A Crisis of Conscience
I have been struggling with something for a few years now.
Originally this website was called “Make It Work Molly” and I treated it as a spin off of the fashion column I wrote at the time for the now closed Macon Food and Culture Magazine. The column was called “Make It Work”- a tag line by Tim Gunn of the at that time very popular Project Runway. As such, folks would call me Make It Work Molly… so the website name seemed obvious. The very first post was published on January 31st, 2012. It’s really strange to realize this website is nine years old, not far behind the ages of my children.
It was sometime in late 2014/ early 2015 when I rebranded this site. Other people were on the team, and it just didn’t make sense to have others writing for Make It Work Molly- from a branding perspective. I was having coffee at what was then Jittery Joe’s and saw a sign that said “Bon Vivant”- with it’s definition: “someone who lives the good life”. I had struggled with a name that would totally capture the spirit of this site, and that was when Southern Bon Vivant came to me. Everything we wrote about was about what was good about living, eating, shopping, and traveling in the South. It just made sense- even if it did become difficult for others to pronounce.
Later would come a retail/wholesale line and my mother and I went into business together, trademarking the name and all.
But at some point, the name of the site bothered me. Less people were working with me, and eventually none. It was just me again, and so much was so wrong with the world that this Southern Bon Vivant name felt frivolous. But people still loved the content, the numbers were still there. For whatever reason, enough people still cared about what I wrote and put on social media.
And… I changed. A Lot. I finished my Masters. I wrote a book (still unpublished and still needing lots of editing). I finished yoga teacher training. A pandemic happened. A lot of my inner thoughts are not as much on outright food and fashion and travel, but about my family and how we enjoy life together and different things I have learned along the way.
So an audit was necessary. Taking stock of what did my audience enjoy, and what did I want to talk about? Fashion and shopping and food are still the biggest ones. Family items were next. And… I have learned a lot lately. About education. About yoga. The need for spaces for families and kids to heal. So this is a part of a new focus for me, along with all of the other fun things. It’s time for my central focus to change. I can still write about fun things to do in the South, and shopping, and eating- but as is true in my real life, it all circles around my family and topics surrounding other families.
With that said, a new brand is coming for this site. The candles and bath bombs and what not will still be under the Southern Bon Vivant brand because that makes the most sense, and they will still live on this site for easy e-commerce reasons. But a new look is coming here- and I’m so excited about it. Stay tuned! And… if you could… sign up for my newsletter. I’ll be working on some fun giveaway items for when I launch the new brand: Link to Newsletter.
Love to all y’all- always,
Molly
