Diasy, Luisa and Cleo are Angolan sisters who are leaving their imprint on the blogosphere not just in English but Portuguese too. Their blog DiElleCi, a mash of their names, is becoming the go-to for advice on beauty, fashion and health. These sisters are all students, Cleo recently graduated with a degree in engineering, but find the time to give readers a peak into their lives. SLA reached out to them curious to know more. We learned that working with sisters is great but can be light on the tough love and reduces the need to micromanage. DiElleCi share more about running a bilingual blog, including what’s in their purses below.
When did you start your blog? What lead you to it?
We started our blog on February 10th, 2016 because we have always had a creative side. We also had the desire to do a project together. However, we noticed that as university students, the academic side of our lives was taking over the creative side that we very much exercised when we were younger. For that reason, we decided to create an outlet where we could share another side of us and our additional interests.
Also we, as young African women, felt like we weren’t represented in social media, especially in the Portuguese speaking market.
Have you faced any difficulties blogging in both Portuguese and English? Which of your audiences is bigger?
The only difficulty we’ve had with running the blog in two languages has been ensuring that our voice remains the same both in English and in Portuguese, regardless of translation. So, it takes some time when translating posts since we need to add expressions for each language. But we are glad we have done so, since our biggest audience is the Portuguese one.
Have you taken any special steps to grow your audience?
Social media has been a great catalyst to the growth of our audience. Firstly, Facebook is great since almost everyone has an account, so we make sure to keep our Facebook page current and engaging.
In addition, Instagram has been equally great since it has so many pages that cater to girls that share similar interests to ours. Because of that, we have been featured on some high quality pages and have seen more growth and exposure from them.
Most importantly, we have made it a priority to remain consistent in both the frequency of posts and in the quality of content.
How can a young African woman reading this start monetizing her blog?
Blogs can be monetized in many ways. As a starting point for us, we decided to monetize our blog through affiliate links. However, we have noticed that it’s not the most sustainable option. We’re currently working on developing different ways to get a more sustainable return without compromising the overall brand.
What is it like working together as sisters? Is there any conflict?
Working with sisters is great because we share the same values and know each other very well so when conflicts arise, there are no issues in addressing certain situations.
However, since we know each other so well and care about each other, sometimes it is hard to give much needed “tough love”. Above it all, the biggest benefit since we know each others weaknesses and strengths is that there is no need to micromanage, which makes task distribution easier.
How do you find time to update your blog regularly as students?
Being students has taught us about discipline and multi-tasking, so we have applied those attributes to our blogging routine.
In addition, like we mentioned before, we separate our tasks according to our strengths and weaknesses. We have seen it has helps us save time and energy when tasks are well divided and only the best person for the job is in charge of a specific task.
What’s the process of blogging like for you? How do you come up with content ideas?
The process of blogging for us is very interactive. We have been very lucky because our audience has been very good at telling us what they like and what they want to see. Even more, we get inspired by our everyday routines and experiences and share what we think would be helpful or interesting. Most importantly, we gain inspiration by seeing ourselves as the audience and consistently asking ourselves what we would like to see.
Can you share what’s in your purses right now?
Wallet, student and Oyster card (for public transport in London), our blog planner, snacks, chapstick, a book we are currently reading, iPhone, portable charger and of course keys.
What is the last song you played on your iTunes/iPod?
We were just listening to the new Rihanna song ” Sledgehammer”.
If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.