I've Moved On

Good day, lovely people!

I've been putting off making this post since it's really hard for me to do, but I didn't want to leave The Indy Miss without saying a proper goodbye.

Yes, you read it right. The Indy Miss has moved on to another home on the web. Let me explain a little bit more before everyone loses their heads.

The Indy Miss

The Indy Miss has been around as a brand for five years, and those have been amazing for me. It's my personal brand (and I am never letting go of it). A lot of memories, business deals, partnerships, and sponsorships have come about because of The Indy Miss and I'll keep that in mind as I expand my horizons.

When January 2017 came into focus, the thought that had been nagging at the back of my mind for months became too loud to bear. It was begging me to pursue bigger things for bigger opportunities, but it also defined complications if I ever went along with it.

I'd been thinking night and day for months about this big push forward, if this was going to make me start over in building an audience or if I had to stop doing certain things for a while just to get settled... in other words, too much work needed to be put and too much was at stake.

Then, March came, and I could no longer resist. The first quarter of 2017 was almost over, and there I was, still having a private argument with myself over expanding and maturing my brand. I couldn't take it any more. It was a struggle, definitely.

I had to consider some major factors in moving to another home. Some of them included:

• the cost of a new domain + hosting
• the cost of a proper, G-Suite account
• the creation of new articles for the rebrand
• changing my FB page to its new identity
• the existing audience and how they'd feel about all this

Like I said, this was no easy decision. I had to think about this for weeks before caving in and letting go of all hesitations. It hurt a little when I realized there was no turning back (when I bought the domain, hosting, and G-Suite from Squarespace), and to think that I would no longer be renewing "theindymiss.com" this September. It still hurts quite a bit when I dwell upon the sacrifice I made to expand. I've come so close to regretting the decision, but I can't turn back.

Olivia Penero

Admittedly, I am still very weirded out when using my own name as a brand. It feels... off to not be using The Indy Miss when talking to potential partnerships and clients, and it's scary to think that I can no longer hide behind my brand name. My name IS my brand, and I have to start getting used to that. But it will take a while.

Now, since I'm using my real name in business transactions, there's more responsibility, more pressure to deliver the best possible output (not that I wasn't giving my best before, but you get the idea).

The reason behind the creation of the new site was for me to be able to create a legit online portfolio for clients to see (giving them "the indy miss" often puts out an unprofessional tone) while still continuing to blog and keep doing "The Indy Miss" things like writing, drawing, and others. Olivia has become a place to share resources and design-related articles that exude expertise in my industry, something I need to show potential future clients. I can't do that with The Indy Miss. It's really a fully-pledged online diary, and it's perfect for its purpose. It just so happens that I need more from now on.

If you go and visit the new home (www.oliviapenero.com), you'll find a few things that don't quite fit the brand yet. One would be the logo which, after a week or so of being created, I am now realizing isn't a good design. It's rectangle, and unattractive when placed inside a circle (great logos should fit). It spells my nickname "via" when my site address is "oliviapenero". IT'S SO IMPERFECT that I'm constantly inside my head, lecturing to my brain about making mistakes and being to rash when deciding.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the new site and how much I can control it, but do you understand how frustrating it is when you feel like everything's perfect in the moment then when you step back, it's shit? Ugh. That was me a few days ago.

I'll be redesigning the logo for sure, but I'll give myself a few more days to decide. I need to be consistent with everything. Even my Facebook page.

But that's another problem. I've tried changing my page name multiple times the past two weeks, but it's not allowing the change. Facebook sees how much klout The Indy Miss has, and it's not allowing its owner to change it. I was able to change the shortname to something more applicable to the new one, but then decided to change it back to @theindymiss 'cause it wasn't aligning with the page name.



That brings us to the present. I've decided to keep The Indy Miss brand name, but I will no longer be just that. While it's still my handle on most socials, it will now act as an extension of Olivia. The real me, me. So it'll work like this:

Olivia Penero is the main. It's root. My professional design work and studies will be on there, my articles and blog will be there too. Then there's The Indy Miss, sort of like the lighter side, the little sister as I call it, of Olivia.

It's still The Indy Miss, but a little more professional and designed to attract more partnerships and clients. Is this still confusing to you or...? But yeah, that's the core.




What I'll miss most about this blog is the amount of crazy I can put on here and no one would care, haha. It started as my diary, and it is still being maintained as one. The new site is more of me as a Visual Designer and blogger, and not me as a young adult struggling with life. Though I have a blog section up there, nothing will ever beat the freedom I get here. It's a little sad, but the beautiful kind of sad. You realize all the immaturity from your past will have to remain in the past.

We're growing up. This means owning up to responsibilities and promises. This means starting fresh without forgetting the brand we grew up with. :)

While I won't be updating this blog from now on, The Indy Miss branding is still very much alive in the new site. Things are still a little grey for me, but we'll sort this out. I know we will. If you have any suggestions on how to go from here, PLEASE leave them in the comments.


I will always love Blogger since this is where I started and developed my writing skills throughout the years. I will miss the bright orange square icon with the white B in the middle. I've done a lot of "i've moved" over the years but I've always come back to Blogger. Who knew Squarespace would eventually entice me enough to actually move out?

It really might be because I'm maturing, both as Olivia and as a brand.

So, thanks Blogger. It's been an amazing ride.