With 2.7 million followers on Instagram alone, you’ve likely seen one of Julianna Claire’s lifestyle posts about everyday affordable finds. She served five years of active duty in the U.S. Army after graduating from West Point in 2013. She deployed to Afghanistan in 2014. During those five years, she served as an adjutant general officer, a position that provides personnel support. Claire got into blogging and shares how that helped her both during and after her military service. 
 
What motivated you to join the military? 
I got recruited to swim at West Point. When I started looking into the United States Military Academy, I realized there were many things about the Army that resonated with me. I loved the aspect of being part of a team (I was always in sports and part of a team growing up), and I loved the idea of serving my country. I also knew West Point would be a challenge, and it was a challenge I wanted to go after.
 
We understand you got into blogging during your time in the military. Can you talk about that?
Back in 2013, there was a lot of buzz around this new app called Instagram. So, I downloaded the app and very quickly started following accounts that had the title “blogger” underneath their profile handle name. I had never heard that term, and I had to google what a blogger was. I was fascinated with the content these women were creating and posting on Instagram and on their blogs. Every morning before PT, I would drink my coffee and look at all the new content my favorite bloggers uploaded to Instagram and their blog the day before. I knew after a few weeks of looking at these women’s Instagram handles that this is what I wanted to do with my life — I wanted to create content and start a blog too.
 
There were a couple of problems with my dream of becoming a blogger: 1) I owed the Army five years of active-duty service since I had just graduated from West Point; 2) I was deploying to Afghanistan in five months.
 
I decided I would learn everything I could about blogging leading up to and during my deployment. 
I bought every book I could on blogging — Blogging 101, Blogging for Dummies, Photography for Dummies, etc. During any free time I had in Afghanistan, I was reading these books and learning how to create and secure domain names, what hosting platform was best to build my website, and how to use WordPress. I even came up with the original name of my blog (Blush & Camo) on a napkin during my deployment.
 
I was so well-versed in how to start a blog, I had my site up and running within two months of being home! For the five years I was in the Army, I spent every single minute outside of the Army growing my blog and Instagram.
 
What are the main areas you blog about now? How did you find that niche?
I have been blogging for 10 years now, and believe it or not, I am even more obsessed with blogging and content creation than I was the day I knew I wanted to be a blogger in 2013. I first started off in fashion when I launched my blog, but I’ve grown up over the last 10 years. I got married, we have a beautiful daughter, and my content reflects the phase of life I’m in. I do Amazon Finds (that’s primarily what I’m known for), organization, and lifestyle ASMR videos.
 
Any advice for others who may want to get into the blogging world?
Just start! You don’t need to have all the answers when you start. I still don’t have all the answers about blogging, and it’s been 10 years. It’s more important to start creating content and posting consistently. 
 
Find her here:
Instagram: @julianna_claire
Website: juliannaclaire.com