Fashion. Social Media. Tech. One of the most interesting questions now is to ask how these three immense businesses interact and what would our fashion-media-tech future look like? Alumna Yarina Yao (MA Fashion Journalism) is exploring this topic on her award-winning website Tech Loves Style. Together with 23K followers on Instagram she's becoming an influencer inside the segment. Fashion School Daily assessed in with Yao to find out how she has managed to turn her passion into a fulltime job.


Yarina Yao, MA Fashion Journalism alumna at Los Angeles

How did it start? Yao's blogging and social media career started with her MA Fashion Journalism final review endeavor in the Academy which aspired"to lead the unordered development of the tech and luxury fashion/beauty industry into the right direction". The resulting Tech Loves Style, with its provocative tagline"Excuse me, who said we are nerds?" Won the Best Digital Magazine Award and $5,000 Weebly Fashion Journalism Scholarship at 2016.

But, Yao's tech origin was that the day she got her Apple Watch. Intrigued by how far it could do, Yao saw a real possibility in the crossover of the two worlds.
The fashion journalism program at the Academy equipped Yao with strong reporting skills and the Social Media Center classes taught her how to use social media efficiently as a study and promotion tool. Yao claims she, "...didn't even know about YouTube before enrolling (it is not available in China); shocking, but true." She produces strong editorial content by going to the hottest technology fashion/beauty occasions, mingling with insiders and pros, and assessing the market trends. She attributes her victory to the greatest mentor of all,'hard work'. In reality, on average it takes her approximately 10 hours per day and most weekends to balance the roles of a blogger, writer, photographer, and stylist, all time. Add to that the brainstorming time -- it is a lot yet that's how she's been able to achieve the status of"micro influencer" so quickly.
Yarina Yao in Palm Springs by Photographer Giann Enid
Every day Yao writes about technology breakthroughs and ideas that appeared too"futuristic" twenty five years back. This future is here since we are surrounded by pocket sized computers, hover boards, and even those self-lacing sneakers!
Yao believes that technology is the future of fashion. Although trending, style and technology sectors continue to be largely disconnected because of differences in their consumer cultures. It is Yao's goal to help bridge that gap. Within five years, she states that she would love to"develop [her] blog into an company that showcases [her] opinion, and launches fashion tech startups, too".