Fashion. Social Media. Tech. These three buzz words dominate pop culture. One of the most interesting questions today is to ask how these three immense industries interact and what will our fashion-media-tech future look like? Alumna Yarina Yao (MA Fashion Journalism) is researching this topic on her award-winning website Tech Loves Style. Together with 23K followers on Instagram she's becoming an influencer within the segment. Fashion School Daily checked in with Yao to discover how she has managed to turn her passion into a fulltime job.


Yarina Yao, MA Fashion Journalism alumna in Los Angeles

How did it begin? Yao's blogging and social media career really started with her MA Fashion Journalism final review project in the Academy that aspired"to lead the unordered development of the tech and luxury fashion/beauty industry into the right direction". The resulting Tech Loves Style, with its own provocative tagline"Excuse me, who said we are nerds?" Won the Best Digital Magazine Award and $5,000 Weebly Fashion Journalism Scholarship at 2016.

But, Yao's tech origin was that the day she obtained her Apple Watch. Depending on how much it might do, Yao saw a real possibility from the crossover of both worlds. "I just really love the combination of fashion and technology", she states,"because tech makes style so much more fun than regular #OOTD".
The style journalism program at the Academy equipped Yao with powerful reporting skills and the Social Media Center classes taught her how to use social media effectively as a study and promotion instrument. She produces strong editorial content by visiting the hottest technology fashion/ beauty occasions, mingling with insiders and pros, and analyzing the market tendencies. She attributes her victory to the best mentor of 'hard work'. In fact, on average it takes her about 10 hours every day and many weekends to balance the roles of a blogger, writer, photographer, and stylist, all-in-one. Add to that the brainstorming period -- it's a lot yet that is the way she's been able to achieve the status of"micro influencer" so fast.
Yarina Yao at Palm Springs by Photographer Giann Enid
Every day Yao writes about technology breakthroughs and ideas that seemed too"futuristic" twenty years back. This future is here as we're surrounded with pocket sized machines, blot boards, and even those self-lacing sneakers!
Yao believes that technology is the future of style. Although trending, the luxury and technology businesses are still largely disconnected due to differences in their consumer cultures. It's Yao's aim to help bridge that gap.