Date Posted: Wednesday 11th October 2017
DIARY directory recently caught up with London-based TV/Radio Presenter and lifestyle influencer Olivia Cox. Her career began serving in the British Army, before moving into journalism to write beauty and style pages for Marie Claire. A love of performing infront of the camera landed Olivia her first hosting role for Entertainment Wise, and she has since filmed for channels including Sky Sports, E4, ITV and Sky Travel. Since launching her namesake blog, Olivia has partnered with a series of brands and is a leading influencer within beauty, fashion, fitness and travel. Olivia’s passion is running and skiing, having successfully competed at both whilst in the Army. Her dream is to host an adventure travel or sports show, and is passionate about blurring the divide between fashion and fitness.
Lifestyle Influencer
Worked with brands including Aveda, New Balance, Uniqlo
"It doesn't really matter which areas you're covering, so long as it remains relevant to your brand identity"
| Date of Birth: | 10/04/1988 |
| Country of residence: | London, UK |
| Biggest Readership Locations: | London, Cheshire, USA |
| 3 main areas of focus: | Fitness, Travel, Beauty |
| Skin tone/type: | Dry and naturally pale but generally fake tanned. |
| Hair colour: | Blonde |
| Hair type: | Thick, dry |
| Dress size: | 8 |
| Shoe size: | 7 |
| Height: | 5 ft 4 |
You previously served in the army, how did you make the transition from that to blogging?
I joined the army because I got told I'd get paid to go skiing and I love skiing, so it was never really a career choice as such. So once I'd had enough of that, I wanted to experience something totally different. One of my last postings was assisting the Lord Lieutenant of Devon in organising a visit of HM The Queen to Exeter, and Buckingham Palace offered me an internship once I'd graduated. I loved the PR side, so ended up interning for agencies and brands before making the leap into journalism to work for Marie Claire. There were surprisingly large numbers of transferable skills between the army and fashion - schedule planning, lateral thinking, problem solving.. I think I was a pretty good intern, actually!
No such thing. I'm trying to put more structure in place because I'm really bad at having downtime - even if I'm completely exhausted I find it difficult to justify any time off. If I don't have filming, I try to see my PT at Duo Chelsea, then will usually get a blowdry at Neville. There's often a few brand meetings to discuss projects, and I'll maybe pop into a showroom for a fitting or to pull a look for an event. Evening press events are usually on a Wednesday or Thursday, and I'll attend with a view to having photos taken and meeting key industry personalities. I tend to end up drafting blog posts and editing photos en route to something. But really no two weeks are the same - last week I was in Uxbridge, Norfolk and Leicester. Next week I'm in Canada. I love the challenge of keeping up with myself!
I really struggled with the whole paid post thing to begin with, and it wasn't until an influencer friend pointed out that I wasn't on a salary anymore that I realised I needed to be a little more savvy and take my role as an influencer a little more seriously. That said, I think as influencers we all have a responsibility to do unpaid work too, if only to remain the credible, authentic sources our followers expect. It's about finding the right balance. I also occasionally contribute to HELLO! Fashion Monthly.
I think the key is to find a niche. Then it doesn't really matter which areas you're covering, so long as it remains relevant to your brand identity. For me, I am increasingly linking my work to what is essentially a more luxury, polished version of what I did in the army - I train, eat well, travel, pick my uniforms... there's very little that won't fit under that umbrella, but at the same time I will not work with a brand who I feel would compromise my message.
What advice/top tips would you give PRs looking to promote their clients through your blog? Do you have any pet PR peeves?
I think the traditional PR/publisher relationship is changing, and it's important that this is remembered on both sides. Expecting influencers to work for free is annoying and shows a lack of respect. Many of us have worked for free in the past to get where we are, but what we have built is a valuable tool which has a monetary value. What's even worse, though, is when a brand claims different budgets to different influencers - remember we do talk to each other occasionally and it can be really insulting.
"I think as influencers we all have a responsibility to do unpaid work too, if only to remain the credible, authentic sources our followers expect"
I enjoy when I get some creative licence to create truly engaging content. I think the most exciting jobs are when I get to live the brand and really tap into their identity. Actions speak louder than words, and the feeling a piece of content leaves you with is so much more powerful than me just telling you what to like.
I always love Julien Macdonald - his designs are like works of art and his show was completely spectacular.
Working with Christiano Ronaldo in Madrid was unbelievably cool, and working with sports & fitness personalities is the direction I want to go in. This year I've been on so many international trips, which has been amazing.
I am trying to build on my Army background with more alignments with fitness and athleisure brands - I would love to host adventure travel or sports show. The other dream is to launch my own range of gym kit - the whole athleisure trend blossomed at exactly the right time for me, and I love being in a position to empower others to achieve gym goals whilst maintaining a hectic schedule and aspirational lifestyle.
To be honest, I think Instagram is taking over as the main platform for content. Because of my presenting experience, though, I get a lot of brand interest for creating video content, so I will be increasing my presence on YouTube.
I am not at all business minded, so working with Emma at OnTheBox PR helps remind me this is a job not a hobby! It's also great having someone with industry experience to bounce ideas off and ask questions when I'm stuck. Having management is essentially having someone else fighting my corner, and that's a real help in what can be quite a lonely industry.
Find your niche - my engagement went up so much when I figured out why I was actually posting. It gives much more consistency to your work. Also, always have a practical benefit for your followers. When you post, ask yourself why it's interesting to a random person. If you can't think of a reason, don't post it.
I'm a really visual person so I particularly love stalking my travel blogger friends as their pictures tend to be INSANE. I also use Instagram to connect with up & coming fitness brands, so spend a lot of my time browsing relevant hashtags.