As I get ready to go to Disney World, I’ve been thinking about my path to becoming a professional fangirl. I’ve gone to the most meet and greets in Disney theme parks, so I have no doubt that’s where my interest in posing with famous characters and people came from. It goes back for so many years that my first meet and greets were not captured on a digital camera. After all, it was the early 90s!
I’ve also spent more than a year talking to super fans of Kim Kardashian and more recently, Taylor Swift, daily. This made me want to reflect on my personal history of relationships with pop culture icons. Let’s go back, shall we?
Barney
Before I built a personal brand as the girl in the red jeans, I loved all things purple. Between the clothes, videos and stuffed animals, I basically collected Barney products.
In middle school, I took on a new Barney project: re-selling new VHS tapes. I bought them at a phenomenal bargain price and sold them on sites likes Amazon and eBay. It was a challenging time to do this because VHS tapes were being phased out. I’m not sure how much $$$ I made, but it was a good way to learn about e-commerce.
