Blogger Spotlight: Lotte Brouwer, yespleaseblog.co

Having grown up in the Caribbean, Italy  and the Netherlands, Lotte Brouwer spent most of her childhood on the move. Currently the author of yespleaseblog.co, Lotte uses her blog to share her love of traveling, food recipes and homes design. In this spotlight, we talk to her about why she is passionate about blogging, where she draws her inspiration from and how she likes to work with PRs.  

Why did you decide to start blogging? Starting a blog is something I’ve always wanted to do but I didn’t think anybody would actually be interested in reading it! I’ve always been quite shy and for some reason I felt too embarrassed to start a blog, as I wasn’t really sure what I would write about. I started sharing recipes and day-to-day adventures on Twitter and eventually more and more people were asking me to start a blog. Friends, family and followers kept asking me to email them recipes, and kept telling me that I should have a blog so eventually I found the confidence to start one! As soon as I finally got started, it became an addiction and I haven’t looked back since!

Why lifestyle? Lifestyle is quite a broad category, and it covers most of what I’m interested in. I love cooking and experimenting in the kitchen, I love traveling (who doesn’t!) and exploring new places in London. I also love finding home decor inspiration online and discovering new blogs. I’m about to move in with my boyfriend to our first home together, and even though the place needs a bit of work done to it, I can’t wait to get stuck in and have a place of my own to do up, furnish and decorate! I feel that ‘lifestyle’ kind of covers all of it – from recipes to home interiors, and from London to the Maldives!

Who or what inspires you? I’m very inspired by successful full-time bloggers. I follow a lot of bloggers on Instagram and I’m always inspired by their branding, design, layout, tone of voice and photography. I’m constantly learning from them! I would love to be able to give up my day job and blog full-time one day. I’m very inspired by that freedom and the independence. I don’t feel I’ve ever quite fit in anywhere – I’ve tried my best at everything, from being a primary school teacher in South Africa, art teacher in Holland, sailing instructor in Minnesota and scuba diving instructor in the Caribbean, to working at an art auction house in London, working in PR, working as a journalist, magazine editor and even as a wedding planner! It’s like I’m a pineapple shape trying to fit into a square, round or triangular hole. I feel that a lot of bloggers are pineapples too.

What is your pitch to PRs? How would you prefer to be contacted by them? I’m PR friendly and would love to work together for future projects. Although my blog is fairly new, it seems to be doubling in readership and followers month-on-month, so watch this space! I don’t really write about any press releases or news (sorry!), but I am open to trying new restaurants, bars, pop-ups and hotels, be it in London or abroad. I don’t really do product reviews, but I do sometimes organise a prize giveaway or competition for my readers. I’d also love to hear about anything interiors related, as I’ll be doing up and decorating my new home! I tend to avoid phone calls as I’m at work during the day and usually at an event in the evenings, and abroad at the weekends, so email is best!

Where would you like to see your blog in one year from now? One year from now I would love to be blogging full-time, as a leading ‘homemaking’ blog in the UK – with a focus on recipes and interiors. I can dream!