Oh, Gala Darling!

By Farida Master

She’s been dubbed a super girly rock chic, cyberspace star, international play girl, style icon and a cross between Lady Gaga and downtown Carrie Bradshaw. Rated as one of the 10 most influential style bloggers in the world, Gala Darling has many avatars. The girl from Wellington who is a big part of the bloggerati in the Big Apple, is fast earning a pop star cult status with one million hits. While media junkies are going viral about the princess of style with an undeniable shoe fetish, Gala Darling is busy endorsing clothing lines, signing modelling contracts and book deals whilst conducting blogger’s workshops and boot camps.

However, despite the hype, hoopla and the international recognition, New Zealand’s most famous blogger export is still grounded… even when she’s standing tall in her sky scrapper heels. “I consider both Lady Gaga and Carrie Bradshaw icons of NYC so I am very flattered by the comparison! I think it's tempting to compare any female writer living in the city to Carrie Bradshaw, but sadly, most of us don't have her enormous closet!” laughs the quintessential Kiwi who carries her candy-coloured head well on her shapely shoulders.

An incredible fantasy
For someone who worked a 9-5 job in Wellington and sold ads from the Yellow Pages in The Aucklander magazine, (“That was the only job I got kicked out from,” she recalls) her meteoric rise as a shining cyber star in the blogosphere is nothing short of an incredible fantasy. After all, who doesn’t dream of being flooded with truckloads of designer gifts or being asked to model for Estee Lauder’s Breast awareness campaign and Mary Kate–Ashley Oslen’s holiday collection?

The sassy, spunky and quirky people-watcher runs Gala Darling.com, a heady mix of fashion, self-help advice and tips on how to live magically—all packaged beautifully with a lot of glitter, stunning pictures and podcasts. Though these days, Gala is using her cult status to profess radical self-love, a movement she started in 2010. This made-in-New Zealand love guru uses every platform, pedestal and podium in sight to make sure that people first fall in love with themselves before looking at the guy next-door. The underlying idea being that only if you are madly in love with yourself will you be able to share the love with others. “A new dress will only make you feel good for so long — after that you need something a little stronger. My website is an evolution of that premise,” explains the blogging sensation.

The dark side
Life has not always been filled with love and sequins - which also happens to be the title of her book on radical love - for the iconoclastic blogger. From indulging in self-mutilation to being a teenage Goth and having an eating disorder, Gala has battled her own demons. Talking candidly about her messy past life, she says that the turning point was when her boyfriend at that time gave her an ultimatum. “I was miserable and angry and didn’t know why. I was anorexic and indulged in radical self-loathing,” she confesses. “I felt my life was pretty much over. I was lucky that I met a man who was into alternative healing and he said that ‘if we are going to date you need to sort your life out’,” says the queen of hearts on how the transformation began.
 
One of the things that helped her come to grips with herself was acupuncture without needles; Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).Then in Australia, she started a blog that gradually pumped her with confidence and self-esteem.
 
New York, New York
Setting foot in the Big Apple was a life changing moment for Gala who went to attend a friend’s wedding and never returned. “The minute I stepped out of the cab I felt this is where I belong. There was an incredible energy. It was my ‘aha’ moment. Though the culture shock was intense, I just knew that this is the place I want to be in. It’s like everyone is on a mission here. There is such a buzz. The major difference is that in America it is ok to be ambitious; in fact, it is officially encouraged in NYC. On the other hand, in New Zealand you are encouraged to downplay it a little bit and we don’t want to be seen as trying too hard,” enthuses the celebrity go-getter who is not afraid to admit that she is ambitious and open to new opportunities each day.
 
Being a fashion blogger who contributed to Cosmopolitan, Australia was an instant pick-up for the style dissident. Before she could say New York, New York, Gala was invited to a luncheon with the big bosses of Louis Vuitton. “I had been alone in New York City for three days and I got an email from Louis Vuitton. I couldn’t believe it that anyone even knew I existed in America. It was the director from North America who got in touch saying they wanted me to have breakfast with five other bloggers. We went for this lavish lunch where all the people from Louis Vuitton were there. They wanted to know how they could be better engaged with bloggers. Of course, that was six years ago when designers collaborating with bloggers was quite unheard of,” she regales excitedly.
 
Coming to New York opened up the flood gates of opportunity. “My career just exploded. The opportunities just flowed in. In Australia, it’s as if you don’t exist because you are so far away but in New York when they can see you and meet you, it is a completely different ball game,” reasons the girl who loves New York with a passion.
 
Designing Destiny
Born as Amy Paper, the then 23-year-old Gala designed her destiny, starting with a new identity. “I always thought my name was really boring and wanted to change it. I remember when I first started playing around on the internet and the idea that you got to choose a ‘handle’ or a new name to go by, was so exciting to me! It felt like freedom to be whoever you wanted to be. When I was about 22, I set the intention that I wanted a new name, but I wasn't sure what it should be. I decided that I would welcome any sign from the universe that came my way. Not long afterwards, I had that dream. I changed my name a couple of months later. Changing my name really woke me up to how we are in charge of our own destiny,” she says thoughtfully.
 
This was the beginning of the epic success story that involved, glitz, glamour and a much disciplined work ethic. “I start my day with a gratitude list that makes me aware of how lucky I am. I do it before I open my computer since replying to emails is just reacting to what other people say. My dad gave me this book called `Eat that Frog: 21 ways to stop procrastinating and get more done in less time’. It’s taught me to do the stuff that you hate most first. The idea is that the activity you’re dreading most is your frog for the day and your job is to eat it. If you have several big, ugly tasks, then you have to eat several big, ugly frogs. You’re supposed to eat the biggest, ugliest one first,” says Gala who confesses to being Daddy’s darling.
 
“My parents were recently with me in New York and it hit me that I’m so much like my dad when it comes to being curious and enthusiastic about things. That way I never get bored because there is always something more exciting and stimulating to be done. As for my mother, I get her sense of style. My mother is a fashion retailer and has always been a very stylish lady. I remember that we used to have three Christmas trees, each one done up exquisitely and differently from the other,” she shares on how her mother’s passion for all things pretty has given her a sense of aesthetics. 
 
An astute entrepreneur
Enabling her to be on the top of her game is the fact that behind the pink tutus and taffeta skirts is a razor-sharp mind that converts the passion into a high selling brand. So what makes her a stand out from thousands of other style bloggers?’ “It’s basically my focus on being positive and making women feel good about themselves,” she answers. “I don’t just think of myself as a writer, but as a businesswoman and entrepreneur,” points out the internet icon.
 
Darling says she takes inspiration from role models like Russell Simmons, the American business magnate who practises Transcendental Meditation and has written the book Super Rich: A Guide to Having It All; Richard Branson, of Virgin Group and Seth Godin, a marketing expert who has an interesting take on things and has been blogging for a long time.
 
Taking cue from the business and marketing gurus she religiously follows, she has been able to astutely brand and market herself. In addition to her eponymous blog, Ms Darling is the Beauty and Style Editor for xoJane.com; her fortnightly column is syndicated in newspapers all over Australia. The celebrity blogger has signed modelling contracts with Estee lauder and Mary Kate and Ashley clothing line; is curating a page on Google’s new personal shopping hub boutiques.com; live streaming radical self-love workshops/boot camp; pedalling ‘Love & Sequins’, a handbook of love letters to the universe with each chapter being a whopping 10,000 words long. Currently she is gearing up for a weekend-long workshop for bloggers who want to push their online presence and businesses to the next level. The Bloggers workshop is already a sell-out!
 
Happiness is…
The role she enjoys most is being the mistress of spice and all things nice for young women all over the world from India to Sweden. “I went from one extreme to another which has made me the person I am today. I know what it is to be sad, unhappy and depressed. It adds a lot to my writing and helps people to relate to me. I want people to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” she says empathetically.
 
Ask her what the future holds and pat comes the reply - “Writing hundreds of books. Also, there is something amazing talking to younger women. I remember when I was in school we had really boring and dried up people come speak to us. I feel my life is interesting and I have something that I can encourage people with. I read somewhere that happiness is an amorphous thing. You can’t go searching for it. But if you lead an interesting life, happiness is just a by-product,” she ends on a happy note.
 
Farida Master
www.galadarling.com