Philadelphia

BEHIND THE BLOG: Conrad Benner

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Conrad Benner began Streets Dept., a successful street art blog about Philadelphia, in early 2011. 

FP: Why did you start blogging?

CB: I was a freelance writer for quite a long time. I was always very fascinated with Philadelphia. What was happening in Philadelphia. Just to sort of talk about what I was interested in from street art to nightlife. After doing that for a few years, I realized it wasn’t necessarily doing anything for me. It wasn’t doing anything for me besides being a paycheck. It didn’t feel very rewarding. I didn’t feel like I was building anything. So I sat down one day and decided to start my own blog. But I thought that isn’t enough. Everyone has a blog. It needs to have some sort of focus. I decided it would be hyper local. I live in this city and I feel like I have a good grasp on it. But I decided it still needed to be more specific. Most of the photos I take are on street art and graffiti. Most of the articles I am selling freelance are about that. So that was how it started. I just fucking did it. I had no idea what I was doing. I still don’t know.  And you just do it. You take one step at a time.

FP: When did you begin blogging?

CB: This brainstorming started in late 2010. At that time, I had been working three years on a blog called Philthy blog and doing some freelance stuff. Streets Dept. started January 11th, 2011. So a little over four years ago.

FP: How did you become interested in street art?

CB: I grew up in Fishtown. I have lived in this city my whole life. I am 29 now. I have walked the same streets a million times. You go to and from school the same way every day. You go to and from work the same way every day. Something that really excites me is when something new happens. Maybe there is a new mural or a new tag or a new sticker. It always just caught my eye. As a kid, I would buy books about graffiti. When the internet came out in early high school, I started reading all sorts of street art blogs.

I think street art is a little more inclusive than gallery or museum art. It’s so easy to interact with it. It’s all around you. You don’t have to know anything about art to be accepted into viewing the art or appreciative of it. It’s on your commute. Often times its bright bold colors and lines and really graphic. So I was just drawn to it. I thought we had to be celebrating these artists more than we were.

But in Philadelphia, you can have a voice. You can push change.

FP: What is your favorite thing about Philadelphia right now?

CB: The excitement right now. It’s a really exciting place to live. Everyone I know who lives in New York City is talking about Philly and considering moving here. That’s a first time at least in my lifetime that this has been the case. Growing up, I always thought maybe one day I would move to New York. I think there has been a paradigm shift and now people there are realizing the potential and opportunities here. As opposed to places like NYC where there are all these obstacles in your way which are insurmountable in certain ways. Things are incredibly overpriced there. It is such an established city. 

Philly is in a place right now where it’s being reborn. The people living here are shaping the way of its future. So in a lot of ways a place like New York is already shaped. There is a billionaire’s row. It is harder to have a voice. But in Philadelphia, you can have a voice. You can push change.

The SEPTA petition I started last year is a good example of that. I just started the petition online and in the course of a year subways are running at night now. That is because a lot of people signed the petition and the city recognized that it is something people wanted. There is so much that people want right now. The city is changing. That would not have happened in the 90s when there wasn’t this energy or this resurgence. But the city is seeing the potential and opportunities of these new people coming in and the services we need to reinstate.

What’s your favorite thing about Philly in one word? Potential

FP: There is an entrepreneurial spirit of the person who begins their own blog. How has you being a blogger made you an entrepreneur?

CB: I just read this awesome article on why millennials are obsessed with entrepreneurship. We saw our parents’ generation work really hard for big corporations their entire lives and then get fucked over when the economy collapsed in 2008. People like my Dad lost his pension. My mom lost her job. So our generation saw that and said fuck that. Why would I work 50 years for a company that could potentially rip the rug from under my feet? I think our generation felt screwed by big corporations and I don’t think we feel their interests are in us. I think we are very driven to work for ourselves because we can only really rely on ourselves at this point.

I think the age we live with social media has made it so much easier to start things like this. I started a store on my blog recently this past month. As long as you put the effort in the tools are there and the tools are relatively cheap. The tools are there. All you have to do is pick them up and use them for yourself.

Benner has approximately 104,000 followers on social media.

FP: How often do you blog?

CB: That has changed over the years. My original idea was the more the better. So when I first started I thought it was all about quantity over quality. But now it is more about quality. So now I post one to three times a week. Sometimes it’s more. But we are in a weird shift where do people really read blogs? I get way more engagement on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram than I do on my blog. So I try to create more content for those platforms. I try to make the blog a special place where the content is longer form and gives people a reason to go there.

16 LAST QUESTIONS FOR CONRAD BENNER



BEHIND THE BLOG: EMILY THARP

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Emily Tharp began her blog, Her Philly, in November of 2013.

Why did you begin blogging?

I have always really loved writing. I moved to the city and I was in a long term relationship with a guy. I was always very involved in high school and college, I came here and I didn't know anyone. I was looking for a way to get out and do stuff after work. I wanted a resource for young women like me who weren't into going to expensive things but also wanted to try new restaurants or go to new stores. I basically created the resource that I was looking for myself and it really exploded for me. I was able to dedicate more time to it when I ended that relationship. My independence came out through getting to explore new things with my blog. 

 Even though a lot of people do a really good job blogging about those things, I have nothing to add to that conversation.

What is your blog and who is it for?

My target age that I think about when writing is young women who are just out of college not yet with kids. I have learned that it is a lot more than that. People are interested from all ages who are looking to do fun things in Philadelphia. I only write about things that I myself think are interesting. I don't write about fashion shows or things like that because that isn't what I find interesting myself. Even though a lot of people do a really good job blogging about those things, I have nothing to add to that conversation. I have had to just think about what is unique that I can present about this topic. 

How do you balance work life and blogging?

It can be really tough. I think in the beginning I tried to keep myself to a schedule and that was really hard for me. It made me resent it for a little bit. I never want the blog to turn into something that I feel is a second job. I like how I have freedom. It's tough because there are events during the day I miss in Philly. Both of my employers since I have had the blog think it's really cool. So they do give me support and some flexibility. I am always working on balancing but I learned not to feel bad if I don't get a post up. 

What are you favorite things about Philly?

Eating, mostly. I always like going to new restaurants. I am not a really big fan of driving at all. So, I love being able to walk everywhere. Learning to take public transportation has been great. Exploring new neighborhoods. I love Diner En Blanc. I love Restaurant Week. A lot of things that people love to hate but things that get people out and excited about Philly. Right now, I am really close with all my friends from college. We all live in similar neighborhoods so it's been fun to explore new things with them. 

What are some of your favorite restaurants right now in Philly?

So Zahav is always and forever my all time favorite. I love it so much. I really like the tapas places. I also really love Amada. 

What else is a current obsession?

I'm obsessed with Flywheel. I started never having taken spin before. Everyone there was so nice and welcoming. I love how all the instructors are on social media. I think its all the tech stuff that really gets me. I love being able to look at my score after and see how far I have biked and see how many calories I burned. That makes me continue to go back. 

20 LAST QUESTIONS FOR EMILY THARP




BEHIND THE BLOG: Jordyn Nicole Shaffer

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In this nine day series, we interview the bloggers behind some of the most influential blogs in Philadelphia. Today, we meet Jordyn Nicole Shaffer of Jordyn's Fashion Formula.

FP: Why did you begin your blog?

JNS: I began Jordyn's Fashion Formula a year ago this month. So last February. I started it because I felt like I wanted to really show my knowledge of pop culture, music and film through the lens of street style. How we absorb all this information, entertainment and media and how it ultimately materializes through the material things that we wear. 

I also started my blog because it is an amazing way to connect and network with people. That is why we are here together right now, right? 

FP: So it is mostly a fashion blog. 

JNS: It started out as a street style blog. But my goal was and continues to be to ask other people about their formulas. Street style blogs can be just me, me, me, me. At the end of the day, I am a journalist so I care about what your outfit and what your outfit says about you. Even how your formula manifests itself in your apartment or home. How your design aesthetic may be different from your outfit to what your bedroom looks like. You formula may be different.  I have started to go into people's personal spaces to really get a personal touch on their fashion formula. 

FP: When did you become interested in fashion?

JNS: It started in middle school when everyone was trying to figure out who they are and what their identity is. What do I stand for and what do I represent? I always felt like I was too mature for my own well being. My peers were off caring about other things and I was very bookish. And than that bookish-ness made me interested in fashion. I started to absorb fashion in Teen Vogue. I use to collect them and stack them in periodical order. To get back to the Formula, I became obsessed about fashion through film. My Dad's girlfriend told me to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's. I know it's so cliche. But the 60's and Audrey and her aesthetic made me realize how nostalgic I am. 

FP: What films lately have you been into?

JNS: I love everything with Wes Anderson. So Moonrise Kingdom. I was Margot Tenenbaum for Halloween. It's beyond just the outfits. It is the whole aesthetic. Other films? I really liked Midnight in Paris. That showcased another time period. Any kind of Italian film. I studied abroad in Rome so just to see like La Dolce Vita, to see the Italian aristocrats and how they dressed. I love to see how their fashion was so effortless and sophisticated. 

FP: What is your favorite thing about Philly?

JNS: That it is a underdog but it really isn't an underdog. That everyone wants to connect with each other. 

FP: How do you connect with people?

JNS: At first it's really awkward to put yourself out there. You may have all these fears of, "Maybe they will think I'm weird." But, the more I kept on doing that, the more natural it felt and the more friends I meet. Now when I go to places to meet new people, I see familiar faces. It took those three or four times to go to an event and tap someone on the shoulder and say, "Hi. Lets talk." Put yourself out there and it's a domino effect from there. 

FP: How often do you blog?

JNS: I try to do once a week because I believe in quality over quantity. Because I am a writer in my real life, I don't want to half ass anything. So I want to make sure I go home and have clear a mind. I don't want to do it just to do it. 

What’s your favorite thing about Philly in one word?
Community.

FP: Do you think there is an entrepreneur in you with this blog and that is why you started?

JNS: I think that Philly has so many taste-makers and we always read about them in highly popular local publications But how often do we get to go into their personal space or their home.? The entrepreneur in me would want to see if there opportunity where business and those taste-makers overlap. 

19 LAST QUESTIONS FOR JORDYN NICOLE SHAFFER