- Blog: Awesomely Luvvie
- Niche: Pop Culture/Lifestyle
- Founder: Lovette Ajayi
- Twitter: @Luvvieig
Lovette “Luvvie” Ajayi would rather make fun of life than complain about it. It’s this mantra that’s found the 27-year-old dishing 50,000 unique visitors a month with a heaping of laugh-your-butt-off pop culture commentary on her blog, Awesomely Luvvie. And whether it’s roasting a celebrity or roasting herself, Luvvie’s mission of extinguishing day-to-day stress with humor never wavers.
Live for six years, the Chicago native’s blog has gone from pastime to fulltime, gifting her with opportunities far beyond her browser’s wildest dreams. Most notably at this year’s 84th Academy Awards, where along with Afrobella, Luvvie was selected as one of two brown bloggers to receive first-time red carpet and backstage coverage access, an honor solely based on her click appeal. Yet, recognition was knocking even before the Oscars came calling.
In 2009, Awesomely Luvvie won Best Humor Blog at the Black Weblog Awards and has never been bumped out the ballot since. But don’t think the e-queen is stuck on snark appeal. In addition to saluting the side-eye flag, Luvvie is also the founder of Red Pump, a nonprofit organization devoted to kindling HIV/AIDS awareness amongst women of all generations. Now, as part of BlackEnterprise.com‘s Black Blogger Month, Luvvie shares how her blog got so awesome.
I started blogging because of…
Huny Young’s blog, which was my introduction to the blogosphere. Her blog was just about her life and so interesting to read. In 2003, when I was in college, I started blogging on Xanga to basically chronicle my random adventures as an undergrad. But 2006 is when I started my current site, AwesomelyLuvvie.com. The switch happened when I graduated from college. I wanted to start fresh because I felt like I outgrew Xanga. I began to write about more than my life and had things to say about the world around me.
My biggest influence as a humor writer is…
Angela Nissel. Her book The Broke Diaries really showed me that I can do this and do it well. I have so much respect for her.
My biggest influences as a blogger are…
Fresh of Crunktastical because she’s one of the few other Black humor bloggers and she’s so hilarious with it. Folks try to duplicate her style but they can’t match it. And I love Angel Laws of Concrete Loop because she’s my age and has really shown that blogging can take you far when you stay true to yourself.
It’s important for me to maintain an honest voice in my writing because…
For me, it’s everything. I love that people who know me read my blog and say, “I can hear you saying that.” I can’t put out content that doesn’t feel genuine to me and I can’t duplicate anyone else’s writing style. It won’t be “Awesomely Luvvie.” It’d be “Terribly Someone Else.”