If there is one thing I take seriously, it is birthdays. So OF COURSE we had to center this week’s Fab List around our Mama Bear here at Fashion Bomb Daily (a total surprise to her) and my personal mentor as she celebrates her birthday today!

So let’s get into the looks of FBD’s EIC Claire Sulmers:

Are there really words that can explain Claire and her ongoing media influence? Her biography would easily speak for itself: The publisher and Editor-in-Chic of the number one site for the multicultural fashionista, Fashion Bomb Daily (that’s turning 10 years old this year!). How about being one of the first pioneering women of color to tackle blogging (when it was still VERY new) and then prove *gasp* that one could make a career discussing fashion and celebrity style?

A little background on Claire Sulmers for you: After graduating from Harvard with a Bachelors Degree in French and African-American Studies, she went on to take a series of editorial internships; her first internship was found back in her hometown Atlanta at Upscale magazine, where Claire originally THOUGHT she wanted to write on topics such as politics. Oh so wrong, she was plopped right in the fashion closet and began writing small articles for the publication.

With a newfound love for editorial writing, she then moved to New York to pursue magazines, snagging internships at New York Magazine and Newsweek, before landing a job at Real Simple, which is where Claire would get the idea of posting her stories and clips on an online platform; thus, Fashion Bomb Daily would eventually be born.

When her online pursuits began to conflict with her full time gig, she quit her job and moved to Paris, where she scored an internship at Paris Vogue, and eventually began writing for Italian Vogue. Her tenure at Italian Vogue saw her covering fashion week in London, Milan, and Paris for 8 seasons, all the while running and providing content for her ever evolving website.

However, a biography does Claire no justice. In her (almost) 10 years of blogging and creating an online style magazine, she’s carved out a niche and name for herself in the editorial, fashion and celebrity world. She’s preached advice to audiences around the world on breaking into the fashion industry, the people she believes have helped create diversity on the runway, and even on her future endeavors to broaden the Claire Sulmers name as part of her growing brand and empire.

Another thing a bio will never show is her heart. Since her rise to editorial stardom, Claire’s implemented various events and initiatives to help others; whether it be Cocktails With Claire (wonderful for networking with other local businesses and fashionistas) or building on her new Claire Cares initiative, which seeks to highlight young designers, put new talent into the spotlight, and cultivate relationships between those just starting out with mentors and organizations. So she’s not just accomplished, but she’s helping others get there too!

If there’s anything Claire Sulmers teaches all of us, it’s that life may give you lemons, but you have to GRIND to get that lemonade, honey. Her stamina, hard-work, and fierce commitment to fashion and spotlighting women of color is not only commendable, but also truly worthy of notice.

Choosing only 25 times Claire gave us life proved way too difficult for me (speaking as someone who wants to just play in her closet). Plus, it’s her birthday. So, I present to you 25 times from 2015 (with a few throwbacks for good measure) Claire Sulmers taught us how it’s done. Keep up with her over on TheBombLife as well as here on Fashion Bomb Daily as we begin getting ready for more birthday’s to come! *wink*

 

Happy Birthday
Claire!