77: Building Your Influence- Confession with Melissa Vale
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Today’s Episode…
Melissa Vale
Our guest... Melissa Vale
A native New Yorker, Melissa Vale is no stranger to multitasking and staying busy, even at the very young age of 9, she was already modeling, acting and studying hard. Vale managed to navigate the high pressures of academics while working as a Ford model and performing in a lead role in a Broadway Neil Simon play. While attending and graduating from Chapin all-girls high school in Manhattan, she continued to pursue acting - working in commercials and theatrical performances on Broadway and on television.
Vale was then accepted into Princeton, where she majored in History. After graduating summa cum laude, Vale decided to go on to law school and earned her law degree from Harvard Law School. But creative arts and fashion always stayed close to her heart, and once she decided the traditional law firm life would not be the right path for her, she became a Journalist, writing articles on fashion and philanthropy, then covering events for outlets like the Huffington Post.
In 2014, Melissa Vale’s life changed in an instant…she was in a near fatal accident and was hit by a car while legally walking across the street. Both of her legs were broken, and she suffered severe internal injuries. Initially, the doctor wasn’t certain she would be able to save her legs, but ultimately they did after 3 six-hour operations on her right leg, and a full cast on her left. She was in the hospital for nearly a month and following that had to be in a wheelchair, not allowed to walk, for 4 months. Vale had to have months of physical therapy to learn how to walk again. It’s an experience that changed her entire perspective on life and she realized if there was anything she ever wanted to do… she couldn’t wait, she had to just do it now!
When Melissa got back on her feet, she earned her real estate license and started practicing real estate at Douglas Elliman in NY - it was there where she first became truly indoctrinated into the importance of social media and its power to promote a business. But while she was using social media to promote properties to her already engaged audience, she started to notice that by far her highest engagement and response was from her #ootd (outfit of the day) posts! She started to think…imagine what the response could be if she started treating this as an actual business. And thus, in 2017 this phase of her life was born, returning to her first love, fashion, but in this new social media incarnation.
Today, Melissa Vale has 145K very engaged, real followers on Instagram that look to her “influence” for all things fashion, beauty, travel and accessible luxury. Her popular fashion and travel blog, http://themelissavale.com/, delivers trend reports, outfit ideas, gift guides, life advice, and inspiration, as well as the best destinations to travel to in style!
Vale was recently asked to speak for a FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) class on the “business of influence.” It was quite the honor seeing as FIT is one of New York City’s premier public institutions, and is an internationally recognized college for design, fashion, art, communications, and business. Melissa Vale is chronicling her lust for life and curating style that inspires young ladies around the world. Follow her adventures in fashion, beauty, and travel @melissadvale on Instagram.
The Conversation
We talk ALL ABOUT being in the online space, and what the life of an “influencer” really looks like!
The Burnout with Melissa…
Best $100 or less on Fitness or Wellness: Massage
What are you MOST excited about? The warm weather
What is your BEST piece of advice? Don’t overthink. Keep moving. Keep looking ahead.
Follow / Get In Touch with Melissa
@melissadvale
www.themelissavale.com
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