Cindiddy is constantly changing things up.Cindy Ko Sze-wan (known as Cindiddy online) is a fashion and lifestyle blogger who has been featured in Elle HK and on CNN, and has a following of 29,000 followers on Instagram.
She started cindiddy.com in 2007 after she saw a feature on fashion bloggers in an issue of Vogue. She had been modelling since the age of 13, and decided to test the waters online to feed her passion for fashion. Since becoming a professional blogger, she has covered many fashion events, including the biannual Paris Fashion Week.
Ko, 30, says that there are a variety of platforms out there for aspiring bloggers. For anyone wanting to start their own blog, Ko recommends getting to know their audience and what they want to write about before getting started.
Her advice is to do "a lot of research but to try to be different at the same time" and not just copy successful blogs. The reason her blog has gained so much attention is because she is constantly trying new things and as she puts it, "changing things up".
Despite her success, Ko continues to challenge herself by introducing new material to the website. "This year I've started to do more creative and behind-the-scenes work," she says. "I want to steer away from doing street-style posts and curate projects for … people such as photographers and art directors."
She receives lots of emails every day about potential projects and collaborations. She finds time to look through these people's Instagrams and websites to see if they possess something unique which would go well with her own ideas. She believes in learning through collaboration and working with a variety of creative people to promote herself and her blog.
In fact, Ko recently collaborated with two London-based art directors who were on holiday in Hong Kong. They had contacted her to see if they could work with her during their visit. After reading their email, Ko combed through their website and Instagram and decided they were a perfect fit for a high-profile project she was involved in at the time.
She places a lot of faith in young talent in particular. The first time that the recently graduated duo met Ko was on the set of the project, when they were preparing to shoot. "They were incredibly hardworking" Ko says. "They also had many good ideas."
And Ko believes this attitude is not uncommon. She likes to work with "young, inspiring people" because she believes that they possess an "unbridled passion" and a definite idea of what they want.
Ko thinks that when she works with someone else, it's a marriage of two visions and not just one overwhelming the other.
"I'm open to working with different people," she says. "I like the idea that my blog can be a creative hub for different people in the industry."