Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa LeClair.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lisa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am better known as Sassypiehole, born on Twitter August 20, 2010.
The original intent of Sassypiehole was to make millions off my daughter by growing an audience and selling t-shirts doused in her one-liners. I had everything lined up — butlers, chauffeurs and in-house chefs — but that’s not how it went down.
After shutting down a ten-year-old marketing company, I decided to take a stab at a lifelong dream and begin writing — a blog. Okay, so maybe blogging wasn’t my dream, but the writing part was, and it seemed like a good place to start.
For months, I spun my wheels writing whatever came to mind, hoping that someone, somewhere, would one day find my goofy little blog and throw me a book deal. Sadly, that also did not happen, but something else did.
I started reading “other people’s” blogs and getting to know them personally and — guess what? It turns out most were just like me: average moms trying to make a buck, and some were doing quite well.
In June of 2015, I got the chance to meet some of these women at a BlogU Conference in Baltimore. Three days later, everything changed, including my ability to write with confidence.
In October of that same year, I welcomed my first “published” essay in the anthology, “It’s Really Ten Months Special Delivery.” Soon after, came the second book, “Lose The Cape: Never Will I Ever (and then I had kids!),” followed by a third.
“I Just Want To Be Perfect” was the fourth addition to Jen Mann’s hilarious best selling series of anthologies and my essay, “Gladys Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” somehow made the cut.
In 2016 (a/k/a “year of no fear”), I took another giant leap of faith and submitted an essay to Listen To Your Mother (LTYM): a live storytelling event celebrating Mother’s Day on local stages across North America. My essay, “Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow” was chosen and read — out loud, by me (and no, I didn’t die)—in front of 240 people a few months later.
Since then, my work has been featured in numerous online publications, including Scary Mommy, Woman’s Day, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Town & Country and The Washington Post, but it wasn’t until December of 2017, after accepting a staff writing position at Mom.me, that I felt like a “legit” writer. After nine years of freelance work, I finally have a steady paying job.
Still, there’s more to come and I’m excited to see where it leads.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
One of the biggest obstacles, for me, has been self-doubt. It’s easy to talk yourself out of doing something you know you’re good at to avoid failure, but it’s worse to go through life wondering what “could have been” if only you would have tried.
My advice: find your tribe, those who believe in you and encourage you to keep going even when you feel like you can’t — and never let them go.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Sassypiehole – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Though most of my writing has comedic undertones, finding humor in everyday life isn’t always that simple. When times are tough, I tend to lean on ‘sarcasm’ to get me through the day and, thankfully, so do my followers.
In fact, some of my more capricious memes have been shared over a million times, and that’s just directly from my page.
Creating brand awareness is an integral part of any business; it also happens to be one of my specialties. In addition to my job as a freelance writer, Sassypiehole — the brand — is a social media influencer. In other words, my brand gets paid to share other brand content on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and it’s brilliant.
What sets me apart from other writers is nothing. I am no better or worse than anyone else trying to stay afloat with my words. The key to staying relevant, however, is brutal honesty. When you remain true to yourself, making no excuses and owning your mistakes, people accept you for who you are; that alone will set you apart.
Who have you been inspired by?
Other than my mother, one of the most inspirational resources, for me, has been the Internet — particularly the writing group pages on Facebook.
The “communities” I’m involved in are made up of influential and gifted female writers who share advice, tips, job opportunities and hilarious stories that you won’t find anywhere else. They are some of the most hard-working, fearless and honest women I’ve ever met. Without their continued support and encouragement, I probably would have given up writing long ago.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sassypiehole.com
- Email: Lisa@sassypiehole.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sassypiehole/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sassypiehole/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sassypiehole?lang=en
Image Credit:
Sassypiehole
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