November 5, 2021 | Danielle Bernstein: Founder of WeWoreWhat
On Friday, November 5th, The Georgetown Retail and Luxury Association had the pleasure of hosting Danielle Bernstein, the immensely successful founder of New York City based brand WeWoreWhat (WWW), charity foundation WeGaveWhat, and project management technology tool MOE Assist.
WWW originally started as a street style blog by Bernstein, an FIT student at the time, to provide everyday New York City outfit inspiration. Over the course of 11 years it grew into a fully fledged lifestyle blog, as Bernstein emerged from behind the camera. She shared with the audience how the influencer industry didn’t exist when she first started her career and her brave venture of trying to legitimize the industry as well as influencer advertising. Now Bernstein identifies as not only an influencer, but a serial entrepreneur, investor, and advisor.
In this digital era, having a lot of followers (2.7 M) can create social impact and comes with great responsibility. Bernstein explained her acknowledgement and accountability of what she posts and puts out on the internet. She doesn’t tell her followers what to do; instead, she is transparent with where she finds her reliable sources and about her supply chain.Bernstein’s prioritization of consumer needs is exactly why she recently decided to bring all brands and collaborations in house for quality control. Danielle Bernstein x Macy’s was a great experience to expand her audience, but now she wants brands in house to ensure top quality, an affordable price point, and customer centric designs.
Before advertising and promoting a product, Bernstein always tries and tests it out to ensure it's something that she likes and thinks her followers will resonate with. This is so that her promotion feels and is authentic. When she became a serious investor in brands like High Line Wellness and WellBell, she asked for equity rather than a cash payout for advertising their brands. She believed this was the best way to positively impact the brands. Bernstein prides herself on helping companies to rebrand and grow.
To become an influencer in the 21st century, one cannot start out by seeking fame or followers. Instead, Bernstein advised, they must target a niche space in the market that they are genuinely passionate about and connect with an engaged audience. Because the influencer market today is very saturated, Bernstein explained that even she has learned a ton from smaller and new influencers. For instance, how to use newer platforms like Tik Tok. Approximately 5 years ago her first big brand partnership was with Onia. Together, they created swimsuits that Bernstein and her customers could feel more confident in; their immediate success allowed her to grow WeWoreWhat swim into the successful brand it is now.
When major platforms like Instagram and Whatsapp went down for 5 hours earlier this year, it was an important wake up call for Instagram-based influencers like Danielle. For this reason, she thinks influencers have to start thinking about how they can diversify their platforms through services like Patreon and E-mail. Bernstein wishes that Instagram was a better space in terms of bullying and harassment, as she worries about the effect it is having on young girls.
Her advice for long term success is to celebrate little wins each day and don’t look too far ahead, stay focused on the present. Bernstein hopes to continue growing her brands and their reach over the next 10+ years. In order to reach this goal, Bernstein immaculately schedules her days - from work, social life, and downtime - to stay balanced and productive.