The woman who can do it all: Strawberry Singh.
Your go-to for all things Second Life
When you first join Second Life you can be overwhelmed and confused about what it is all about. So, you might look at YouTube and do a Google search to give you the answers you need. Usually, while searching for answers, people will come across Strawberry Singh. She provides people extensively, highly-detailed tutorials. In addition, Strawberry Singh has had experience in nearly everything Second Life – no one can't deny that she is the the go-to girl for all your Second Life needs. Today, she is a blogger, vlogger and owner of www.strawberrysingh.com. Luckily, we got to sit down with her and see where, when, and how it all began for her.
Can you introduce yourself? "My name is Strawberry Singh and I am a virtual world blogger. In the real world, I am in my 30s, and I live in Florida." How did you find out about Second Life? "A friend told me about it back in 2007 and asked me to join. I've been on SL since May 2007." Have you ever played IMVU or on any other virtual platforms? "I have not been on IMVU. I've been on InWorldz, Sansar, High Fidelity, Sinespace, and VRChat."
What made you fall in love with Second Life? "The people and the ability to be creative and be anything I want to be."
Do you have a family online? "Not in any virtual life. In real life, I am married."
When you are not working, what do you like to do? "In Second Life, I like to dress up my avatar, take pictures, explore sims, and blog. In real life, I like to spend time with my husband. We like to go to the movies, eat out, travel, hike, throw dinner parties and have long discussions about nonsensical things."
What would you say you like to splurge on? "I love splurging on hair, jewellery, and other accessories especially. I love hair so much and love finding things to accessorize with."
What did you mainly do on Second Life before you started your website? "I spent time with friends clubbing and dancing most of the time. I also loved exploring different sims."
What inspired you to start with your tutorials and blog? "I started blogging about Second Life fashion in 2007. After a couple of years, my readers started asking me how I did my pictures because they enjoyed them. They requested I do some tutorials showing how I do my images and also how they can start blogging. So, in 2010, I started my first series of written tutorials about taking high resolution snapshots, then cleaning them up in Photoshop, and also a Fashion Blogging 101 post – all of those can be found on my 'Tutorials' page."
Do you have a team that you work with to stay current? "No. I don't have a team at all, I do it myself."
"Over the years, I have asked friends and sometimes people on my social networks for advice on certain looks, or what I should write about, etc. But, I don't have anyone do any of the work for me, just offering opinions about the direction I should take."
How do you manage to do it all? "To manage all of this, I use Wunderlist to keep my Second Life to-do list updated. I use Google Calendar to schedule any important posts and dates that I need to remember." Do you ever get overloaded with work? "I don't let it get to that point because then it wouldn't be fun for me. Second Life is my hobby, and I want to keep it fun and a place I can escape to. I don't want it to add to my pile of work. It's why if I notice my to-do list is getting too big, I drop projects and focus on things that I want to focus on. I also don't take on more than I know I can handle."
What is your favorite things to review? "These days, my favorite things to review are different mesh heads. I like to learn about them and then teach how to use them for my YouTube subscribers. It's fun trying on different looks and creating shapes for them." Who would you say is your top 3 favorite designers and why? "Since about 2008, Zaara Kohime has been my favorite designer on Second Life. She was one of the first designers whose designs I fell in love with. She has a great fusion style to her clothing, and it suits my aesthetic. These days, the other two designers whose clothing I love are ISON and Erratic." When you began your site, what was the hardest thing to get a handle on? "I think at first the hardest thing was being able to afford to blog a variety of items."
What was the easiest? "The easiest and most fun was dressing up my avatar and taking pictures."
You have a lot of viewers, how did you do this? "I was lucky to start blogging in 2007, when there weren't that many Second Life fashion bloggers. I was also asked to join my friend's already established blog. So, I already had quite a few readers in my first post. After a few months, my friend left Second Life, so I created my own blog and posted to my readers to follow me on my new blog, which they did. After that, I started joining different social networks and through that was able to reach even more Second Life communities on those networks, thus increasing my blog's readership."
What would you say is your greatest satisfaction? "My greatest satisfaction comes when people leave me comments in my posts letting me know how much they learned from what I shared."
What sort of networking do you think is best to enhance the traffic to your site? "I think Flickr is probably one of the biggest networks that have the most amount of Second Life fashion bloggers. Most of my hits come from Flickr as well as Facebook and Twitter." What would you advise for people that are interested in SL, but find it hard to learn? "Second Life has a steep learning curve, and you have to love it to keep at it. Try and find like-minded people in different sims that pique your interests. They can help you establish a sense of belonging and learn the ropes. It also helps to look up tutorials online, especially YouTube, which can help you grasp the platform better. I have a series of tutorials and videos in my 'Introduction to Second Life' blog post.
What would be a few things you would suggest to someone who is starting a blog? "A few things to keep in mind:
Only do it if you have the time to be consistent and blog on a regular basis;
If you want to blog about fashion, you have to love to dress up your avatar in different ways and be able to afford to do that. Blogging can be expensive, especially when you first start blogging and are not an established blog. You also need to be willing to share all of the style credits to your look;
Be willing to put in the time to do research and share your findings if you want to start an informative tutorial blog.
Is there anything else you want your fans and our readers to know? "If you are new to Second Life, it can be quite hard to grasp at first. But, once you get it, start exploring and making friends, you will find it to be quite fulfilling. It is a wonderful place to let your creativity flow. If you have the talent, you can definitely earn a sustainable income through content creation."
Remember to follow Strawberry Singh, and to keep up with her on all platforms! If you are new to Second Life, we highly suggest you follow her blog to get some pointers and help with your new journey on Second Life.
Disclaimer: the personal views and opinions written in this post are from the writer and do not always express the professional opinion and views of Verve X Magazine.
Interviewer: @destiny.sl
Photos: Strawberry Singh
Copy Editor: Somiar
