Everything comes full circle.
My debut on substack and return to blogging.
Sitting here, fingers to keyboard, writing out my thoughts on a minimal blogging platform feels like déja vu.
In 2011, I launched heydahye.blogspot.com from my bedroom in the suburbs of Minnesota. This was pre-Instagram days, when fashion blogging was in its nascency. The real ones (now your elder millennials) will know blogspot as the birth place of some of the OG bloggers that pioneered the influencer industry we know today.
As a freshman in high school, I was itching and yearning for a creative outlet to express myself, connect with other bloggers and have a sliver of a window into the big lives of big people in big cities.
The life that I wanted to live one day.
… everything comes full circle.
Fast forward to 2025. I am now a freshly-minted member of the 30s Club, living in NYC, got my MBA, got married, with a fancy corporate title on LinkedIn. Everything my teenage-self dreamt of.
My family and closest friends who have known me throughout this 14-year character arc sometimes ask me if life feels surreal, how I managed to make it all happen, and if I am happy.
To be honest, I feel like the dust is now starting to settle and I am in the midst of taking stock of all the changes that I experienced. Although my Instagram feed and the Vogue article depict a sort of real-life-fairy-tale, it truly was a combination of grit, fate, luck and a dash of delulu that got me to where I am today.
… everything comes full circle.
The timing seems fitting that fourteen years later, substack is the new hot thing, but for me, it is a return to the humble beginnings of how @heydahye started. I guess this means I’ve completed one ‘cycle’ or chapter of life. (and hence, the start of a new one why I am low key scared).
If anyone out there has been following me since the start (please DM or email me if you have), you will find that I brought back the original ‘heydahye’ logo that I hand-drew in my childhood bedroom. I contemplated rebranding my site or logo, but if I stand for authenticity, I believe coming back to the roots is the right move. I am a marketer after all, and brand equity built over a long period of time is irreplaceable.
HeyDahye is back in its original form, a bit older, hopefully wiser. Follow along for my fashion/beauty faves, school/career tips, and other life musings.
I am back to blogging. I am back to long-form. We are indeed, so back.
xo, Dahye