calls, emails, editing, more emails, concept planning for creativity, more emails, negotiating contracts and a lot of traveling," Parcell said. Her inbox is always full, sometimes with about 3,000 unread messages. With that many people contacting her, there is not enough time to respond to everyone. When you get that many messages, there are bound to be some crazy comments that come in. "A reader told me that she knew I was pregnant and that I should stop hiding it. Guess it's time to lay off the cookies because I'm definitely not pregnant," she said. Like many other occupations, Parcell attends various conferences, including brand summits, fashion weeks, meetings and design jobs. For these events she has gone to places like Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Dallas, even Cabo and China. "It's been amazing because I've met people I would have never met otherwise and learned so much," Parcell said. Being a popular online influence doesn't come without its challenges though. "The last several years of blogging for me has definitely had its ups and downs. I've grown as a person and also learned a lot about myself. I've had to develop a very thick skin and let hurtful comments roll off my back (although some- times I still struggle with this). "I've seen negativity and even hatred swarming around my little space on the Internet and in the blogging world in general, but at the same time, I've experienced so much love," Parcell said on her site recently. Despite the gloomy parts, she is still happy with what she does. "I never would have dreamed I could turn this into my full-time job and make it my main source of income. I'm so blessed to be able to do something I love," she said. The inspirations for her posts come from just about everything around her, including magazines, interior spaces, fashion books, food, Tumblr, flowers, traveling and much more. Parcel' has worked with retailers like Tory Burch, Ann Taylor, Nordstrom, Nieman Marcus, Macy's, J.Crew and Ralph Lauren. She has also had magazine features on People Style Watch, Glamour, Utah Bride and Groom, Seventeen Magazine, Lucky Magazine, Marie Claire, Utah Valley Brides, The Wall Street Journal and Utah Valley Magazine. So, why Pink Peonies? Pink is her favorite color and peonies are her favorite flower. Both were in abundance at her wedding and since they fit her personality and style, it fit. Parcell has recently taken a leave of absence from classes due to heavy traveling for business. She said that countless courses at UVU have helped her tremendously. The ones that stand out were photography, Photoshop and journalism classes. She and her husband, Drew Parcell, met at UVU. With him standing at 6 foot 5 and she at 5 foot 6, Utah Valley Bride had fun writing about their wedding. "Follow your dreams, don't be afraid to be different and think outside the box," Parcell said to her fellow students at UVU. PHOTOS COURTESY OF PINKPEONIES.COM Rachel Parcell poses to show her readers various styles of clothing and accessories. She has made this her full time job. College is surrounded by pressures of all sorts, from grades to appearances and especially dating. It is the vortex of Utah County's young adult world, for good or bad. Coming to college at the young age of 17, I was immediately thrust into a world centered on dating, which I was excited for— and had anticipated—but not prepared for. Not, at least, on the level I was being pressured to engage in. I actually came to UVU with a steady boyfriend that I had dated for awhile. I thought nothing of it and just enjoyed dating and having fun. Then I saw eyes of judgment and curiosity lurking around me. The fastest question that came my way was when a ring was going to be on my finger and what we had planned for our marriage. Being so young, this appalled me but didn't seem to be unusual to those surrounding me. Those were things I had not even thought of and didn't want to be thinking about. I quickly learned that due to the high population of LDS students and the culture within the Valley, short engagements and young marriages were all the rage. Although I am a part of the community and religion, I enjoy my college experience being just that, a college experience, not my wedding. Of course I'm not opposed— as I'm now in my senior year— to serious dating for my friends or myself. I've have had several roommates, classmates and friends be married and even start families of their own, but it should be on their own time, not other people's. Being in my senior year and being friends with girls around the age range of 21-23, I notice them going into panic mode at their age and not being married. I observe their thoughts of what is wrong with them, all of the good guys are taken already and hear their rants of when they go home and family or friends inquire about their dating life. Not questions about their classes, jobs or accomplishments — just their dating life. There is strong influence in the cultural norm of dating in the area and allowing young adults — male and female — to feel insecure and rushed to find that person, when in reality those feelings shouldn't exist. These four years are the time to be independent, explore new opportunities, travel, make mistakes and learn from them. After living a semester away and interning in NYC, I shared with the other interns that my 20-year-old girlfriend was engaged. With jaws dropped, our intern from London said, "20?...in London we get married at 40 and divorced a few years later." Everyone needs to be reminded that Orem and Provo— this Happy Valley —is not the whole world and there is life outside this bubble, as well as activities other than dating. Even in my Young Single Adult ward in New York City, people dated longer and got married older after they developed themselves more. As I have come to terms with many of my friends being married, they are also starting to get pregnant. Which as it terrifies me, I'm more terrified by the other friends and couples I'm well acquainted with filing for divorce. As heart breaking as it is, it doesn't surprise me like it should. With young adults rushing into relationships that are exclusive and saying I love you way too quickly, not enough time is allowed to truly know the person you are marrying. They say date every season of the year to see your significant other react in different circumstances throughout the year. No one should evaluate their self worth based on their dating life. Even while you are dating, take the time to enjoy it and get to know that person. I'm also at the age that I'm starting to know people getting divorced, which is heart breaking. So, take your time and enjoy your university experience. |