After stepping down from her role as the lifestyle producer at Yahoo7 in October last year to have her second baby, Michelle Ruzzene is heading back into the media game. In between juggling a newborn and a toddler, Ruzzene will be focusing her time on freelancing and her beauty blog Beauty Hacks.
Here, we chat to Ruzzene about her career, finding work in the competitive freelance world, and the changing media landscape.
It seems like just yesterday we saw you head off for bub number two, but now you’re getting back into writing?
Yes that’s right! It’s been hard work (but extremely rewarding) kid-wrangling a toddler and a newborn. But now that I’ve begun to emerge from the baby bubble, I’m looking to ramp up my beauty and lifestyle writing.
What will you be looking to work on in 2016?
I’ve just given my beauty blog, Beauty Hacks, a well overdue face lift (no pun intended) and I plan on continuing to write about the easiest and most effective ways to improve your beauty routine when it comes to nails, hair, make-up and skincare. Aside from blogging, I’ll be concentrating on my social media following, community involvement and freelance writing.
Are you looking to get into a similar role as to what you were doing at Yahoo7 or will your focus be more freelance based?
I’d love to return to a full or part-time role in 2017 similar to my previous one, which was lifestyle producer covering beauty, fashion and food for Yahoo7. But right now my focus is on freelance work. I’m concentrating primarily on lifestyle and beauty writing but am also currently copywriting for one of Sydney’s largest pub groups. So if you know of anyone looking for a great writer, get in touch!
Do you feel there is now more competition in the beauty media freelance space than ever before?
Definitely. I’m from the ‘old-school’ method. Before jumping over to online media back in 2009, I completed a media degree majoring in print and was trained as a journalist on a community newspaper – even shorthand was mandatory! But I’ve had to swap shorthand for SEO, photoshop, social media and video skills to keep up with today’s demands. And there are so many talented beauty bloggers/vloggers out there with a whole range of different areas of expertise. The likes of Snapchat, Periscope and Instagram’s video offerings have also made beauty blogging faster, easier and more accessible to all.
How do you ensure you continue to get freelance gigs in a popular space?
I think by being flexible and able to write on any topic. Although my focus is now beauty and lifestyle, I’ve written for community newspapers, local and international online news corporations, finance and real estate industries, men’s magazines, hospitality and entertainment. I even did a stint as editor of an earthmoving magazine – if you can write an article about concrete and make it sound interesting, then you can pretty much write about anything!
Will you still be working on your blog?
Always!
Will this become more of a focus in 2016?
Yes indeed. I’m concentrating on sourcing and producing great video content and high quality imagery, which will hopefully lead to a richer experience for my readers. And after recently attending BEAUTYDIRECTORY’s Influencer Network event and chatting to so many successful and inspirational bloggers, I’ve realised nothing is impossible!
What changes/developments can people expect from your blog?
I’ve recently migrated to WordPress, which will allow greater functionality on my blog. I’ll also be looking to collaborate more with beauty experts and influencers to uncover their top beauty hacks. And now that I am a time-poor mother-of-two, I’ll continue my hunt to uncover more timesaving ways to simplify and make the most of your beauty routine…
